Ethnoecology and the State in Regional China. This project will enhance Australian knowledge about diversity amongst Han Chinese communities in the way that they have adapted to their environment, a diversity that underpins the responsiveness of Chinese populations to environmental transformation in the contemporary period. It will also strengthen Australia¡¯s reputation as a centre for the study of regional cultures within the Chinese landmass, provide additional insights into the lower Yangzi ....Ethnoecology and the State in Regional China. This project will enhance Australian knowledge about diversity amongst Han Chinese communities in the way that they have adapted to their environment, a diversity that underpins the responsiveness of Chinese populations to environmental transformation in the contemporary period. It will also strengthen Australia¡¯s reputation as a centre for the study of regional cultures within the Chinese landmass, provide additional insights into the lower Yangzi delta, which is one of the most affluent regions of China today, and build up Australia¡¯s capacity to train postgraduates with an understanding of China¡¯s great regional diversity.Read moreRead less
Writing from the edge of the world: medieval Icelandic literature and the quest for social identity. This project has special significance for Australians. Iceland and Australia are both geographically isolated communities, both originally colonies of larger political powers (Norway and Britain), both asserting a social identity different from that of the motherland. Many themes of medieval Icelandic literature have parallels in Australian culture; slogans like 'the cultural cringe', 'the lucky ....Writing from the edge of the world: medieval Icelandic literature and the quest for social identity. This project has special significance for Australians. Iceland and Australia are both geographically isolated communities, both originally colonies of larger political powers (Norway and Britain), both asserting a social identity different from that of the motherland. Many themes of medieval Icelandic literature have parallels in Australian culture; slogans like 'the cultural cringe', 'the lucky country', 'home and away' can be readily paralleled in Old Icelandic literature. Our study will be of considerable social benefit to Australia and will show how another ex-colony, remote in time and place, constructed its own social identity.Read moreRead less