INVENTING PERFECT AUSTRALIAN WOMANHOOD: THE MISS AUSTRALIA QUEST AND THE ROLE OF DISABILITY IN POSTWAR AUSTRALIA. The Miss Australia Quest articulated the concept of perfect white womanhood in the postwar era. Sponsored by a major charity, the Spastics League, the Quest sought to locate representatives of conventional womanhood yet who had exemplary appearance, poise and moral virtue. Bodily and moral perfection ran counter to the sponsoring organisation which dealt with the severely disabled. ....INVENTING PERFECT AUSTRALIAN WOMANHOOD: THE MISS AUSTRALIA QUEST AND THE ROLE OF DISABILITY IN POSTWAR AUSTRALIA. The Miss Australia Quest articulated the concept of perfect white womanhood in the postwar era. Sponsored by a major charity, the Spastics League, the Quest sought to locate representatives of conventional womanhood yet who had exemplary appearance, poise and moral virtue. Bodily and moral perfection ran counter to the sponsoring organisation which dealt with the severely disabled. With competitions held throughout the Commonwealth, the finalists were designated by their state of origin. Hence both regions and then states competed alongside individuals. The broadcast of the Quest was a major television event until 1986. An analysis of the Quest allows interrogation of the role of fundraising for charity, the construction of celebrity, the nature of idealised young womanhood and interstate rivalries. Scholarly articles and a book alongside a projected exhibition at the new National Museum of Australia are anticipated.Read moreRead less
Letters between Vance and Nettie Palmer, 1909-1959: The Complete Correspondence. Nettie and Vance Palmer were two highly influential national figures, of considerable significance in literary and cultural circles especially in the inter-war period. This project, the preparation of Collected Letters, will considerably extend knowledge of their public contribution to cultural production in Australia and also of their private lives. It will provide a vital reference tool for historians, literary ....Letters between Vance and Nettie Palmer, 1909-1959: The Complete Correspondence. Nettie and Vance Palmer were two highly influential national figures, of considerable significance in literary and cultural circles especially in the inter-war period. This project, the preparation of Collected Letters, will considerably extend knowledge of their public contribution to cultural production in Australia and also of their private lives. It will provide a vital reference tool for historians, literary critics, biographers and scholars as well as be entertaining and compelling for the general reader. As a highly innovative example of the genre of the edited letter, in retrieving these writings of two gifted individuals, Australia's cultural heritage will be enriched.Read moreRead less
Eureka's Women: An Intimate History of Sex, Class and Culture on the Victorian Goldfields. This project will be the first systematic study of the role of women in an iconic event in Australian history - the Eureka Stockade. The research will challenge the prevailing representation of Eureka as a hyper-masculine episode - male passions inflamed, male blood shed, manhood suffrage won - by providing a unique gender perspective to a familiar narrative. My hypothesis is that women were intimately and ....Eureka's Women: An Intimate History of Sex, Class and Culture on the Victorian Goldfields. This project will be the first systematic study of the role of women in an iconic event in Australian history - the Eureka Stockade. The research will challenge the prevailing representation of Eureka as a hyper-masculine episode - male passions inflamed, male blood shed, manhood suffrage won - by providing a unique gender perspective to a familiar narrative. My hypothesis is that women were intimately and inextricably involved in the events at Eureka, as they were more generally in the political and cultural life of the Victorian goldfields. The research findings will contribute to ongoing debates about the meaning of the Eureka story for Australian identity, citizenship and democracy.Read moreRead less
Lost Generation: Women Writers and Postwar Modernity. This project will restore a 'lost generation' of Australian women writers to, and reconfigure the meanings of, literary culture in the post-World War 2 years. 1945-65 is a key period of Australian cultural development that is under-researched but over-laden with stereotypes, which still frame and restrict our understanding of it. A fuller and more complex picture of Australian modernity and modernism will be gained by placing women centrally ....Lost Generation: Women Writers and Postwar Modernity. This project will restore a 'lost generation' of Australian women writers to, and reconfigure the meanings of, literary culture in the post-World War 2 years. 1945-65 is a key period of Australian cultural development that is under-researched but over-laden with stereotypes, which still frame and restrict our understanding of it. A fuller and more complex picture of Australian modernity and modernism will be gained by placing women centrally in the picture, and by placing the Australian case within the international field. Such an enhanced understanding of the past is essential for us to have a more productive and harmonious future, and to play a significant role internationally.Read moreRead less
Ayahs and Amahs: Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945. This project looks at female domestic care workers from India and China who travelled to Australia and elsewhere during the period of British colonialism. Accompanying colonial families along circuits of empire between Australia, Asia, and the UK over two centuries, these were extraordinarily mobile women. By exploring the historical experiences and cultural memories of these earliest global domestic workers, the project ....Ayahs and Amahs: Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945. This project looks at female domestic care workers from India and China who travelled to Australia and elsewhere during the period of British colonialism. Accompanying colonial families along circuits of empire between Australia, Asia, and the UK over two centuries, these were extraordinarily mobile women. By exploring the historical experiences and cultural memories of these earliest global domestic workers, the project aims to illuminate a broader transcolonial history of domestic work. Expected outcomes include a number of publications and a website; and the project offers the social and cultural benefits to be gained by advancing our historical understanding of the forgotten cross-cultural relationships that have shaped our world today.Read moreRead less
Sentimental blokes: a cultural history of working-class masculinities in Australia, 1850-1929. For decades now, therapists, academics and activists have called for Australian men to be more emotionally articulate. This is necessary in part because stereotypes of Australian masculinity emphasise hostility towards emotion, especially sentimental emotion. By demonstrating the significance of masculine sentimentality in Australia's past, this project will help to change this. Drawing on the insights ....Sentimental blokes: a cultural history of working-class masculinities in Australia, 1850-1929. For decades now, therapists, academics and activists have called for Australian men to be more emotionally articulate. This is necessary in part because stereotypes of Australian masculinity emphasise hostility towards emotion, especially sentimental emotion. By demonstrating the significance of masculine sentimentality in Australia's past, this project will help to change this. Drawing on the insights of theatre and cultural studies and publishing in diverse forums, it will also bring a more interdisciplinary dimension to the history of Australian masculinities. Further, it will make Australian material relevant to international scholarship on emotional history, the relationship between class and gender, and gendered subjectivities.Read moreRead less
Has Feminism Failed the Family? A History of Equality, Law and Reform. The research will examine the history of legal reform since the introduction of the Family Law Act. As such, it will provide a broader perspective to feminist and conservative criticisms of gender bias and legal unfairness in the operation of a family law system understood to be based on equality principles. The project's outcomes will be of immediate significance therefore to policy makers, as well as to the divergent groups ....Has Feminism Failed the Family? A History of Equality, Law and Reform. The research will examine the history of legal reform since the introduction of the Family Law Act. As such, it will provide a broader perspective to feminist and conservative criticisms of gender bias and legal unfairness in the operation of a family law system understood to be based on equality principles. The project's outcomes will be of immediate significance therefore to policy makers, as well as to the divergent groups who currently research legal and government regulation of families and family breakdown. Further, the project will enhance national knowledge by contributing to the historical understanding of Australia's immediate past.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101854
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Whose family values? the Christian right and sexual politics in postsecular Australia. This project will expand knowledge of the relationship between sexuality and religion in 'post-secular Australia'. It will show how connections between religion, sex, love and romance have evolved in the recent historical past and advance cultural understanding of conflicts between religious liberty and sexual discrimination.
Thomas Griffith Taylor (1880-1963): Visions of 'Man and Nature' in the Twentieth Century. This project will enhance Australians' appreciation of environmental problems as complex historical issues. Since scientists have recently rediscovered Thomas Griffith Taylor, an Australian geographer who studied climate, sustainability and settlement in the early to mid 20th century, it is timely that he also be reassessed by humanities scholars. By fully historicising environmental ideas of the recent pas ....Thomas Griffith Taylor (1880-1963): Visions of 'Man and Nature' in the Twentieth Century. This project will enhance Australians' appreciation of environmental problems as complex historical issues. Since scientists have recently rediscovered Thomas Griffith Taylor, an Australian geographer who studied climate, sustainability and settlement in the early to mid 20th century, it is timely that he also be reassessed by humanities scholars. By fully historicising environmental ideas of the recent past, this project will clarify and focus public debate on climate and the environment in the present and future.Read moreRead less
The popular culture of romantic love in twentieth-century Australia. In western culture 'love' is commonly cited as the reason for cohabitation or marriage, yet 46% of marriages are likely to end in divorce in Australia today. This project examines how the culture of romantic love has changed over the course of the twentieth century as changing patterns of work and gender relations, consumerism and the supplanting of spiritual ideals by sexuality and the cult of the body modified representations ....The popular culture of romantic love in twentieth-century Australia. In western culture 'love' is commonly cited as the reason for cohabitation or marriage, yet 46% of marriages are likely to end in divorce in Australia today. This project examines how the culture of romantic love has changed over the course of the twentieth century as changing patterns of work and gender relations, consumerism and the supplanting of spiritual ideals by sexuality and the cult of the body modified representations of love in literature, film and periodicals. The popular discourse of romantic love has transformed expectation of love, placing different demands upon what it is supposed to achieve.Read moreRead less