Australia: the search for a foundational history. The first history of Australia's search for a foundational past, this project examines the historical debates that have divided Australian society since the late twentieth century. Set against the background of Indigenous and non-Indigenous understandings of history and place, it provides a groundbreaking study of history in Australian culture.
Graphic Encounters: Colonial Prints and the Inscription of Aboriginality. This project plans to collate the archive of prints depicting Indigenous Australians, from national and international collections, to ask how people's place in this newly encroached territory was inscribed by colonial prints. Before the 1890s, prints (engravings, etchings and lithographs) were the principal means of reproducing images. Prints disseminated imagery of Indigenous people and determined how they were 'put in th ....Graphic Encounters: Colonial Prints and the Inscription of Aboriginality. This project plans to collate the archive of prints depicting Indigenous Australians, from national and international collections, to ask how people's place in this newly encroached territory was inscribed by colonial prints. Before the 1890s, prints (engravings, etchings and lithographs) were the principal means of reproducing images. Prints disseminated imagery of Indigenous people and determined how they were 'put in the picture' of settlement. Our colonial-era cultural heritage includes many prints (engravings, etchings, lithographs, etcetera) of Aborigines, yet they have been overlooked and the story of their production, dissemination and consumption is untold. This project aims to collate and trace this visual archive of Indigenous Australians and present its imagery to all Australians, including descendants, in an exhibition and conference, catalogue, monograph and online database.Read moreRead less
Imagining the National Story: Australian history reconsidered. Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators. However, there has been no systematic attempt to trace Australian historiography from its earliest origins to the contests dominating public historical discussion today. This project responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research and proposes a bold and expansive history that ex ....Imagining the National Story: Australian history reconsidered. Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators. However, there has been no systematic attempt to trace Australian historiography from its earliest origins to the contests dominating public historical discussion today. This project responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research and proposes a bold and expansive history that examines the changing and contested project of Australia’s national story for the first time and aims to make a significant contribution to Australian historical scholarship and understandings of the practice of history itself.Read moreRead less
Understanding Japan's human-centred environmentalism. Japanese environmental activism has influenced attitudes and policymaking on the environment in Japan and worldwide for half a century. This project will demonstrate the strengths and limitations of Japan’s human-centred environmentalism and will encourage us to reconsider the tension between human satisfaction and environmental protection.
A Sonic Approach to Anticolonialism in Interwar India . This project aims to apply the methods of Sound Studies to the history of anti-colonialism in India. Extending on earlier work which draws extensively on visual archives to construct historical narratives, this project aims to explicitly trace the reverberations of sound – especially mediated speech, slogans and song – in anti-colonial mobilisation in the interwar period. Orality was a critical element of political communication which, due ....A Sonic Approach to Anticolonialism in Interwar India . This project aims to apply the methods of Sound Studies to the history of anti-colonialism in India. Extending on earlier work which draws extensively on visual archives to construct historical narratives, this project aims to explicitly trace the reverberations of sound – especially mediated speech, slogans and song – in anti-colonial mobilisation in the interwar period. Orality was a critical element of political communication which, due to the difficulties in capturing the spoken word, has not yet been studied in detail; yet the archives are full of sound. The deeply affective qualities inherent in sound, and the growth of technologies to amplify and record them, renders this a rich approach to understanding anti-colonial politics.Read moreRead less
Soviet War Experiences, 1937-1950. This project aims to write a history of Soviet war experiences and chart the varieties of wartime experiences on Soviet held territories between the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia in 1937 and the end of the counter-insurgency in the western borderlands by 1950. Rather than extract one, allegedly 'typical' experience, this project aims to focus on the range, variety, and complexity of wartime experiences of ordinary (and some extraordinary) people livi ....Soviet War Experiences, 1937-1950. This project aims to write a history of Soviet war experiences and chart the varieties of wartime experiences on Soviet held territories between the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia in 1937 and the end of the counter-insurgency in the western borderlands by 1950. Rather than extract one, allegedly 'typical' experience, this project aims to focus on the range, variety, and complexity of wartime experiences of ordinary (and some extraordinary) people living, fighting, surviving, dying, or passing through the lands controlled, sometimes more, sometimes less, by Stalin and his political apparatus during the years of war in the 1930s and 1940s.Read moreRead less
Dreams, Prophecy and Violence from Early Christianity to the Rise of Islam. In Classical Greco-Roman society dreams or visions were sometimes understood as vehicles of divine revelation. Early Christians and Muslims developed the religious interpretation of dreams, using it to bolster the religious authority of their leaders, who laid claim to the Jewish tradition of prophets who brought messages from God. This project aims to uncover the development of dream interpretation from Classical Antiqu ....Dreams, Prophecy and Violence from Early Christianity to the Rise of Islam. In Classical Greco-Roman society dreams or visions were sometimes understood as vehicles of divine revelation. Early Christians and Muslims developed the religious interpretation of dreams, using it to bolster the religious authority of their leaders, who laid claim to the Jewish tradition of prophets who brought messages from God. This project aims to uncover the development of dream interpretation from Classical Antiquity through early Christianity to early Islam and give an understanding of how dreams and visions were used as tools of religious control and as justification of violence against other religions.Read moreRead less
Wild cities: an environmental history of urban nature in Australia. This project aims to understand relationships between people and nature in modern cities through their history. In an increasingly urbanised world, nature in cities is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, but today’s urban wildlife, trees and reserves—and residents’ relationships with them—are legacies of a largely unknown past. By providing insights into the drivers of urban residents’ everyday relation ....Wild cities: an environmental history of urban nature in Australia. This project aims to understand relationships between people and nature in modern cities through their history. In an increasingly urbanised world, nature in cities is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, but today’s urban wildlife, trees and reserves—and residents’ relationships with them—are legacies of a largely unknown past. By providing insights into the drivers of urban residents’ everyday relationships with nature from 1880-2020 and engaging the public through historical narratives, the research will inform current urban greening, conservation and restoration projects and policy. The project expects to promote urban sustainability and produce vital new insights into changing urban cultures and environments.Read moreRead less
The humanity of man and animal in Ancient Greece. This project aims to explore how the line between humans and animals is drawn and re-drawn in a number of ancient world texts and contexts, including language, history, literature, art, religion and science. As the real and imagined cradle of Western civilisation, the ancient Greek world is frequently invoked in current debates about what separates humans from animals. Yet, in the modern debate the ancient position is restricted mainly to philoso ....The humanity of man and animal in Ancient Greece. This project aims to explore how the line between humans and animals is drawn and re-drawn in a number of ancient world texts and contexts, including language, history, literature, art, religion and science. As the real and imagined cradle of Western civilisation, the ancient Greek world is frequently invoked in current debates about what separates humans from animals. Yet, in the modern debate the ancient position is restricted mainly to philosophy. The expected outcome of this project is a comprehensive study of the place of the animal in ancient Greek conceptions of humanity. It will refocus classical scholarship and prompt the re-evaluation of our contemporary understanding of what makes us human.Read moreRead less
Popular Petitioning and Mass Democracy in the United States: a History. This project aims to investigate the neglected history of popular petitioning in the United States. Across the long nineteenth century, activists organised mass petition campaigns in support of causes as diverse as antislavery, suffrage and immigration restriction. In the twentieth century, however, petitioning dwindled. The project draws on this rich archive of activism to assess the role, impact and evolution of petitionin ....Popular Petitioning and Mass Democracy in the United States: a History. This project aims to investigate the neglected history of popular petitioning in the United States. Across the long nineteenth century, activists organised mass petition campaigns in support of causes as diverse as antislavery, suffrage and immigration restriction. In the twentieth century, however, petitioning dwindled. The project draws on this rich archive of activism to assess the role, impact and evolution of petitioning as a democratic tool. The expected outcome is a new perspective on a vital development: the emergence of mass democracy. Furthermore, the project should provide a critical historical framework for assessing modern-day claims about the digital petition and its power to bridge the gulf between citizens and government. Read moreRead less