War crimes and the Japanese military, 1941-1945. During the Second World War, Japanese military forces in Asia and the Pacific committed extraordinary atrocities against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and local populations. These atrocities shocked Japan's Western enemies, not least because Japanese military behaviour in the early 20th century had been celebrated as remarkably humane. This project seeks to explain Japanese wartime brutality, identifying the specific circumstances in which ....War crimes and the Japanese military, 1941-1945. During the Second World War, Japanese military forces in Asia and the Pacific committed extraordinary atrocities against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and local populations. These atrocities shocked Japan's Western enemies, not least because Japanese military behaviour in the early 20th century had been celebrated as remarkably humane. This project seeks to explain Japanese wartime brutality, identifying the specific circumstances in which it occurred and considering the particular wartime context. It challenges the prevalent explanation of Japanese wartime violence which locates the causes of brutality in deeply rooted aspects of Japanese national culture. This research is expected to contribute to understandings of war and violence.Read moreRead less
A cultural history of food safety from Singapore. This project aims to trace how ordinary people’s thinking about food safety has changed over time; from this, we can investigate food safety techniques and practices by government and industry. In studying Singapore, which has always imported nearly all food, the project expects to generate new lessons from Singapore's history that may widely apply in an era of globalisation and contemporary food system complexity. Benefits of the project include ....A cultural history of food safety from Singapore. This project aims to trace how ordinary people’s thinking about food safety has changed over time; from this, we can investigate food safety techniques and practices by government and industry. In studying Singapore, which has always imported nearly all food, the project expects to generate new lessons from Singapore's history that may widely apply in an era of globalisation and contemporary food system complexity. Benefits of the project include assisting food exporters and other food safety stakeholders in Australia to better understand the origins and complexity of food safety thinking.Read moreRead less
Understanding Japan's human-centred environmentalism. Japanese environmental activism has influenced attitudes and policymaking on the environment in Japan and worldwide for half a century. This project will demonstrate the strengths and limitations of Japan’s human-centred environmentalism and will encourage us to reconsider the tension between human satisfaction and environmental protection.
The meritocratic moment in West Germany, Singapore, and Japan. This project aims to investigate the history of meritocratic ideas in West Germany, Singapore and Japan. The project will generate new knowledge on the ways in which democratic societies built political legitimacy after World War II by analysing the history of education reforms. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the historical conditions which promote social cohesion in modern societies. This project should provide ....The meritocratic moment in West Germany, Singapore, and Japan. This project aims to investigate the history of meritocratic ideas in West Germany, Singapore and Japan. The project will generate new knowledge on the ways in which democratic societies built political legitimacy after World War II by analysing the history of education reforms. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the historical conditions which promote social cohesion in modern societies. This project should provide significant benefits by fostering social and educational policy-making which enhances the political legitimacy and stability of parliamentarian democracies in Australia and around the world.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100474
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Perilous embassies: diplomatic encounters between Europe and Asia, 1600-1800. This project examines a series of European embassies dispatched to the most powerful states in Asia and uses them to reassess the nature of the global encounter between Europe and Asia in the early modern period.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100330
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$359,966.00
Summary
Empire and religion in early modern Inner Asia, 1650-1800. This project aims to re-examine China’s imperial expansion from the perspective of the Qing dynasty’s chief rivals in Inner Asia—the Junghar Mongols. Stretching from Siberia to Afghanistan, their nomadic empire linked the steppe with the Silk Road, and the Buddhist and Islamic worlds. Grounded in multilingual research in Chinese and Russian archives, and wide reading in Inner Asian chronicles and hagiographies, the project seeks to eluci ....Empire and religion in early modern Inner Asia, 1650-1800. This project aims to re-examine China’s imperial expansion from the perspective of the Qing dynasty’s chief rivals in Inner Asia—the Junghar Mongols. Stretching from Siberia to Afghanistan, their nomadic empire linked the steppe with the Silk Road, and the Buddhist and Islamic worlds. Grounded in multilingual research in Chinese and Russian archives, and wide reading in Inner Asian chronicles and hagiographies, the project seeks to elucidate the micropolitics of the Eurasian borderlands, and the non-Chinese narratives that accompanied the creation of China as we know it today. By offering a new account of early modern Inner Asian history, this project expects to advance the fields of Chinese, Inner Asian and imperial history in Australia.Read moreRead less
Urbanism after Angkor (14th-18th century). This project aims to understand changes after the breakdown of low-density urbanism in Cambodia. Recognising the emergence of urban forms after the demise of Angkor challenges the global “Collapse of Civilisation” trope, and redefines the Middle Period of Cambodian history (15th-19th century). This project proposes that continuity, renewal, variety and adaptation are as apparent in Cambodia’s middle period as loss and failure. Applying landscape archaeo ....Urbanism after Angkor (14th-18th century). This project aims to understand changes after the breakdown of low-density urbanism in Cambodia. Recognising the emergence of urban forms after the demise of Angkor challenges the global “Collapse of Civilisation” trope, and redefines the Middle Period of Cambodian history (15th-19th century). This project proposes that continuity, renewal, variety and adaptation are as apparent in Cambodia’s middle period as loss and failure. Applying landscape archaeology to this ‘dark age’ of Southeast Asian history embeds the demise of low-density urbanism and the development of towns in an environmental context. Identifying adaptive pathways after ‘collapse’ could have implications for urbanism in the tropics.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102132
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Australia-Japan relations between 1945 and 1957: the Japanese perspective. This project reassesses Australia-Japan relations by analysing the Japanese perspective during the period of normalisation of bilateral relations between 1945 and 1957. It sheds new light on the history of Australia-Japan relations and enriches understanding of the nature and scope of Australian-Japanese relations.
Pearls, People, and Power: the Transformation of the Indian Ocean World. This multidisciplinary project aims to be the first transoceanic investigation of pearling in the Indian Ocean World (IOW), focusing on the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, India/Sri Lanka, Sulu Sea and northern Australia. It will use commodity-based historical analyses and object-centred biographies to undertake comparative studies of labour systems, trade networks and the cultural value of pearls/pearl shell during an era marked by ....Pearls, People, and Power: the Transformation of the Indian Ocean World. This multidisciplinary project aims to be the first transoceanic investigation of pearling in the Indian Ocean World (IOW), focusing on the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, India/Sri Lanka, Sulu Sea and northern Australia. It will use commodity-based historical analyses and object-centred biographies to undertake comparative studies of labour systems, trade networks and the cultural value of pearls/pearl shell during an era marked by the spread of European imperialism and industrialisation. The project includes historical, ethnographic and film components and is expected to produce texts, films and museum displays. It is also designed to deliver a new understanding of the IOW past, and a new appreciation of Australia's place in IOW history.Read moreRead less
Chinese trade and diplomacy in South-East Asia from the 9th to 19th century common era. China’s trade in porcelain to South-East Asia over the past millennium provides the longest, continuous, market record for a product. The contrast between official Chinese control and what the archaeology reveals the traders really did, displays the limits of state power and the role of trade as another path in China’s diplomatic engagement with SE Asia.