Cultural heritage and the mediation of identity, memory and historical narratives. Anxiety pervades many Western countries about the direction, nature and expression of social debate regarding community identities, and the social and cultural values underpinning them. In developing our understanding of heritage, and how it is used to construct and legitimatise certain social values and identities in certain national, cultural and social contexts, the research will inform the development of museu ....Cultural heritage and the mediation of identity, memory and historical narratives. Anxiety pervades many Western countries about the direction, nature and expression of social debate regarding community identities, and the social and cultural values underpinning them. In developing our understanding of heritage, and how it is used to construct and legitimatise certain social values and identities in certain national, cultural and social contexts, the research will inform the development of museum and heritage exhibition/interpretation policies. In examining the agency of heritage audiences, the research will inform and facilitate the abilities of museum and heritage professionals to effectively convey messages about contentious issues or make more informed interventions into social debates.Read moreRead less
Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, an ....Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, and develop the 'kaardtijin model' for participatory cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations. Workshops on country will produce content for a digital reassembling of the collection to be used by museum partners, ensuring wide cross-sector and community engagement with project outcomes.Read moreRead less
Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates. Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Th ....Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates. Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Theory (RUT)-based modelling approach allowing managers of cultural attractions to understand and predict the likely visitation consequences of potential initiatives. We wish to model visitor choices of museums versus other competing attractions to allow museums to identify specific strategic actions (or combinations) to achieve organisational goals.Read moreRead less
Engaging objects: Indigenous communities, museum collections and the representation of Indigenous histories. This project centres on the research process leading up to a major exhibition in Australia of the British Museum's Australian Indigenous collections. By exploring the historical and representational issues evoked in creating this exhibition, new understandings of these collections and their historical and contemporary significance will result.
Return, reconcile, renew: understanding the history, effects and opportunities of repatriation and building an evidence base for the future. The repatriation of ancestral remains is an extraordinary Indigenous achievement and inter-cultural development of the past 40 years. This international project will provide critical new knowledge to understand repatriation, its history and effects and will provide scholarly and public outcomes that empower community-based research and practice.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100017
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,231,000.00
Summary
Networked knowledge for repatriation communities. This project aims to build a digital facility that supports the repatriation of Indigenous human remains. Repatriation contributes to reconciliation and Indigenous healing and wellbeing, and has been the most important agent of change in the relationship between Indigenous peoples, museums and the academy over the past 40 years. Successful repatriation requires and produces research materials diverse in type, geography and accessibility. Within a ....Networked knowledge for repatriation communities. This project aims to build a digital facility that supports the repatriation of Indigenous human remains. Repatriation contributes to reconciliation and Indigenous healing and wellbeing, and has been the most important agent of change in the relationship between Indigenous peoples, museums and the academy over the past 40 years. Successful repatriation requires and produces research materials diverse in type, geography and accessibility. Within an Indigenous data-governance framework, this project will gather, preserve and make accessible a critical and extensive record of repatriation information worldwide. The project is expected to support repatriation practice and scholarship and improve the opportunities of repatriation for social good.Read moreRead less
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0566962
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$81,105.00
Summary
Developing a prototype multi-institutional search engine for Australian Indigenous collections. We will investigate technical and cultural issues, and identify an optimal model for developing a multi-institutional search engine for Australian Indigenous collections. This will be achieved through the development of a prototype search engine linking two Australian museum collections. Current digital models for managing and accessing materials in multiple formats (audio, film, photographic and prin ....Developing a prototype multi-institutional search engine for Australian Indigenous collections. We will investigate technical and cultural issues, and identify an optimal model for developing a multi-institutional search engine for Australian Indigenous collections. This will be achieved through the development of a prototype search engine linking two Australian museum collections. Current digital models for managing and accessing materials in multiple formats (audio, film, photographic and print materials) will be investigated, and a set of cultural protocols developed for a subset of materials from one geographical area. Such an online research tool has the potential to facilitate research across disciplines, encourage collaborations between cultural institutions, and re-connect Indigenous communities with collections.Read moreRead less
Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distin ....Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distinctive and vulnerable continental and ocean environments. It also plans to use both print and museum environments to develop new understandings of the cultural dimensions of the ‘Age of Humans’.Read moreRead less
Using museums to counter racism and increase acceptance of diversity among young people. Although little is known about the topic, racism is a significant issue for young Australians. This project will reveal how high school students and their teachers understand racism, diversity and identity. It will also determine how museum programs can reduce racism and increase acceptance of diversity among high school students and their teachers.