Empowering Australia: Collecting and Interpreting the Material Culture of Australian Technology in New South Wales, 1880-1972. In Australian social history, the industrial museum occupies an important but largely forgotten place. Today, Sydney's exciting Powerhouse Museum is increasingly conscious of its legacy and lineage, dating from its creation as the Technological and Sanitary Museum of 1880. Nevertheless, much of the material culture of manufacture and innovation that lies in its collect ....Empowering Australia: Collecting and Interpreting the Material Culture of Australian Technology in New South Wales, 1880-1972. In Australian social history, the industrial museum occupies an important but largely forgotten place. Today, Sydney's exciting Powerhouse Museum is increasingly conscious of its legacy and lineage, dating from its creation as the Technological and Sanitary Museum of 1880. Nevertheless, much of the material culture of manufacture and innovation that lies in its collections remains uninterpreted and inaccessible to historians and the public. This project seeks to 'recover' the past of the Museum, and its role in Sydney's heritage of research, design and the applied arts; and to demonstrate the dynamic relevance of historical research to the Museum's present and forward plannning.Read moreRead less
How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. This project aims to produce an authoritative and original interpretation of the Wild Australia Show (1892–93), staged by a diverse company of Aboriginal people for metropolitan audiences. The Show will be the focus of an interdisciplinary study of performance, photography, collections and race relations in colonial Australia, using archival and visual ....How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. This project aims to produce an authoritative and original interpretation of the Wild Australia Show (1892–93), staged by a diverse company of Aboriginal people for metropolitan audiences. The Show will be the focus of an interdisciplinary study of performance, photography, collections and race relations in colonial Australia, using archival and visual records. The project will situate the Show in local, national and transnational narratives informed by contemporary Indigenous perspectives. This research should illuminate Aboriginal agency in the ensemble, reconnect Aboriginal kin to performers, and chart changing concepts of race at a critical juncture in Australian history.Read moreRead less
Return, reconcile, renew: understanding the history, effects and opportunities of repatriation and building an evidence base for the future. The repatriation of ancestral remains is an extraordinary Indigenous achievement and inter-cultural development of the past 40 years. This international project will provide critical new knowledge to understand repatriation, its history and effects and will provide scholarly and public outcomes that empower community-based research and practice.
Domestic Subversions: maternalism and cross-cultural histories. This project will assist in the processes of reconciliation, by fostering a sense of a shared history, and increasing public awareness of the complexity of race relations histories in Australia. It will redress a significant gap in Australian knowledge and literature. Very little is known about the history of Aboriginal domestic workers and their relationships with their white employers in Australia, despite growing awareness of the ....Domestic Subversions: maternalism and cross-cultural histories. This project will assist in the processes of reconciliation, by fostering a sense of a shared history, and increasing public awareness of the complexity of race relations histories in Australia. It will redress a significant gap in Australian knowledge and literature. Very little is known about the history of Aboriginal domestic workers and their relationships with their white employers in Australia, despite growing awareness of the significance of domestic service in Aboriginal child removal policies. The project will also assist in establishing Australian historical scholarship at the forefront of leading international research initiatives in gender, race and colonialism studies. Read moreRead less
Aftermaths of War: Violence, Trauma, Displacement, 1815-1950. This project aims to investigate the cultural, social and psychological aftermaths of wars between 1815 to 1950 from a comparative, transnational perspective. By connecting the displacement of people, the brutalization of warfare and the trauma associated with it, this study will offer a broader and more complex understanding of the experience of civilians and combatants in the wake of armed conflicts. In so doing, it will challenge t ....Aftermaths of War: Violence, Trauma, Displacement, 1815-1950. This project aims to investigate the cultural, social and psychological aftermaths of wars between 1815 to 1950 from a comparative, transnational perspective. By connecting the displacement of people, the brutalization of warfare and the trauma associated with it, this study will offer a broader and more complex understanding of the experience of civilians and combatants in the wake of armed conflicts. In so doing, it will challenge traditional periodizations which delineate between periods of war and peace, and seek to uncover the profound legacies of war not just within but beyond nation states. This will prompt a re-evaluation of our understanding of what constitutes warfare and its aftermaths.Read moreRead less
The International Context of American Conservation Policy, c. 1900-1920. This project provides historical depth to current global concerns on resource depletion in fossil fuels, and to the clamour for international environmental cooperation that is of vital interest to Australia. It will explains why and how earlier concerns arose, and how these were allayed or deflected. It will highlight the importance of cultural rather than scientific issues in these controversies, showing how the American ....The International Context of American Conservation Policy, c. 1900-1920. This project provides historical depth to current global concerns on resource depletion in fossil fuels, and to the clamour for international environmental cooperation that is of vital interest to Australia. It will explains why and how earlier concerns arose, and how these were allayed or deflected. It will highlight the importance of cultural rather than scientific issues in these controversies, showing how the American political system generated interest in international environmental problems, and yet made agreements difficult to achieve. It will deepen knowledge, enrich cultural understanding of the United States and contribute to Australia's international research profile in the field.Read moreRead less
The politics of reading: Citizenship, law, and literacy in England, 1867-1960. This research addresses problems that resonate powerfully in contemporary debates: the relationship between freedom and responsibility, and the relationship between political rights, education and literacy. Knowing how people living in another age and a different society -- but one to which Australia is bound by a complex of legal, political and cultural traditions -- wrestled with questions that are still with us wil ....The politics of reading: Citizenship, law, and literacy in England, 1867-1960. This research addresses problems that resonate powerfully in contemporary debates: the relationship between freedom and responsibility, and the relationship between political rights, education and literacy. Knowing how people living in another age and a different society -- but one to which Australia is bound by a complex of legal, political and cultural traditions -- wrestled with questions that are still with us will add depth and sensitivity to our understanding of the bases and limits of a democratic culture.Read moreRead less
Interrogating the Book of Negroes:explorations of slavery and freedom in the Atlantic world in the era of the American Revolution. Australia is a close political ally of the United States and an avid consumer of their culture, so it is important we be contributors to American culture and society, not simply passive recipients of its products. Since Rhys Issac won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983, Australians have shown they can be at the cutting edge of American intellectual life, demonstrating an inn ....Interrogating the Book of Negroes:explorations of slavery and freedom in the Atlantic world in the era of the American Revolution. Australia is a close political ally of the United States and an avid consumer of their culture, so it is important we be contributors to American culture and society, not simply passive recipients of its products. Since Rhys Issac won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983, Australians have shown they can be at the cutting edge of American intellectual life, demonstrating an innovative engagement with the historical processes that formed this powerful nation. A project led by Australian scholars to examine the paradox of liberty in the nation's founding will further enhance the international profile of Australian scholars, thus attracting more overseas university students, who represent a significant source of export income.Read moreRead less
The International History of Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism, 1814-1822. We cannot understand our entrapment in nationalism until we unravel the history of its complex inter-relationship with cosmopolitanism. This project excavates an understanding of politics and community that offers alternatives to the current global impasse. The moment in the past I will study was the origin of our present predicament, namely the inescapability of nationalism for the cosmopolitan and of cosmopolitanism for t ....The International History of Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism, 1814-1822. We cannot understand our entrapment in nationalism until we unravel the history of its complex inter-relationship with cosmopolitanism. This project excavates an understanding of politics and community that offers alternatives to the current global impasse. The moment in the past I will study was the origin of our present predicament, namely the inescapability of nationalism for the cosmopolitan and of cosmopolitanism for the nationalist. This project will consolidate the significance of Australian scholarship to a field that is critical to understanding our choices and destinies in a global society. It will make Australia the headquarters of a new international history that investigates the relevance of the past to policy-making.Read moreRead less
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