A textual and critical study of Charlotte Brontë. This project aims to reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s original novels, which are stranger, more unsettling, and more artistically and socially challenging than the available editions lead readers to believe. This strangeness, so apparent in her manuscripts, is moderated in all print versions of the novels because Brontë’s punctuation was radically altered by the printers who altered them for the first editions, with profound effects on the novels a ....A textual and critical study of Charlotte Brontë. This project aims to reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s original novels, which are stranger, more unsettling, and more artistically and socially challenging than the available editions lead readers to believe. This strangeness, so apparent in her manuscripts, is moderated in all print versions of the novels because Brontë’s punctuation was radically altered by the printers who altered them for the first editions, with profound effects on the novels and their interpretation. This project will restore the original versions in a new scholarly print/digital edition, reproduce them along with the print versions in an innovative online critical archive of Brontë texts and contexts and analyse them in a book-length reinterpretation of the novels. In collaboration with prestigious international cultural institutions including The British Library, Morgan Library and Brontë Parsonage Museum, this project will create new ways for the general public to engage closely with some of the most important and least accessible documents of western literary heritage.
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Cross-Cultural Lives: a Study of Narratives by Migrants Between Languages. This project examines recent autobiographies of non-English-speaking migrants to Australia and investigates ways in which immigrants into a new language are challenged to become different persons, and how particular individuals respond to this challenge. It combines the disciplines of literary, cultural and ethnic studies to address issues profoundly affecting Australia as a multi-ethnic society. It seeks to identify some ....Cross-Cultural Lives: a Study of Narratives by Migrants Between Languages. This project examines recent autobiographies of non-English-speaking migrants to Australia and investigates ways in which immigrants into a new language are challenged to become different persons, and how particular individuals respond to this challenge. It combines the disciplines of literary, cultural and ethnic studies to address issues profoundly affecting Australia as a multi-ethnic society. It seeks to identify some essential prerequisites for cross-culturally sensitive education programs, taking into account an individual's need for psychological and linguistic continuity. At the same time it opens a new theoretical perspective for literary and cross-cultural studies, based on close study of life-writing by migrants.Read moreRead less
Mission texts and the representation of Africa in America 1870-1914. Australia is now firmly linked to America in cultural and political terms. This project helps us to understand how American attitudes to overseas expansion came about in the period when America was expanding its control on its own continent and in the world at large. Explanations of this to date have neglected to examine the role of religious organisations and texts in promoting the ideas of other peoples and cultures which fo ....Mission texts and the representation of Africa in America 1870-1914. Australia is now firmly linked to America in cultural and political terms. This project helps us to understand how American attitudes to overseas expansion came about in the period when America was expanding its control on its own continent and in the world at large. Explanations of this to date have neglected to examine the role of religious organisations and texts in promoting the ideas of other peoples and cultures which formed America's modern attitude to the world beyond its shores. As religion becomes increasingly recognised as a powerful factor in identity politics this project helps us to understand the roots of this connection and apply the knowledge to our current situation.Read moreRead less
"The Whole Map of the Balkans": Ethnicity, National Identity and Empire in the Work of Ismail Kadare. The Albanian intellectual, Ismail Kadare, foreshadowed the re-valorization of ethnic identity as a socio-political category under late 20th century communism. While Kadare's novels and essays deal primarily with his native Albania, they also represent the emergence more broadly of ethnicity as a factor in the literature of Eastern and South-Eastern European socialism. The project will explore in ...."The Whole Map of the Balkans": Ethnicity, National Identity and Empire in the Work of Ismail Kadare. The Albanian intellectual, Ismail Kadare, foreshadowed the re-valorization of ethnic identity as a socio-political category under late 20th century communism. While Kadare's novels and essays deal primarily with his native Albania, they also represent the emergence more broadly of ethnicity as a factor in the literature of Eastern and South-Eastern European socialism. The project will explore in depth the relationship between ethnicity, ideology and socialist literary culture that underpins Kadare's work, providing the first detailed analytical and critical study in English, and locating Kadare in the context of the major lines of contemporary European thought regarding ethnicity and ethnic identity.Read moreRead less
Enduring diversity: a history of multilingualism in Italy. This project will question several assumptions which have shaped the official histories of language as well as the language policies of several major European countries. This will be a useful contribution to debates on social policy in a country like Australia with its varied migrant populations, since the place of languages other than English often arises in debates on education, immigration and provision of social services at State and ....Enduring diversity: a history of multilingualism in Italy. This project will question several assumptions which have shaped the official histories of language as well as the language policies of several major European countries. This will be a useful contribution to debates on social policy in a country like Australia with its varied migrant populations, since the place of languages other than English often arises in debates on education, immigration and provision of social services at State and Federal level. Italian is still the most widely spoken language in Australia after English, and a new understanding of the history of language in Italy will contribute to a deeper awareness of the realities and problems of migrants and their descendants here.Read moreRead less