Exploration and Nation: the Cultural Impact of Exploration Literature from the Cook Voyages to the 'Novara' Circumnavigation. This comparative analysis of the cultural impact of the Cook voyages and the lavishly state-sponsored "Novara" expedition will improve our understanding of the international entanglements that affected the course of our history. Examining the broad cultural impact of publications about Pacific exploration will offer valuable new insights into the cross-fertilisations betw ....Exploration and Nation: the Cultural Impact of Exploration Literature from the Cook Voyages to the 'Novara' Circumnavigation. This comparative analysis of the cultural impact of the Cook voyages and the lavishly state-sponsored "Novara" expedition will improve our understanding of the international entanglements that affected the course of our history. Examining the broad cultural impact of publications about Pacific exploration will offer valuable new insights into the cross-fertilisations between colonisation and the formation of 19th-century nation states. A detailed study of how European nations employed the publication industry in their competition for colonial control will illuminate the conflicts over the boundaries of nation and empire and enhance the understanding of prominent issues in Australian humanities research.Read moreRead less
Gender, sexuality and class as represented in the literature associated with adultery trials in Britain c.1760-1830. Using an interdisciplinary methodology, this project will examine the texts relating to trials for adultery in Britain c.1760-1830. While they have been examined by historians of divorce, the trials have not been studied in their own right. They illuminate issues of gender and sexuality; the history of the book; Georgian architecture, domesticity and household structures; urban c ....Gender, sexuality and class as represented in the literature associated with adultery trials in Britain c.1760-1830. Using an interdisciplinary methodology, this project will examine the texts relating to trials for adultery in Britain c.1760-1830. While they have been examined by historians of divorce, the trials have not been studied in their own right. They illuminate issues of gender and sexuality; the history of the book; Georgian architecture, domesticity and household structures; urban culture, particularly leisure and sociability; master-servant relations; and class relations, particularly the impact of the rise of professional groups. The project will investigate the meanings of adultery as a contribution to the histories of sexuality, the public sphere and gender.Read moreRead less
Hannah Arendt, Émigré Intellectuals, and the Ethos of World Literature. My project will bring an inspiring movement of ethical resistance to the dehumanising forces of fascism, nationalism, and parochialism to the Australian public's attention. It will help ensure that Australia, a nation that now successfully exports its literature to the world, is also at the centre of a fruitful dialogue about methods of research and interpretation appropriate to the study of the world's literatures. It will ....Hannah Arendt, Émigré Intellectuals, and the Ethos of World Literature. My project will bring an inspiring movement of ethical resistance to the dehumanising forces of fascism, nationalism, and parochialism to the Australian public's attention. It will help ensure that Australia, a nation that now successfully exports its literature to the world, is also at the centre of a fruitful dialogue about methods of research and interpretation appropriate to the study of the world's literatures. It will address the relative paucity of the historiography and theory of comparative literature in Australian Universities and suggest the educational and moral value of comparative literature studies for future generations of Australian students.Read moreRead less
Testimonial narratives in the post-colonial era. This project aims to benefit the Australian public by analysing some of the ways testimony has been used as a means of coming to terms with the past in Australia. It aims to amplify the significance of Australian collections, such as the Bringing Them Home Oral History archive at the National Library, both within Australia and internationally, and thereby bring Australian materials and experiences into transnational discussions of testimony and co ....Testimonial narratives in the post-colonial era. This project aims to benefit the Australian public by analysing some of the ways testimony has been used as a means of coming to terms with the past in Australia. It aims to amplify the significance of Australian collections, such as the Bringing Them Home Oral History archive at the National Library, both within Australia and internationally, and thereby bring Australian materials and experiences into transnational discussions of testimony and contested histories. It aims to benefit the research communities in Canada and Australia by providing an interpretative framework for researching and teaching testimonial materials, and by strengthening links between the two countries.Read moreRead less
Wild Man from Borneo: species, race, representation. This project addresses the representation of species boundaries in Western accounts of the orangutan in the 19th and 20th centuries. Darwinian theory raised the possibility that animals could ?evolve?. Orangutans seemed ?closest? to humans and therefore raised key questions about the border between humans and animals. These questions were addressed in a vast range of scientific, popular, imaginative and juvenile literature. Even when ecolo ....Wild Man from Borneo: species, race, representation. This project addresses the representation of species boundaries in Western accounts of the orangutan in the 19th and 20th centuries. Darwinian theory raised the possibility that animals could ?evolve?. Orangutans seemed ?closest? to humans and therefore raised key questions about the border between humans and animals. These questions were addressed in a vast range of scientific, popular, imaginative and juvenile literature. Even when ecological models of the environment shifted attention from evolutionary potential to ecological role, orangutans retained a special status as ?sentinel? species. This project will produce a monograph examining the construction, maintenance and erosion of ideas of species boundaries.Read moreRead less