Minds, Bodies, Machines: a cultural and intellectual history of technologies in the 21st century. This project benefits the intellectual and cultural life of the nation by establishing a unique dialogue between the I.T. community and University researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Using an
interdisciplinary methodology to explore technologically-driven social change across a period of more than two hundred years, the project will generate new and fresh ways of thinking about emerg ....Minds, Bodies, Machines: a cultural and intellectual history of technologies in the 21st century. This project benefits the intellectual and cultural life of the nation by establishing a unique dialogue between the I.T. community and University researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Using an
interdisciplinary methodology to explore technologically-driven social change across a period of more than two hundred years, the project will generate new and fresh ways of thinking about emerging areas of intense debate and controversy, such as humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence. The dialogue we propose will foster an environment of enhanced innovation, one in which knowledge translates directly and indirectly into social and economic benefits.Read moreRead less
The Dissemination and Control of Clandestine Writing in England 1695--1774. The literary underworld of the eighteenth century is the subject of serious academic pursuit internationally by literary historians, historians of sex and sexuality, philosophers and feminists. Australia's reputation will be enhanced by participating in this rapidly evolving field. Australia already has an internationally significant profile in bibliography and eighteenth-century literary studies due to a combination o ....The Dissemination and Control of Clandestine Writing in England 1695--1774. The literary underworld of the eighteenth century is the subject of serious academic pursuit internationally by literary historians, historians of sex and sexuality, philosophers and feminists. Australia's reputation will be enhanced by participating in this rapidly evolving field. Australia already has an internationally significant profile in bibliography and eighteenth-century literary studies due to a combination of outstanding scholars and resources. This project will enhance Australian strength in, and contribution to, the world-wide study of these two subjects. This study will also be informed by, and contribute to, the contemporary philosophical, religious and ethical debate concerning the distribution of contentious material.Read moreRead less
Imperialism, reform and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë is usually thought to be imprecise about the time period of Jane Eyre. Working from a close chronology established from Brontë's historical allusions to West Indian slave rebellions, I propose to write a pioneering book about the novel and aspects of its reception, situating them and Brontë's juvenilia in relation to axes of reform politics in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s. I draw on innovative primary research on ....Imperialism, reform and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë is usually thought to be imprecise about the time period of Jane Eyre. Working from a close chronology established from Brontë's historical allusions to West Indian slave rebellions, I propose to write a pioneering book about the novel and aspects of its reception, situating them and Brontë's juvenilia in relation to axes of reform politics in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s. I draw on innovative primary research on the articulation of gender, empire and Englishness in relation to these axes and address the implications of Brontë's invocation in 1847 of an earlier reform complex.Read moreRead less
Gothic Fiction and Imagined Worlds: Popular Literature, Emotion, and the transformation of experience in modernity. This project revises our understanding of Gothic Fiction, the most important prose genre of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its ground-breaking argument and innovative methodology help develop Australia's international reputation in Romantic studies, while expanding the methodological repertoire of literary studies. The project adds to our culture by contributin ....Gothic Fiction and Imagined Worlds: Popular Literature, Emotion, and the transformation of experience in modernity. This project revises our understanding of Gothic Fiction, the most important prose genre of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its ground-breaking argument and innovative methodology help develop Australia's international reputation in Romantic studies, while expanding the methodological repertoire of literary studies. The project adds to our culture by contributing to debates about the 'truth' status of (and relation between) emotions, literature, and imagined worlds. It adds to our understanding of the present, through its revisionary account of a key stage in the development of contemporary notions of experience, the fictive, imagined/virtual worlds, and the modern crisis of representation.Read moreRead less
Insect societies and social butterflies: natural history and sociability in the Romantic period. During the eighteenth century, the Pacific islands and New Holland replaced America as the testing ground for ideas about the state of natural man and the origins of society. In looking at Enlightenment ideas about the natural, the human, and the social, this project will help us to learn more about ourselves as the dominant species.
Print Manager: Jonathan Swift and Anglo-Irish Print Culture 1680-1750. In Swift studies Australia has both a leading position and a key group of internationally recognised scholars (David Woolley at Perth, Harold Love at Monash, Ian Higgins at ANU , Robert Phiddian at Flinders, myself at Monash). Monash also has the internationally significant Swift Collection of manuscripts, books and associated material, all of the digital databases and microfilms, and is the leading centre for Swift research ....Print Manager: Jonathan Swift and Anglo-Irish Print Culture 1680-1750. In Swift studies Australia has both a leading position and a key group of internationally recognised scholars (David Woolley at Perth, Harold Love at Monash, Ian Higgins at ANU , Robert Phiddian at Flinders, myself at Monash). Monash also has the internationally significant Swift Collection of manuscripts, books and associated material, all of the digital databases and microfilms, and is the leading centre for Swift research and eighteenth-century literary research in Australia. This project will enhance Australian strength in and contribution to the world-wide study of Swift and his work, deepen Australian awareness of its Anglo-Irish colonial heritage, and reveal new dimensions to its Irish-Australian heritage. Read moreRead less
Multiplying Worlds: Romanticism, Modernity, and the emergence of Virtual Reality. This project contends that virtual reality first emerges during the Romantic Period (1780-1830). Further, it argues that the contemporary prominence of virtual reality rests to a surprising degree on assumptions about the virtual that derive from this earlier period. To establish this aetiology of perhaps the most important phenomenon of the digital age, the project focuses on the production of virtual reality in E ....Multiplying Worlds: Romanticism, Modernity, and the emergence of Virtual Reality. This project contends that virtual reality first emerges during the Romantic Period (1780-1830). Further, it argues that the contemporary prominence of virtual reality rests to a surprising degree on assumptions about the virtual that derive from this earlier period. To establish this aetiology of perhaps the most important phenomenon of the digital age, the project focuses on the production of virtual reality in Enlightenment schemes for managing the real, popular entertainment, and Romanticism. It will make a major contribution to debates concerning Romanticism and (post)modernity, and to our understanding of the cultural histories that shape our reception of computer technologies.Read moreRead less
Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subs ....Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subsequent history as a powerful symptomatic register of the strategies by which the monarchy adapts its traditional heritage to changing social contexts. Comprehending this dynamic will revise our understanding of the relationship between medieval culture, tradition and modernity.Read moreRead less
Recreating Mansfield Park: the Cambridge Edition of Jane Austen's Novel. The project will produce an authoritative edition of the English writer Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park in the Cambridge Edition. This is a collaborative and international project, and the first fully scholarly edition of Austen's novels. It is designed to meet the needs of the twenty-first century student of her work, be accessible to readers in different continents, and have a shelf-life of several decades. The editi ....Recreating Mansfield Park: the Cambridge Edition of Jane Austen's Novel. The project will produce an authoritative edition of the English writer Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park in the Cambridge Edition. This is a collaborative and international project, and the first fully scholarly edition of Austen's novels. It is designed to meet the needs of the twenty-first century student of her work, be accessible to readers in different continents, and have a shelf-life of several decades. The edition of Mansfield Park in the series will present a thoroughly revised and accurate text and for the first time give a complete textual and cultural history of this famous novel.Read moreRead less
Mary Wroth: A Contextual Biography and Electronic Edition. This project will result in the biography of a remarkable early modern woman: Lady Mary Wroth. Wroth was an extremely talented writer who produced a huge prose romance, poetry and a pastoral play, and the project will also involve the production of an electronic edition of her writing. No biography of Wroth exists, and the contextual biography which I will write will offer many insights into early Jacobean society and culture. As a whole ....Mary Wroth: A Contextual Biography and Electronic Edition. This project will result in the biography of a remarkable early modern woman: Lady Mary Wroth. Wroth was an extremely talented writer who produced a huge prose romance, poetry and a pastoral play, and the project will also involve the production of an electronic edition of her writing. No biography of Wroth exists, and the contextual biography which I will write will offer many insights into early Jacobean society and culture. As a whole, the project will enhance Australia's strong research contribution to the key area of early modern studies.Read moreRead less