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.
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101721
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$428,865.00
Summary
Skulls for the Tsar: Indigenous human remains in Russian collections. This project aims to produce the first detailed investigation of the acquisition of Indigenous human remains from Australia, New Zealand and the broader Pacific by the Russian Empire during the long 19th century. It expects to generate new knowledge about Imperial Russia's scientific networks, anthropological collections and underlying intellectual traditions. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of Russian percept ....Skulls for the Tsar: Indigenous human remains in Russian collections. This project aims to produce the first detailed investigation of the acquisition of Indigenous human remains from Australia, New Zealand and the broader Pacific by the Russian Empire during the long 19th century. It expects to generate new knowledge about Imperial Russia's scientific networks, anthropological collections and underlying intellectual traditions. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of Russian perceptions of Indigenous peoples and the development of a new way of writing histories about the collecting of Indigenous human remains. Working directly with affected communities, this project should provide significant benefits to Indigenous peoples seeking the return of their ancestors' remains from overseas institutions.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI100100200
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$177,000.00
Summary
Reversing the gaze: Indigenous perspectives on cultural representation in national museums. Through a focus on new media and digital engagements the project will identify the capacity for Indigenous communities to act as partners in their representation in the national museum space. By contributing an indigenous-centred review of best-practice moments at both a national and international level, the project will deliver modes of engagement that will benefit both Indigenous communities and museu ....Reversing the gaze: Indigenous perspectives on cultural representation in national museums. Through a focus on new media and digital engagements the project will identify the capacity for Indigenous communities to act as partners in their representation in the national museum space. By contributing an indigenous-centred review of best-practice moments at both a national and international level, the project will deliver modes of engagement that will benefit both Indigenous communities and museums engaged in Indigenous cultural representation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI100100014
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$366,000.00
Summary
'To wake them up again': Digital futures for the international diaspora of early ethnographic collections from Arnhem Land. Informed by the Indigenous inheritors of Arnhem Land's endangered languages and traditions, this project will produce findings of world-heritage significance that will inform the importance of early ethnographic collections held in museums worldwide to well-being and cultural survival in our local communities. There is enormous local interest in our region's recorded histor ....'To wake them up again': Digital futures for the international diaspora of early ethnographic collections from Arnhem Land. Informed by the Indigenous inheritors of Arnhem Land's endangered languages and traditions, this project will produce findings of world-heritage significance that will inform the importance of early ethnographic collections held in museums worldwide to well-being and cultural survival in our local communities. There is enormous local interest in our region's recorded history. In recent years, the return of digitised materials from significant ethnographic collections has helped to stimulate the on-going maintenance of our cultures markedly. The sense of history that they bring is proving invaluable in maintaining well-being and community amid the hardships of local life, and in particular, in stimulating youth engagement with tradition.Read moreRead less
Reconciling with the Frontier: Accounting for Colonial Conflict. This project aims to widen public access to different kinds of historical knowledge about colonial frontier conflict, and thereby to contribute to contemporary processes of truth telling and reconciliation. It will use the innovative technology of Story Map digital software to open up new dialogue on how different communities interpret the past. In addition to scholarly publications, outcomes include an updatable story-map of front ....Reconciling with the Frontier: Accounting for Colonial Conflict. This project aims to widen public access to different kinds of historical knowledge about colonial frontier conflict, and thereby to contribute to contemporary processes of truth telling and reconciliation. It will use the innovative technology of Story Map digital software to open up new dialogue on how different communities interpret the past. In addition to scholarly publications, outcomes include an updatable story-map of frontier relations for use by the partner museums and history organisations. Other expected public outcomes include a touring exhibition, education packs on frontier history for classroom use, and ongoing community applications of the Story Map digital database for use in regional reconciliation projects.Read moreRead less
Objects of possession: artefact transactions in the wet tropics of North Queensland, 1870 -2013. The project's research into artefact collecting will provide Indigenous peoples, museum curators and other community members with important insights into the history of Indigenous cultures in the Wet Tropics region. Our project will contribute to the development of innovative ways of presenting Indigenous peoples' connections with their cultural heritage.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100017
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,231,000.00
Summary
Networked knowledge for repatriation communities. This project aims to build a digital facility that supports the repatriation of Indigenous human remains. Repatriation contributes to reconciliation and Indigenous healing and wellbeing, and has been the most important agent of change in the relationship between Indigenous peoples, museums and the academy over the past 40 years. Successful repatriation requires and produces research materials diverse in type, geography and accessibility. Within a ....Networked knowledge for repatriation communities. This project aims to build a digital facility that supports the repatriation of Indigenous human remains. Repatriation contributes to reconciliation and Indigenous healing and wellbeing, and has been the most important agent of change in the relationship between Indigenous peoples, museums and the academy over the past 40 years. Successful repatriation requires and produces research materials diverse in type, geography and accessibility. Within an Indigenous data-governance framework, this project will gather, preserve and make accessible a critical and extensive record of repatriation information worldwide. The project is expected to support repatriation practice and scholarship and improve the opportunities of repatriation for social good.Read moreRead less
Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, an ....Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, and develop the 'kaardtijin model' for participatory cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations. Workshops on country will produce content for a digital reassembling of the collection to be used by museum partners, ensuring wide cross-sector and community engagement with project outcomes.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0775822
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$245,000.00
Summary
Elder Assessments of Early Material Culture Collections from Arnhem Land and Contemporary Access Needs to Them among Their Source Communities. There is enormous interest in Arnhem Land about the region's recorded history. In recent years, the return of digital materials from collections worldwide has become a significant and efficacious strategy for stimulating cultural maintenance there. The sense of history that these materials bring is proving invaluable in maintaining well-being and communit ....Elder Assessments of Early Material Culture Collections from Arnhem Land and Contemporary Access Needs to Them among Their Source Communities. There is enormous interest in Arnhem Land about the region's recorded history. In recent years, the return of digital materials from collections worldwide has become a significant and efficacious strategy for stimulating cultural maintenance there. The sense of history that these materials bring is proving invaluable in maintaining well-being and community in Arnhem Land amid the hardships of local life. Informed by custodians of the region's endangered languages and traditions, this project will produce findings of world heritage significance that will articulate the collections access needs of local people. It would be the first ARC project to be led by a Yolngu Elder.Read moreRead less