Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget the Victimisation of Minorities in the Past. We will analyse how the victimisation of minorities is publicly and collectively remembered in a range of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Peru, Chile and the USA. We will identify key factors that enable democratic societies to work towards historical justice. By exploring how memories are contested and how communities ....Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget the Victimisation of Minorities in the Past. We will analyse how the victimisation of minorities is publicly and collectively remembered in a range of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Peru, Chile and the USA. We will identify key factors that enable democratic societies to work towards historical justice. By exploring how memories are contested and how communities actively negotiate the legacies of the past, we will address issues of crucial contemporary concern. The project will provide research training and international experience for a postdoctoral fellow and three doctoral students in an area at the cutting edge of the humanities and social sciences.Read moreRead less
Consumer Culture: the influence of economics on modern theories and practices of sexual psychology. The project has implications for a wide range of public debates in Australia today, including debates about the ethics and psychology of the pornography industry and the pervasive use of the ‘sex sells’ principle in marketing and entertainment. It will produce new knowledge and understanding of how psychological theory has been used to rationalise the commercialisation of sex in consumer culture a ....Consumer Culture: the influence of economics on modern theories and practices of sexual psychology. The project has implications for a wide range of public debates in Australia today, including debates about the ethics and psychology of the pornography industry and the pervasive use of the ‘sex sells’ principle in marketing and entertainment. It will produce new knowledge and understanding of how psychological theory has been used to rationalise the commercialisation of sex in consumer culture and how modern rhetoric of sexual liberation have been shaped by the very economic concerns they purport to repudiate. Finally, the project will advance the knowledge-base of key disciplines in the new humanities and enhance Australia's reputation for groundbreaking research in cultural history and analysis.Read moreRead less
Oceanic Encounters: colonial and contemporary transformations of gender and sexuality in the Pacific. This project innovatively combines an analysis of past and contemporary configurations of gender and sexuality across the Pacific, using historical and ethnographic methods to address interconnected questions about women, men and transgendered persons. It situates dynamic transformations of gender and sexuality in cross-cultural encounters wherein indigenous and exogenous patterns creatively com ....Oceanic Encounters: colonial and contemporary transformations of gender and sexuality in the Pacific. This project innovatively combines an analysis of past and contemporary configurations of gender and sexuality across the Pacific, using historical and ethnographic methods to address interconnected questions about women, men and transgendered persons. It situates dynamic transformations of gender and sexuality in cross-cultural encounters wherein indigenous and exogenous patterns creatively combined. It focuses successively on four epochs and processes: the Cook voyages in the late eighteenth century; Christian conversion from the nineteenth century and the changing fabric of femininities; parallel transformations of masculinities with Christian conversion and male migrant labour and contemporary reconfigurations of gender liminality in relation to homosexuality.Read moreRead less
LGBTQ Migrations: Life Story Narratives in the South Australian GLAM Sector. This project investigates the role gender and sexual diversity play in migration and mobility to South Australia 1950-1999 and how stories of migration can be collected and preserved. Histories in relation to interstate, international, and global migration into South Australia exist, however there is a significant need to address the lack of knowledge on, and record of, how minority sexuality and gender influenced movin ....LGBTQ Migrations: Life Story Narratives in the South Australian GLAM Sector. This project investigates the role gender and sexual diversity play in migration and mobility to South Australia 1950-1999 and how stories of migration can be collected and preserved. Histories in relation to interstate, international, and global migration into South Australia exist, however there is a significant need to address the lack of knowledge on, and record of, how minority sexuality and gender influenced moving to South Australia. Limited information prevents a full understanding of migration histories. This project works with the History Trust of South Australia to address a recognised and strategic need for greater inclusiveness of gender and sexual diversity in the context of migration. Read moreRead less
The Humanities beyond Humanism: Race, Nature and the Human in Australia from Enlightenment to Federation. This Project injects much needed specificity into the emotive and circular logic of racism that characterises accounts of settler/indigenous history in Australia. In so far as Australia's Aboriginal people defied enlightenment/colonial ideas about humans as separate from nature, they shook the very foundations of western humanism. In crediting Aboriginal people with this impact on European k ....The Humanities beyond Humanism: Race, Nature and the Human in Australia from Enlightenment to Federation. This Project injects much needed specificity into the emotive and circular logic of racism that characterises accounts of settler/indigenous history in Australia. In so far as Australia's Aboriginal people defied enlightenment/colonial ideas about humans as separate from nature, they shook the very foundations of western humanism. In crediting Aboriginal people with this impact on European knowledge and self-regard, the Project carries forward the critique of Australia's settlement from a fresh perspective. It challenges the persistent tendency of Australians to write Aborigines into nature, and forces a novel revision in thought about what it means to be 'properly human'.Read moreRead less
Policing noise: the sounds of civility in British discourse, from 1700 to 1850. This project will explore how the British discourse on civility, at home and abroad, was decisively shaped by perceptions of and judgments about the noises of both civil and uncivil activity from 1700 to 1850. This project aims to recover and convey the rarely heard sonic register of civility.
Rethinking Zoo Biology: The Histories, Effects and Futures of Captivity. This project aims to transform our understanding of the captive management of wild animals by examining the histories, effects and potential futures of zoo biology. It expects to clarify, synthesise and generate knowledge in the history and philosophy of zoo biology using interdisciplinary approaches to the intersection of human and animal lives. Expected outcomes of this project include international and interdisciplinary ....Rethinking Zoo Biology: The Histories, Effects and Futures of Captivity. This project aims to transform our understanding of the captive management of wild animals by examining the histories, effects and potential futures of zoo biology. It expects to clarify, synthesise and generate knowledge in the history and philosophy of zoo biology using interdisciplinary approaches to the intersection of human and animal lives. Expected outcomes of this project include international and interdisciplinary collaborations that will develop sophisticated methods and conceptual resources for understanding and improving human-wildlife relations. This will provide significant environmental and social benefits, protecting threatened biological communities and helping them to flourish alongside people in changing conditions.Read moreRead less
Frontiers of Australian science popularisation. This project details Australia's role in science popularisation in the 1960s and 1970s, when the boundary between science fiction and science fact was often blurred. The project will explore how popular science of that era framed today's crucial issues of climate change, overpopulation and space exploration.
Authenticity: Globalisation and Indigenous Culture. Who speaks for the Fourth World? Why is there an obsession with 'authenticity' whenever Indigenous people are being discussed? This study explores those questions by examining a combination of sources, ranging from international museum collections to the advertising campaigns of multinational companies; from literature to the cultural festivals of the Olympic Games. The research is original, comparative, empirical. It explores the intersectio ....Authenticity: Globalisation and Indigenous Culture. Who speaks for the Fourth World? Why is there an obsession with 'authenticity' whenever Indigenous people are being discussed? This study explores those questions by examining a combination of sources, ranging from international museum collections to the advertising campaigns of multinational companies; from literature to the cultural festivals of the Olympic Games. The research is original, comparative, empirical. It explores the intersections between postcolonial and cultural studies to speak -- not for Indigenous peoples -- but to the non-Indigenous representation of First Nations. Why? Because this provides key insights into the future of race relations in western democracies.Read moreRead less
Mobile Indonesians: social differentiation and digital literacies in the twenty first century. This is the first dedicated study of the social implications of mobile telephony's recent and rapid popularisation throughout the country. This project will study metropolitan, urban and rural users to understand how mobile phones create the new and unexpected social networks which will shape tomorrow's Indonesians.