Reading the Nation: A critical study of Aboriginal/settler representations in the contemporary Australian literary landscape. This project will map literary representations of Aboriginal Australians by non-Aboriginal authors in the post-Mabo period, and the reciprocal representations by Aboriginal Australians. This is a study of the politics of representation that play out between Aboriginal and white Australians in the contemporary literary landscape.
Noongar kaatdijin bidi: Noongar knowledge networks; or, Why is there no Noongar Wikipedia? This project will use the Noongar language to model and assess the extent to which minority languages can thrive by using globally accessible internet technologies. It will generate critical insights into the relations between knowledge, culture and technology and investigate how oral and informal knowledge sources can be accessed for a text-based website in the digital era. The outcomes of this project wi ....Noongar kaatdijin bidi: Noongar knowledge networks; or, Why is there no Noongar Wikipedia? This project will use the Noongar language to model and assess the extent to which minority languages can thrive by using globally accessible internet technologies. It will generate critical insights into the relations between knowledge, culture and technology and investigate how oral and informal knowledge sources can be accessed for a text-based website in the digital era. The outcomes of this project will include a greater understanding of how to link technology with users for community sustainability, as well as further insights into how social learning can be improved via interacting online networks.Read moreRead less
Western Desert speech styles and verbal arts. Verbal arts are central to social interaction. In the Western Desert Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra people use special speech styles to mark particular occasions and life transitions. Led by Ngaatjatjarra linguist, researcher and educator Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis, the research team aims to build on a corpus of these endangered oral traditions. Following in-depth linguistics analysis the project aims to implement strategies to revitalise these endan ....Western Desert speech styles and verbal arts. Verbal arts are central to social interaction. In the Western Desert Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra people use special speech styles to mark particular occasions and life transitions. Led by Ngaatjatjarra linguist, researcher and educator Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis, the research team aims to build on a corpus of these endangered oral traditions. Following in-depth linguistics analysis the project aims to implement strategies to revitalise these endangered styles through dynamic contemporary applications thus reintegrating them into the language socialisation framework of youth. The project aims to assist Aboriginal people to safeguard their heritage and contribute to a wider public appreciation of Aboriginal languages and cultures.Read moreRead less
Developing narratives from language and stories indigenous to the south coast of Western Australia. Over time linguists have collected Indigenous language narratives. This research project involves returning these narratives to the descendants of the people who first created human society in their part of the world. It will investigate the extent to which an Indigenous language and its stories, can inform contemporary writing in English about Australian identity.
Australian Indigenous storytelling: a critical study of the way Aboriginal stories are being told in Australia today. This research project will investigate the role and effectiveness of Aboriginal storytelling in the current environment of Aboriginal policy in Australia. The outcomes will form a set of benchmarks for understanding the power of effective Aboriginal storytelling.
Aboriginal identity and community online: a sociological exploration of Aboriginal peoples’ use of online social media. This project explores Aboriginal peoples’ activity on social media, to provide a better understanding of how Aboriginal people make use of online network sites, as social media sites are popular for social and cultural interaction. The project will also explore whether there is a link between online and offline social and cultural engagements.
Preserving Aboriginal language through song archives. This project aims to explore how song can preserve vanishing Indigenous languages. Song and language are integral to the wellbeing and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the loss of Indigenous languages is a national and global crisis. Focusing on the endangered Nyungar language of the south-west of Western Australia, this project will develop a model to recirculate and perform archival songs in online and physical spaces, engaging the comm ....Preserving Aboriginal language through song archives. This project aims to explore how song can preserve vanishing Indigenous languages. Song and language are integral to the wellbeing and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the loss of Indigenous languages is a national and global crisis. Focusing on the endangered Nyungar language of the south-west of Western Australia, this project will develop a model to recirculate and perform archival songs in online and physical spaces, engaging the community while developing resources for future use. The outcomes of this project are expected to inform global efforts to sustain intangible cultural heritage and contribute to the Australian reconciliation agenda.Read moreRead less