Facing new worlds: comparative histories of Australasia and North America. This project aims to develop comparative research into Indigenous and settler experiences in Australasia and North America in order to discover new connections or distinctions between the two regions for both public and academic audiences. The project will centre on a major exhibition with a focus on biography and life representation and will develop new methodologies for examining the shared or different histories of com ....Facing new worlds: comparative histories of Australasia and North America. This project aims to develop comparative research into Indigenous and settler experiences in Australasia and North America in order to discover new connections or distinctions between the two regions for both public and academic audiences. The project will centre on a major exhibition with a focus on biography and life representation and will develop new methodologies for examining the shared or different histories of complex indigenous-settler relations across "New World" sites. The expected outcomes of this project are to promote a deeper appreciation of Australia’s place in a Pacific world with as yet unexplored links to the Americas, and also to model new ways for art history and socio-cultural history to come together to explicate a shared, complicated past.Read moreRead less
Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Austr ....Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Australia’s largest cities are under growing pressure from environmental change and population growth. Project findings will inform the development of policies and practices that produce sustainable, equitable urban water systems.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101770
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$327,841.00
Summary
Secularism and Philosophy: The Challenge of Spinozism. With the resurgence of religious conflict throughout the world, the question of secularism has acquired renewed importance. Nowhere has the plausibility of a secular worldview been more rigorously debated than within the history of philosophy, and no philosopher has aroused more controversy on this subject than Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677). This project will result in the first history of Spinozism's pivotal role in the history of secular ....Secularism and Philosophy: The Challenge of Spinozism. With the resurgence of religious conflict throughout the world, the question of secularism has acquired renewed importance. Nowhere has the plausibility of a secular worldview been more rigorously debated than within the history of philosophy, and no philosopher has aroused more controversy on this subject than Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677). This project will result in the first history of Spinozism's pivotal role in the history of secularism, focusing on three distinct episodes of philosophical conflict generated by Spinoza's thought from the late eighteenth century to the present. The study will make clear that secularism is not simply a social and political phenomenon, but a philosophical conundrum, thus far irresolvable.Read moreRead less
Anzac Day at home and abroad: a centenary history of Australia's national day. Australia is fast approaching the centenary of Anzac Day and many believe this is the one day of the year that captures the spirit of the nation. This project will examine Anzac Day's complex and much contested history, retrieving private and collective memories of war through archival research and novel and participatory public history.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100578
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$308,820.00
Summary
Aristotle's Australia: Civic Republicanism from Federation to the Apology. This project seeks to examine the impact of civic republican ideas in Australia. It will be argued that civic republicanism represents a unique understanding of freedom and that these ideas have shaped the national consciousness. Can the cult of White Australia, the conscription debates, the campaigns for women’s and Indigenous rights be better understood through the prism of civic republicanism? Building on significant r ....Aristotle's Australia: Civic Republicanism from Federation to the Apology. This project seeks to examine the impact of civic republican ideas in Australia. It will be argued that civic republicanism represents a unique understanding of freedom and that these ideas have shaped the national consciousness. Can the cult of White Australia, the conscription debates, the campaigns for women’s and Indigenous rights be better understood through the prism of civic republicanism? Building on significant revisionist works, this project plans to examine key moments in Australia's democratic evolution and suggest that an Aristotelian concept of virtue, in opposition to both liberalism and conservatism, has been a crucial defining factor. This project aims to broaden our understanding of Australian history and the principles that shape our democracy.Read moreRead less
The past in the present: Australian lesbian and gay life stories. This project will use oral history to record the past and present experiences of lesbian and gay Australians, making this material accessible through the National Library of Australia, an online exhibition and a television documentary series. The project will inform and enrich Australian history and add a new dimension to contemporary debates.
An Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography. The project will research Indigenous biography through collaboration between Indigenous researchers and the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly underrepresented in the ADB. The project will work with Indigenous communities to produce the Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography, a supplementary volume of the ADB on 190 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for use by ....An Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography. The project will research Indigenous biography through collaboration between Indigenous researchers and the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly underrepresented in the ADB. The project will work with Indigenous communities to produce the Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography, a supplementary volume of the ADB on 190 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for use by scholars, students, and the public, and publish research articles that reframe Indigenous biographical practice. The project aims to foster reconciliation, national knowledge and pride in the ancient and modern contribution of Indigenous Australians to the nation, and to facilitate Indigenous participation at all levels of research and production.Read moreRead less
Developing a national rural volunteering roadmap. This project aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia. Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering. Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial ....Developing a national rural volunteering roadmap. This project aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia. Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering. Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial map of volunteering unevenness, leading to the development of an evidence-based National Rural Volunteering Roadmap (2025-2035), which will guide our volunteering peak body partners, governments and rural communities to plan for and support rural volunteering over the longer-term.Read moreRead less
Sexual Offences, Legal Responses and Public Perceptions: 1880s-1980s. Testimony of sexual abuse before the current Royal Commission has exposed the historic neglect and cover-up of institutional offences. Yet, to unearth the deeper and wider dimensions of sexual offending requires scholarly historical analysis. This project aims to use qualitative and quantitative analysis to track how and why certain forms of sexual behaviour sparked public concern and provoked legal responses and public inquir ....Sexual Offences, Legal Responses and Public Perceptions: 1880s-1980s. Testimony of sexual abuse before the current Royal Commission has exposed the historic neglect and cover-up of institutional offences. Yet, to unearth the deeper and wider dimensions of sexual offending requires scholarly historical analysis. This project aims to use qualitative and quantitative analysis to track how and why certain forms of sexual behaviour sparked public concern and provoked legal responses and public inquiries from the 1880s to the 1980s. The systematic examination of these patterns through archival and published documents is intended to test the relation between shifting community and political concerns and the conduct of criminal trials.Read moreRead less
Women and leadership in a century of Australian democracy. This examination of Australian women leaders addresses the National Research Priority area, frontier technologies. Six Partner Organisations benefit through the use of new technologies that enrich their resources and disseminate new knowledge through websites, exhibitions and conferences. The returns to the broader Australian community include increased awareness of women's record of active organisational contribution including leadershi ....Women and leadership in a century of Australian democracy. This examination of Australian women leaders addresses the National Research Priority area, frontier technologies. Six Partner Organisations benefit through the use of new technologies that enrich their resources and disseminate new knowledge through websites, exhibitions and conferences. The returns to the broader Australian community include increased awareness of women's record of active organisational contribution including leadership in Indigenous, rural and migrant community organisations, in NGOs, social movements and unions. By identifying the contribution of women's leadership, nationally and internationally, the project offers Australian girls and women of diverse backgrounds encouragement to exercise their own capacities for agency and change.Read moreRead less