The Spying Game: Australian Constructions of Espionage. The Spying Game will explore the human dimensions of espionage in the contexts of Australian history and culture. While technological aspects of spying and institutional histories of intelligence and security organisations have been prominent, very few scholarly investigations have been made of the cultures of espionage and the human dilemmas of spying. By investigating the ways in which spying has been understood and represented in Austral ....The Spying Game: Australian Constructions of Espionage. The Spying Game will explore the human dimensions of espionage in the contexts of Australian history and culture. While technological aspects of spying and institutional histories of intelligence and security organisations have been prominent, very few scholarly investigations have been made of the cultures of espionage and the human dilemmas of spying. By investigating the ways in which spying has been understood and represented in Australian society, and comparing these representations with international examples, I will contribute significant new knowledge and understanding of a burgeoning field of employment and activity during a period of crisis for the intelligence community and wider society.Read moreRead less
Australia's Forgotten Culture: the Pulp Fiction Industry 1939-1959. Australia's Forgotten Culture systematically examines the Australian 'pulp' industry (1939-1959). In 1939 imported American cultural products were banned; this ban created a vacuum in the Australian market. Sydney publishers filled the gap with paperback books written by Australians for Australians. These books sold millions of copies and inspired a plethora of cultural products such as radio serials and comics; they were also ....Australia's Forgotten Culture: the Pulp Fiction Industry 1939-1959. Australia's Forgotten Culture systematically examines the Australian 'pulp' industry (1939-1959). In 1939 imported American cultural products were banned; this ban created a vacuum in the Australian market. Sydney publishers filled the gap with paperback books written by Australians for Australians. These books sold millions of copies and inspired a plethora of cultural products such as radio serials and comics; they were also successfully exported overseas. Carter Brown alone sold over 80 million books in dozens of languages. In 1959, the bans were lifted. Overnight the industries died. This project analyses a rich but lost period in Australian culture, one that has been ignored presumably because it was popular.Read moreRead less
Six Inch Rule: A Cultural Study of the Australian Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952. This research into a neglected episode in the Australian experience of Japan represents a major advance in understandings of Austral/Asian relationships. In establishing the Occupation of Japan as a crucial development in post-war Australian international relations, the project will be immensely beneficial to the broad discipline of Australian geopolitics, particularly with respect to the ideologies and practices o ....Six Inch Rule: A Cultural Study of the Australian Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952. This research into a neglected episode in the Australian experience of Japan represents a major advance in understandings of Austral/Asian relationships. In establishing the Occupation of Japan as a crucial development in post-war Australian international relations, the project will be immensely beneficial to the broad discipline of Australian geopolitics, particularly with respect to the ideologies and practices of foreign occupation as reflections of national culture. The projected monograph will demonstrably add to the body of public knowledge of our cultural engagement with Japan, and illuminate an acknowledged area of Australian self-definition - the experience of overseas military service.Read moreRead less
Rushdie Annotated: Definitive explanations of all obscure references in the Salman Rushdie corpus and extended critical commentaries on the author. In an Australia where the literary work of art now attends to issues which are multicultural, this reference text on Rushdie would show how crucial the creative use of language is in the formation of cultural identity. As a key spokesperson for liberal values, Rushdie and his works are informed by those communal values which have a direct bearing on ....Rushdie Annotated: Definitive explanations of all obscure references in the Salman Rushdie corpus and extended critical commentaries on the author. In an Australia where the literary work of art now attends to issues which are multicultural, this reference text on Rushdie would show how crucial the creative use of language is in the formation of cultural identity. As a key spokesperson for liberal values, Rushdie and his works are informed by those communal values which have a direct bearing on definitions of the Australian nation state. Ongoing debates in Australia about citizenship in a globalized world, about the relative autonomy of the literary work of art, about the links between culture and religion find valuable expression in Rushdie's works.Read moreRead less
"The Whole Map of the Balkans": Ethnicity, National Identity and Empire in the Work of Ismail Kadare. The Albanian intellectual, Ismail Kadare, foreshadowed the re-valorization of ethnic identity as a socio-political category under late 20th century communism. While Kadare's novels and essays deal primarily with his native Albania, they also represent the emergence more broadly of ethnicity as a factor in the literature of Eastern and South-Eastern European socialism. The project will explore in ...."The Whole Map of the Balkans": Ethnicity, National Identity and Empire in the Work of Ismail Kadare. The Albanian intellectual, Ismail Kadare, foreshadowed the re-valorization of ethnic identity as a socio-political category under late 20th century communism. While Kadare's novels and essays deal primarily with his native Albania, they also represent the emergence more broadly of ethnicity as a factor in the literature of Eastern and South-Eastern European socialism. The project will explore in depth the relationship between ethnicity, ideology and socialist literary culture that underpins Kadare's work, providing the first detailed analytical and critical study in English, and locating Kadare in the context of the major lines of contemporary European thought regarding ethnicity and ethnic identity.Read moreRead less
Christina Stead and the socialist heritage. This project explores the complex intersection of political convictions and creativity in the writing of Christina Stead, and gives due prominence to her radical, left-wing engagements, which fell from favour during and after the Cold War. It will produce the first monograph-length study devoted to this crucial aspect of Stead's life and work.
Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subs ....Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subsequent history as a powerful symptomatic register of the strategies by which the monarchy adapts its traditional heritage to changing social contexts. Comprehending this dynamic will revise our understanding of the relationship between medieval culture, tradition and modernity.Read moreRead less
The modern Athenians: Francis Jeffrey's Edinburgh Review (1802-1829) in the 'knowledge economy' of the early nineteenth century. This study of the multi-disciplinary nature and influence of the Edinburgh Review under Francis Jeffrey and its contribution to the organisation and dissemination of knowledge in the early nineteenth-century utilises developments in web design and technology to create a comprehensive website dedicated to Edinburgh Review.
Noise, Technology, Literature. 21st century life is pervaded by fears of sensory and information overload, the deafening interference of data generated by a digitalised global economy, as well as the literal noise of everyday life. These fears transcend national boundaries, connecting the experiences of contemporary Australians to a common global experience. It is this inter-connected trans-national history of the profound impact of noise on our lives that this project will begin to chart. Stre ....Noise, Technology, Literature. 21st century life is pervaded by fears of sensory and information overload, the deafening interference of data generated by a digitalised global economy, as well as the literal noise of everyday life. These fears transcend national boundaries, connecting the experiences of contemporary Australians to a common global experience. It is this inter-connected trans-national history of the profound impact of noise on our lives that this project will begin to chart. Stretching back to the nineteenth century and into the present, this project is necessarily collaborative and ambitious in its engagement not only with ideas of noise as they are discussed within the confines of academia but also in the broader community. Read moreRead less
Whiteness: writing, reading, race. The national and community benefits of this project lie in the contribution it will make to the wider work of Australian reconciliation through its analyses of writing as one of the important meeting grounds between white and Aboriginal Australians. By analysing the race relations of writing culture, the project will contribute to the important work of understanding white-Indigenous relations in contemporary postcolonial Australia.