Anglos Abroad: Memoirs of Immersion in a Foreign Language and Culture. A study of Anglophone narratives of language immersion offers a significant intellectual resource for thinking about ways in which Australian non-immigrant selves are shaped by culture and language: an issue with important implications for just practises within a wide range of national institutions and agencies, including education, immigration and social work. It thus contributes to the priority goal of strengthening Austral ....Anglos Abroad: Memoirs of Immersion in a Foreign Language and Culture. A study of Anglophone narratives of language immersion offers a significant intellectual resource for thinking about ways in which Australian non-immigrant selves are shaped by culture and language: an issue with important implications for just practises within a wide range of national institutions and agencies, including education, immigration and social work. It thus contributes to the priority goal of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric (Research Priority 2). It also contributes to enhancing our capacity to interpret and engage with our region and the world through a greater understanding of other languages and cultures (Research Priority 4).Read moreRead less
Mediated Mobility: India's Low Caste Revolution in the Media Age. In recent years Australia has shown a keen interest in India's evolution as a global power. This project seeks to deepen our national understanding by focusing on a key socio-cultural dimension of this evolution: the emergence through multiple media of lower caste voices in democratic politics and cultural practices in India. Through its study of lower castes' innovative use of print, electronic and digital media in effecting soci ....Mediated Mobility: India's Low Caste Revolution in the Media Age. In recent years Australia has shown a keen interest in India's evolution as a global power. This project seeks to deepen our national understanding by focusing on a key socio-cultural dimension of this evolution: the emergence through multiple media of lower caste voices in democratic politics and cultural practices in India. Through its study of lower castes' innovative use of print, electronic and digital media in effecting social and political change in this era of technological innovation and economic growth, the project highlights both the possibilities and limits of India's growth. Significantly, it contributes to building Australia's research capacity in the study of India and South Asia, an area in critical need of renewal.Read moreRead less
Transforming the early modern archive: the Emmerson Collection at SLV. In 2015, State Library Victoria (SLV) received the bequest of the Emmerson Collection: a national treasure of over 5000 early modern rare books and manuscripts, the first and only early modern archive of scale to be held by an Australian institution. Bringing together experts in early modern studies and the digital humanities with specialist library staff, this project will uncover the contents and scope of the collection and ....Transforming the early modern archive: the Emmerson Collection at SLV. In 2015, State Library Victoria (SLV) received the bequest of the Emmerson Collection: a national treasure of over 5000 early modern rare books and manuscripts, the first and only early modern archive of scale to be held by an Australian institution. Bringing together experts in early modern studies and the digital humanities with specialist library staff, this project will uncover the contents and scope of the collection and promote its international scholarly significance to the wider world. In doing so, it will develop new digital tools designed to unlock the value of this unique public resource for a wide range of end-users.Read moreRead less
The world novel, distant suffering and humanitarian sensibility after 1989. As war and terror flicker across our televisions, writers like Rushdie, McEwan and Hosseini have turned the novel into a global form, expressing a new humanitarian ethic. This project explores the makings of these World Novels across sites of ongoing global conflict, and traces their plea for sympathy back to the novel's beginnings, in the eighteenth-century.
Nineteenth-Century climate change: atmosphere, culture and romanticism. To understand and adapt to climate change, we need to understand its cultural history. Nineteenth-century Britain witnessed a crucial episode in this history, when air became central to art and science, and culture was reconceived as climatic. This new link between culture and climate allowed social changes to be seen as having climatic effects.
Exploration and Nation: the Cultural Impact of Exploration Literature from the Cook Voyages to the 'Novara' Circumnavigation. This comparative analysis of the cultural impact of the Cook voyages and the lavishly state-sponsored "Novara" expedition will improve our understanding of the international entanglements that affected the course of our history. Examining the broad cultural impact of publications about Pacific exploration will offer valuable new insights into the cross-fertilisations betw ....Exploration and Nation: the Cultural Impact of Exploration Literature from the Cook Voyages to the 'Novara' Circumnavigation. This comparative analysis of the cultural impact of the Cook voyages and the lavishly state-sponsored "Novara" expedition will improve our understanding of the international entanglements that affected the course of our history. Examining the broad cultural impact of publications about Pacific exploration will offer valuable new insights into the cross-fertilisations between colonisation and the formation of 19th-century nation states. A detailed study of how European nations employed the publication industry in their competition for colonial control will illuminate the conflicts over the boundaries of nation and empire and enhance the understanding of prominent issues in Australian humanities research.Read moreRead less