Slavery, freedom and colonial development: Robert Bostock and his legacy. Understanding our nation and our world is one of the major challenges facing Australia in the present day. West Africa, a region perceived by most Australians to be distant and incomprehensible, increasingly has an effect on Australia and other western nations which is little understood. This project will help to ensure that Australian scholarship remains at the cutting edge of research into slave studies and colonial hist ....Slavery, freedom and colonial development: Robert Bostock and his legacy. Understanding our nation and our world is one of the major challenges facing Australia in the present day. West Africa, a region perceived by most Australians to be distant and incomprehensible, increasingly has an effect on Australia and other western nations which is little understood. This project will help to ensure that Australian scholarship remains at the cutting edge of research into slave studies and colonial history more generally, and will bolster international networks of scholars working in this area. It will ensure national input into an issue of major international importance - human trafficking - and promote academic leadership more generally.Read moreRead less
A study of the writings of Alan Paton, a major literary and political figure. The outcome of this project will constitute an important contribution to the current debate in Australia and other Western countries about ethical responses to violence. Alan Paton is a major South African literary and political figure who faced extremism both from his country's government and its opponents. The proposed study of his letters will be an important addition to the literary corpus of one of Africa's fore ....A study of the writings of Alan Paton, a major literary and political figure. The outcome of this project will constitute an important contribution to the current debate in Australia and other Western countries about ethical responses to violence. Alan Paton is a major South African literary and political figure who faced extremism both from his country's government and its opponents. The proposed study of his letters will be an important addition to the literary corpus of one of Africa's foremost thinkers and writers, and will constitute an advance upon and contribution to the body of knowledge about the cultural history of Africa in the twentieth and twenty-first century. The project will raise the profile of Australian scholarship in the field of African literature and history.
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Australia's Black Past: the shared history of transatlantic slave trading and convict transportation to Africa and Australia. Every nation needs an understanding of its past-the significance of this project is that it examines a part of Australia's history that is very little understood. European settlement of the continent was implemented at a time that ideas of race, and the relationship of skin colour to freedom, were altering significantly. These changes had a fundamental effect on the convi ....Australia's Black Past: the shared history of transatlantic slave trading and convict transportation to Africa and Australia. Every nation needs an understanding of its past-the significance of this project is that it examines a part of Australia's history that is very little understood. European settlement of the continent was implemented at a time that ideas of race, and the relationship of skin colour to freedom, were altering significantly. These changes had a fundamental effect on the convict colony and the relationship of the early colonists with the aboriginal people. Only by gaining knowledge of how early racial interpretations were influenced by global events can Australia interpret her ever controversial racial history.
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Sierra Leone and Australia: a case of the vanishing twin. By considering the settlement of Australia as a process within an interconnected global empire the project will increase understanding of our beginnings and inject Australian experience into international scholarship. It will increase our understanding of Africa, 'the world's largest unstable region', which is peculiarly absent from the Australian consciousness. Paul Lovejoy, our international PI, is a world leader in African history, and ....Sierra Leone and Australia: a case of the vanishing twin. By considering the settlement of Australia as a process within an interconnected global empire the project will increase understanding of our beginnings and inject Australian experience into international scholarship. It will increase our understanding of Africa, 'the world's largest unstable region', which is peculiarly absent from the Australian consciousness. Paul Lovejoy, our international PI, is a world leader in African history, and his involvement in this initiative will focus the attention of the international African historical community on Australia. The project will also provide an inclusive historical context to assist the incorporation of a large refugee cohort from Sierra Leone.Read moreRead less
War, Violence, and Apocalyptic-Millenarianism in the Middle East: Talat Pasha and the Foundation of Modern Turkey, 1874-1921. This project considers the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Ottoman entry into the First World War on the side of the Axis powers, and the subsequent demise of the Ottoman Empire in a broad international context. It addresses matters of deep analytical import - state formation, political violence, and genocide - and the relationship between these elements. It focuses in ....War, Violence, and Apocalyptic-Millenarianism in the Middle East: Talat Pasha and the Foundation of Modern Turkey, 1874-1921. This project considers the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Ottoman entry into the First World War on the side of the Axis powers, and the subsequent demise of the Ottoman Empire in a broad international context. It addresses matters of deep analytical import - state formation, political violence, and genocide - and the relationship between these elements. It focuses in particular on the Grand Vizir, Talat Pasha, the founder of the modern Turkish nation-state, and the architect of the Armenian genocide. This history is essential for a contemporary understanding of the most controversial problems - the Kurdish conflict, the Armenian question, Palestine - facing Turkey and the Middle East today. Read moreRead less
Cultural defences against slavery and trafficking. This project aims to study an African slave, Josefa, whose story could inform a debate about slave cultures and understanding of the legacies of slavery. Captured and shipped to Cuba for sale in the 1840s, Josefa kept alive her Sierra Leonean initiation rites. This project will use archival research and filmed oral interviews to discover how and why she managed to do this. Since the same society existed in Sierra Leone until the 1990s and its gi ....Cultural defences against slavery and trafficking. This project aims to study an African slave, Josefa, whose story could inform a debate about slave cultures and understanding of the legacies of slavery. Captured and shipped to Cuba for sale in the 1840s, Josefa kept alive her Sierra Leonean initiation rites. This project will use archival research and filmed oral interviews to discover how and why she managed to do this. Since the same society existed in Sierra Leone until the 1990s and its girls were enslaved in the civil war, this project could offer insight into defences against slavery, and the slave trade’s legacies. This could inform the fight against human trafficking today and Australia’s response to trafficking.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100430
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,424.00
Summary
Global Patterns of Mass Violence: Ottoman Borderlands in Context,1890-1920. This project examines the transformative dimensions of mass violence committed against the minorities of the Ottoman Empire – Armenians, Assyrians, Yazidis, and Greeks – and the historical impact and consequences of the Empire’s violent history on the Balkans and the Levant (Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon). In particular, it highlights the crucial role played by international, inter-state, central, and regional actors, who und ....Global Patterns of Mass Violence: Ottoman Borderlands in Context,1890-1920. This project examines the transformative dimensions of mass violence committed against the minorities of the Ottoman Empire – Armenians, Assyrians, Yazidis, and Greeks – and the historical impact and consequences of the Empire’s violent history on the Balkans and the Levant (Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon). In particular, it highlights the crucial role played by international, inter-state, central, and regional actors, who undertook critical roles in the national and community-building process of the Empire, resulting in the foundation of the new Turkish Republic (1923). It will rethink the classical historical narrative about the emergence of the post-Ottoman Middle East, and seek to understand the wider, global dimensions of mass violence.Read moreRead less
Enduring is the Perfection: State Formation and Socio-Cultural Change in the First Capital of Ancient Egypt (c.3200 to 1069 BCE). This is an unprecedented and systematic investigation of the Egyptian state and its extraordinarily rich society and culture over 2,000 years. It will impact profoundly on the disciplines of World History and Egyptology, confirm Australia as a world leader in ancient Mediterranean studies, and provide exciting new opportunities for academic and cultural exchanges betw ....Enduring is the Perfection: State Formation and Socio-Cultural Change in the First Capital of Ancient Egypt (c.3200 to 1069 BCE). This is an unprecedented and systematic investigation of the Egyptian state and its extraordinarily rich society and culture over 2,000 years. It will impact profoundly on the disciplines of World History and Egyptology, confirm Australia as a world leader in ancient Mediterranean studies, and provide exciting new opportunities for academic and cultural exchanges between our country and the Middle East. By making a major contribution to preserving, interpreting and explaining Egypt's magnificent but imperilled heritage, it will significantly enhance Australia's image there and underwrite our country's strategic and commercial relations with our most important partner in the Arab world. Read moreRead less
Immortal Egypt: cultural tradition and transition during the first intermediate period at Meir. The project will gain new knowledge about the development of ancient Egyptian culture by examining well-preserved tombs dating from the Old through to the Middle Kingdom periods at the cemetery of Meir and analysing the ways in which art, architecture, and socio-religious institutions at the site were maintained or altered over a span of 900 years.
Empires of honour: violence and virtue in colonial societies, 1750-1850. The moral sentiments and moral practices of any society depend on how that society understands honour. This project will show how different concepts of honour clashed or were recreated through global movements of people in the age of empire, and investigate the enduring effects of such contests in the colonial societies of the India-Pacific region.