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
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101854
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Whose family values? the Christian right and sexual politics in postsecular Australia. This project will expand knowledge of the relationship between sexuality and religion in 'post-secular Australia'. It will show how connections between religion, sex, love and romance have evolved in the recent historical past and advance cultural understanding of conflicts between religious liberty and sexual discrimination.
Forging antiquity: Authenticity, forgery, and fake papyri. This project aims to situate typology of forged papyri in a historical analysis of the development of forgery, authentication techniques, and public debates over forgeries from the 19th century to the present day. The project will contextualise technical study of fakes within authentication strategies in ancient papyri, traditional and emerging de-authentication practices, and the cultural context of forgery. A typology of forged papyri ....Forging antiquity: Authenticity, forgery, and fake papyri. This project aims to situate typology of forged papyri in a historical analysis of the development of forgery, authentication techniques, and public debates over forgeries from the 19th century to the present day. The project will contextualise technical study of fakes within authentication strategies in ancient papyri, traditional and emerging de-authentication practices, and the cultural context of forgery. A typology of forged papyri will enable collecting institutions to better assess fakes, permit easier detection of forgeries in antiquities markets, and provide a tool for scholars asked to assess the authenticity of papyri offered for sale or donation.Read moreRead less
Historicising orientalism: the French, the Jews, and the modern world. This project will rethink the history of the relationship between East and West. It will look at the role played by interactions between Europeans and Jews in the Orient. It will break down the overly simplistic and politically-driven dialectic that governs understandings of Orientalism, offering important new insights into this phenomenon.
Crises of Leadership in the Eastern Roman Empire (250-1000 CE). Armed conflict, the upheaval of social systems, and environmental crises cause citizens to question their leaders during periods of social change. They also increase religious extremism, including speculations about the imminent end of the world. The period 250-1000 CE reveals many examples of how such crises served leaders who knew how to profit from instability to expand their powers, and how they damaged the reputations of those ....Crises of Leadership in the Eastern Roman Empire (250-1000 CE). Armed conflict, the upheaval of social systems, and environmental crises cause citizens to question their leaders during periods of social change. They also increase religious extremism, including speculations about the imminent end of the world. The period 250-1000 CE reveals many examples of how such crises served leaders who knew how to profit from instability to expand their powers, and how they damaged the reputations of those who did not. Understanding how past leaders of the Roman world addressed these crises in practical and rhetorical ways may provide helpful and timely models of what works (and what does not) for contemporary community and political leaders, even in democratic political societies such as Australia.Read moreRead less
Imagining Poverty: conceptualising and representing poverty and the poor in mendicant inspired literature, preaching and visual art 1220-1520. This project explores understandings and representation of poverty, both voluntary and involuntary, in literature and art in Europe 1220-1520 that were inspired by mendicant (particularly Franciscan and Dominican) ideals. It will lead to a jointly authored study on the different ways poverty was understood and represented in this period.
Beyond Empire: Transnational religious networks and liberal cosmopolitanisms. This project aims to study religion as a dimension of international affairs between 1860 and 1950. It will examine the contribution of faith-based activity, networking and thought to global governance and peace building institutionalised in the United Nations, universal human rights and humanitarianism that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. The project will explore the emergence of these faith-based cosm ....Beyond Empire: Transnational religious networks and liberal cosmopolitanisms. This project aims to study religion as a dimension of international affairs between 1860 and 1950. It will examine the contribution of faith-based activity, networking and thought to global governance and peace building institutionalised in the United Nations, universal human rights and humanitarianism that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. The project will explore the emergence of these faith-based cosmopolitanisms at the interstices of multi-faith, multi-cultural and multi-racial webs of connection and their significance for Australian, regional and global history. This could show how secular and inter-faith activisms can produce cosmopolitan visions of practical co-existence.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101348
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,913.00
Summary
Melting Futures: An Environmental History of the Himalayan Cryosphere. The Himalaya’s cryosphere (or frozen realm) has underpinned Monsoonal Asia’s climate and water supply for millennia, and now it is disappearing. This project forecasts the Himalaya’s melting future by documenting how its ice has shaped Asia’s past and produced its present. Focusing on the period since the end of the Little Ice Age (the mid-1800s), it investigates the climatic, cultural and geopolitical causes of ice loss, and ....Melting Futures: An Environmental History of the Himalayan Cryosphere. The Himalaya’s cryosphere (or frozen realm) has underpinned Monsoonal Asia’s climate and water supply for millennia, and now it is disappearing. This project forecasts the Himalaya’s melting future by documenting how its ice has shaped Asia’s past and produced its present. Focusing on the period since the end of the Little Ice Age (the mid-1800s), it investigates the climatic, cultural and geopolitical causes of ice loss, and asks how they have influenced and intensified each other. The project’s multifaceted approach to the cryosphere challenges the current fragmented debates on the melting ice, and will, therefore, generate improvements in cryosphere management.Read moreRead less
City space and urban experience at the end of the Italian Renaissance. This project aims to study how people lived in early-modern cities, using health records. In 1630, health officials ordered a door-to-door survey of every poor household in plague-stricken Florence. The surviving reports of this extraordinary ‘Visitation’ are a time-capsule of urban experience, which seldom leaves any written trace. This project will mine the Visitation to reveal how citizens moved through public streets and ....City space and urban experience at the end of the Italian Renaissance. This project aims to study how people lived in early-modern cities, using health records. In 1630, health officials ordered a door-to-door survey of every poor household in plague-stricken Florence. The surviving reports of this extraordinary ‘Visitation’ are a time-capsule of urban experience, which seldom leaves any written trace. This project will mine the Visitation to reveal how citizens moved through public streets and private spaces; and use their own words to bring back to life their sensory impressions. The resulting study is expected to reveal how contemporary thinking about the city arose from patterns of everyday behaviour.Read moreRead less