The humanity of man and animal in Ancient Greece. This project aims to explore how the line between humans and animals is drawn and re-drawn in a number of ancient world texts and contexts, including language, history, literature, art, religion and science. As the real and imagined cradle of Western civilisation, the ancient Greek world is frequently invoked in current debates about what separates humans from animals. Yet, in the modern debate the ancient position is restricted mainly to philoso ....The humanity of man and animal in Ancient Greece. This project aims to explore how the line between humans and animals is drawn and re-drawn in a number of ancient world texts and contexts, including language, history, literature, art, religion and science. As the real and imagined cradle of Western civilisation, the ancient Greek world is frequently invoked in current debates about what separates humans from animals. Yet, in the modern debate the ancient position is restricted mainly to philosophy. The expected outcome of this project is a comprehensive study of the place of the animal in ancient Greek conceptions of humanity. It will refocus classical scholarship and prompt the re-evaluation of our contemporary understanding of what makes us human.Read moreRead less
The Idea of American Exceptionalism: A Cultural and Social History. This project addresses current debates over American Exceptionalism (United States historical development considered outside the normal path of history), treating the topic not as a set of substantive empirical propositions to be challenged, but as the cultural and social history of an idea. It aims to show how Exceptionalism evolved, how a cluster of sub-concepts mutually reinforced it and how its attractiveness and its religio ....The Idea of American Exceptionalism: A Cultural and Social History. This project addresses current debates over American Exceptionalism (United States historical development considered outside the normal path of history), treating the topic not as a set of substantive empirical propositions to be challenged, but as the cultural and social history of an idea. It aims to show how Exceptionalism evolved, how a cluster of sub-concepts mutually reinforced it and how its attractiveness and its religious, economic and political content changed over time. This approach analyses the historical conditions promoting (and challenging) Exceptionalism as belief and national identity. It bypasses difficult dichotomies between myth and reality and rancorous political arguments for and against the concept.Read moreRead less
Corporations as sovereigns. This project aims to investigate the history of the relationship between the corporation and the state to understand tensions between states and large multinational corporations. Such tensions are as old as the state system itself and can only be reconstructed through history. The project will focus on chartered companies’ attempt to present themselves as forms of sovereign, or quasi-sovereign, political systems, bringing them into rivalry with the sovereign claims of ....Corporations as sovereigns. This project aims to investigate the history of the relationship between the corporation and the state to understand tensions between states and large multinational corporations. Such tensions are as old as the state system itself and can only be reconstructed through history. The project will focus on chartered companies’ attempt to present themselves as forms of sovereign, or quasi-sovereign, political systems, bringing them into rivalry with the sovereign claims of states. This project is expected to provide a deeper understanding of the political character of corporations.Read moreRead less
Earliest Village People: the shift to sedentary life in the Natufian period. This project aims to investigate the shift to sedentary life by excavating one of the earliest villages, founded by hunter-gatherers around 12,500 BCE. Of key interest are foundational burials at Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan and their role in the establishment of this new kind of settlement. Well-preserved deposits present a rare opportunity to track a community in the act of settling down so significant knowledge about the ....Earliest Village People: the shift to sedentary life in the Natufian period. This project aims to investigate the shift to sedentary life by excavating one of the earliest villages, founded by hunter-gatherers around 12,500 BCE. Of key interest are foundational burials at Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan and their role in the establishment of this new kind of settlement. Well-preserved deposits present a rare opportunity to track a community in the act of settling down so significant knowledge about the transition to sedentism should be generated. An interdisciplinary approach combining archaeology, bioanthropology and archaeogenetics may provide new explanations of early social organisation. Potential benefits include the building of international collaborations and the development of Australia’s role in the Middle East.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100430
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,424.00
Summary
Global Patterns of Mass Violence: Ottoman Borderlands in Context,1890-1920. This project examines the transformative dimensions of mass violence committed against the minorities of the Ottoman Empire – Armenians, Assyrians, Yazidis, and Greeks – and the historical impact and consequences of the Empire’s violent history on the Balkans and the Levant (Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon). In particular, it highlights the crucial role played by international, inter-state, central, and regional actors, who und ....Global Patterns of Mass Violence: Ottoman Borderlands in Context,1890-1920. This project examines the transformative dimensions of mass violence committed against the minorities of the Ottoman Empire – Armenians, Assyrians, Yazidis, and Greeks – and the historical impact and consequences of the Empire’s violent history on the Balkans and the Levant (Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon). In particular, it highlights the crucial role played by international, inter-state, central, and regional actors, who undertook critical roles in the national and community-building process of the Empire, resulting in the foundation of the new Turkish Republic (1923). It will rethink the classical historical narrative about the emergence of the post-Ottoman Middle East, and seek to understand the wider, global dimensions of mass violence.Read moreRead less
A Cultural and Intellectual History of Automated Labour . This project will trace how debates about labour automation have been shaped by cultural depictions of work, from the eighteenth century to today. It will produce new knowledge about how people have viewed industrial transformation, from the steam engine to modern forms of labour saving - electronic, digital, biological, and artificial intelligence. The project will combine historical study with an examination of the way artists and write ....A Cultural and Intellectual History of Automated Labour . This project will trace how debates about labour automation have been shaped by cultural depictions of work, from the eighteenth century to today. It will produce new knowledge about how people have viewed industrial transformation, from the steam engine to modern forms of labour saving - electronic, digital, biological, and artificial intelligence. The project will combine historical study with an examination of the way artists and writers have responded to labour automation. Expected benefits include informing public debate about the future of work, and shaping policy in arts-science museums and laboratories. Outcomes will include publications, public forums, conferences, training of research students and international collaboration. Read moreRead less
Excavating MacGregor: re-connecting a colonial museum collection. Sensing the impacts of colonisation, the first Administrator of British New Guinea William MacGregor made a significant collection of objects specifically for its future citizens. This comprehensive legacy of 13 000 objects did not remain in the country but was dispersed to three Australian and six overseas museums. Our aim is to re-assemble and re-connect this material by 'excavating' its private and official components. This res ....Excavating MacGregor: re-connecting a colonial museum collection. Sensing the impacts of colonisation, the first Administrator of British New Guinea William MacGregor made a significant collection of objects specifically for its future citizens. This comprehensive legacy of 13 000 objects did not remain in the country but was dispersed to three Australian and six overseas museums. Our aim is to re-assemble and re-connect this material by 'excavating' its private and official components. This research aims to focus on the makers and traders to disentangle the social relationships embedded in the objects. Using material-centred, assemblage-based archaeological approaches, we aim to investigate how indigenous groups used objects to negotiate with the new colonial government.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101262
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$458,318.00
Summary
Art, Migration, State-Building: India in the Indian Ocean World. This project aims to investigate the historical movement of objects, knowledge, and people across cultures in the Indian Ocean world, countering the Eurocentric framework of previous scholarship by adopting a trans-Asian network lens. Focusing on art and architecture in fifteenth-century central India, it examines how an independent, largely Muslim state comprised of migrants fashioned itself through works of art that challenged cu ....Art, Migration, State-Building: India in the Indian Ocean World. This project aims to investigate the historical movement of objects, knowledge, and people across cultures in the Indian Ocean world, countering the Eurocentric framework of previous scholarship by adopting a trans-Asian network lens. Focusing on art and architecture in fifteenth-century central India, it examines how an independent, largely Muslim state comprised of migrants fashioned itself through works of art that challenged cultural and geographical boundaries. This project expects to advance new methodologies for studying hybrid visual cultures, generate new knowledge about the dynamics of global connectedness in the early modern era, and deepen our understanding of the mechanics of migration and cultural exchange today.Read moreRead less
Storytelling networks and community crises in ancient Greece. This project aims to investigate how communal crises impact storytelling through an analysis of Greek myth in antiquity (800BC-AD400). Using an innovative digital platform that structures mythic data as narrative networks, it expects to generate new knowledge about the impact of natural disasters, epidemics, migration and war and show how narratives work as strategies for resilience. The outcomes include a new method for modelling nar ....Storytelling networks and community crises in ancient Greece. This project aims to investigate how communal crises impact storytelling through an analysis of Greek myth in antiquity (800BC-AD400). Using an innovative digital platform that structures mythic data as narrative networks, it expects to generate new knowledge about the impact of natural disasters, epidemics, migration and war and show how narratives work as strategies for resilience. The outcomes include a new method for modelling narrative networks against community disruption and revealing the preservative effects of social and cultural infrastructures. It will provide significant benefits, such as an improved understanding of how historical contingencies determine which stories survive, and better public access to research on Greek myth.Read moreRead less
Modernism, cosmopolitanism and consumer culture. This project aims to investigate the department store as a significant site for the transnational dissemination of modernism and cosmopolitanism in the first half of the 20th century. Through a primary focus on Sydney, with comparative studies of Tokyo and New York, the project expects to advance important knowledge of the department store’s vital role in driving new forms of creative engagement, consumer knowledge and social interaction that shap ....Modernism, cosmopolitanism and consumer culture. This project aims to investigate the department store as a significant site for the transnational dissemination of modernism and cosmopolitanism in the first half of the 20th century. Through a primary focus on Sydney, with comparative studies of Tokyo and New York, the project expects to advance important knowledge of the department store’s vital role in driving new forms of creative engagement, consumer knowledge and social interaction that shaped the aspiring cosmopolitan city. The expected outcomes include an understanding how the department store enhanced the public's engagement with modernism. This will benefit current initiatives using the arts to revitalise commercial and urban space.Read moreRead less