From France to Europe: The Shift from Nationalism in French Discourse, 1900-1950. The aim of the project is to analyse a shift from France to Europe in French political rhetoric. The Revolution had inscribed Enlightenment ideals on terms like France and nation. After World War I, they no longer carried these ideals. For some citizens, Europe took them on. For others, Europe opened the possibility of inscribing new values on the polity. The project seeks to measure the extent of this shift and it ....From France to Europe: The Shift from Nationalism in French Discourse, 1900-1950. The aim of the project is to analyse a shift from France to Europe in French political rhetoric. The Revolution had inscribed Enlightenment ideals on terms like France and nation. After World War I, they no longer carried these ideals. For some citizens, Europe took them on. For others, Europe opened the possibility of inscribing new values on the polity. The project seeks to measure the extent of this shift and its contribution to the new mentality which made possible the construction of Europe. The result will be a major innovation in the way the construction of Europe is understood.Read moreRead less
Literature, Language and the Expression of Cultural Change in the Francophone Pacific. The proposal aims to analyse and document in monographs, critical editions, doctoral theses and other forms the evolution of linguistic and cultural change in the French Pacific through a comprehensive case study of the contemporary literature and press of New Caledonia. After years of civil unrest, stability was restored to this French Pacific Territory, a near neighbour of Australia, through the Matignon and ....Literature, Language and the Expression of Cultural Change in the Francophone Pacific. The proposal aims to analyse and document in monographs, critical editions, doctoral theses and other forms the evolution of linguistic and cultural change in the French Pacific through a comprehensive case study of the contemporary literature and press of New Caledonia. After years of civil unrest, stability was restored to this French Pacific Territory, a near neighbour of Australia, through the Matignon and Noumea Accords (1988, 1998).This has led to the emergence of new forms of cultural expression, particularly in literature, and a specific form of Pacific French, as part of a process of nation-building in New Caledonia.Read moreRead less
Frigidity in France: the history of a sexual pathology and of its place in feminist critique. The history of sexuality is an area of research which puts into historical perspective the disorders and abnormalcies which make up so much modern talk about sexuality. It helps to show that many of the supposed sexual problems which are central to modern thinking took shape only recently, and did so in particular circumstances. This is in fact a very active field of international humanities research, a ....Frigidity in France: the history of a sexual pathology and of its place in feminist critique. The history of sexuality is an area of research which puts into historical perspective the disorders and abnormalcies which make up so much modern talk about sexuality. It helps to show that many of the supposed sexual problems which are central to modern thinking took shape only recently, and did so in particular circumstances. This is in fact a very active field of international humanities research, and this project will make an Australian-based scholarly contribution to it. A detailed, circumstantial history of frigidity will make it possible to question the 'science' which founds twentieth-century norms for female sexual behaviour. It will also enable the project to make a critical contribution to modern feminist thinking.Read moreRead less
Paradise Lost - Utopia Reclaimed: Writing the Wrongs of French Exploration in the Antipodes. When France's attempts to claim regions of Australia failed, the dream of an Antipodean paradise was lost. In its breach rose a new utopian frontier. Paradoxically, this anticipatory perspective revives a form of utopianism previously established in classical French-Australian writings. Whether framing an ideal France australe or criticising a non-utopian British reality, the ongoing role of utopianism i ....Paradise Lost - Utopia Reclaimed: Writing the Wrongs of French Exploration in the Antipodes. When France's attempts to claim regions of Australia failed, the dream of an Antipodean paradise was lost. In its breach rose a new utopian frontier. Paradoxically, this anticipatory perspective revives a form of utopianism previously established in classical French-Australian writings. Whether framing an ideal France australe or criticising a non-utopian British reality, the ongoing role of utopianism in French-Australian (post)colonial discourse may be analysed as a case study for cross-cultural encounters. The findings, publishable in English and French monographs, will open up new methods for understanding Australia's past, present and future relations with one of its major cultural influences.Read moreRead less
Medieval Virtue Ethics and the Formation of the Feminine Moral Subject: Jeanne of Navarre to Marguerite of Navarre (1285-1550). This research will generate fresh community awareness of the importance of teaching ethics in everyday rather than academic language, with a particular relevance to women, thus contributing to the national debate about what constitutes values education. By showing how famous women writers were not isolated individuals, but adapted an established tradition of communicati ....Medieval Virtue Ethics and the Formation of the Feminine Moral Subject: Jeanne of Navarre to Marguerite of Navarre (1285-1550). This research will generate fresh community awareness of the importance of teaching ethics in everyday rather than academic language, with a particular relevance to women, thus contributing to the national debate about what constitutes values education. By showing how famous women writers were not isolated individuals, but adapted an established tradition of communicating ethics to women, the research will contribute to contemporary debates about the relevance of the teaching of ethics. The project will develop further existing close connections between Australian scholars and researchers in both Europe and the USA.Read moreRead less
Address in Some Western European Languages: A Study of Language and Social Change. This project investigates how recent sociopolitical events and developments have impacted on the ways in which people address each other in French, German, and Swedish. Comparisons will be made with Italian and Dutch and between nations using the same language. There is to date no comparative study of this kind. The project is innovative in its use of qualitative and quantitative methodology and will lead to a new ....Address in Some Western European Languages: A Study of Language and Social Change. This project investigates how recent sociopolitical events and developments have impacted on the ways in which people address each other in French, German, and Swedish. Comparisons will be made with Italian and Dutch and between nations using the same language. There is to date no comparative study of this kind. The project is innovative in its use of qualitative and quantitative methodology and will lead to a new conceptual framework for the study of address. It will provide insights for inter-cultural communication and second language acquisition as well as the relation between language, cultural values, and sociopolitical change.Read moreRead less
The Baudin Legacy:A New History of the French Scientific Voyage to Australia (1800-1804). More interested in the British stories of conquest and settlement, historians have largely neglected an important episode in Australian history, the French scientific expedition to New Holland (1800-1804), led by Nicolas Baudin and commissioned by Bonaparte. As well as making Australians aware of the diversity of their past, and thereby contributing in our multi-cultural society to debates concerning natio ....The Baudin Legacy:A New History of the French Scientific Voyage to Australia (1800-1804). More interested in the British stories of conquest and settlement, historians have largely neglected an important episode in Australian history, the French scientific expedition to New Holland (1800-1804), led by Nicolas Baudin and commissioned by Bonaparte. As well as making Australians aware of the diversity of their past, and thereby contributing in our multi-cultural society to debates concerning national identity, the project will add significantly to knowledge of early encounters between the Europeans and Aborigines, and to the scientific history of our continent. The Franco-Australian nature of the project will have the particular benefit of strengthening and creating social and collaborative links between Australia and France.Read moreRead less
A Generic Study of Colette's Short Writing. The study uses "genre" as a key to a literary-historical account of Colette's short writing in its cultural context. The corpus is generically ambiguous, since it first appeared as "articles" in magazines and was later collected in volumes, thus acquiring a more "literary" status as "essays". Taking into account both the conditions of publication and the rhetoric of these pieces, I shall investigate the network of cultural relations in which they parti ....A Generic Study of Colette's Short Writing. The study uses "genre" as a key to a literary-historical account of Colette's short writing in its cultural context. The corpus is generically ambiguous, since it first appeared as "articles" in magazines and was later collected in volumes, thus acquiring a more "literary" status as "essays". Taking into account both the conditions of publication and the rhetoric of these pieces, I shall investigate the network of cultural relations in which they participate, and their command of their readership. This will show how Colette made a place for "women's knowledge" in public culture and what that place was.Read moreRead less
Communications and National Identity in Early Modern France. This project addresses a fundamental question in current debates over nationhood - on what ideological and discursive bases nations are formed - by studying the roots of modern national consciousness in early modern France. It will examine the survival, indeed the reinforcement of particularist ideas about the French people and France within the universalist context of Enlightenment thought. Drawing on data bases constituted in the i ....Communications and National Identity in Early Modern France. This project addresses a fundamental question in current debates over nationhood - on what ideological and discursive bases nations are formed - by studying the roots of modern national consciousness in early modern France. It will examine the survival, indeed the reinforcement of particularist ideas about the French people and France within the universalist context of Enlightenment thought. Drawing on data bases constituted in the investigators' earlier research, it will study representations of the nation and national character in literary, philosophical, educational and political writings, and the role of the rapidly expanding communications system in the dissemination of these ideas.Read moreRead less
Representing Kanaks: Generic Variation, Identity, and the Politics of the Everyday Semiotic. The project hypothesizes that representational struggles over indigenous identity are crucially shaped by the range of genres in which identity is asserted. Through the case of Kanaks in New Caledonia, as represented by several everyday genres hitherto neglected by scholarship, the representational politics of indigeneity are interrogated with the aim of demonstrating that Kanak existence is constituted ....Representing Kanaks: Generic Variation, Identity, and the Politics of the Everyday Semiotic. The project hypothesizes that representational struggles over indigenous identity are crucially shaped by the range of genres in which identity is asserted. Through the case of Kanaks in New Caledonia, as represented by several everyday genres hitherto neglected by scholarship, the representational politics of indigeneity are interrogated with the aim of demonstrating that Kanak existence is constituted in the semiotic detail of everyday generic variation. The project's significance lies in its radical reconception of identity and representational politics: going beyond indigenous versus colonial binaries, it reveals the complexity of day-to-day competition over and consolidation of indigenous identity through representational systems.Read moreRead less