Links across Empire: Australia and India 1880-1925. This project explores links between Australia and India between 1880-1925 and posits that India and Indians provided a foil against which Australians operated as they forged their nation and an Australian identity. It explores links around trade, religion, tourism , travel and the development and operation of the White Australia Policy to demonstrate the 'Othering' of India, but also the circumstances where closer understandings developed. In e ....Links across Empire: Australia and India 1880-1925. This project explores links between Australia and India between 1880-1925 and posits that India and Indians provided a foil against which Australians operated as they forged their nation and an Australian identity. It explores links around trade, religion, tourism , travel and the development and operation of the White Australia Policy to demonstrate the 'Othering' of India, but also the circumstances where closer understandings developed. In exploring relations between two very different colonies it pioneers new aspects of imperial history. It reveals the virtually un-researched history of relationships between Australia and India and thus historicises Australia's place in the Asia-Pacific.Read moreRead less
Whitewashing: Miscegenation, Assimilation and Genocide in the United States and Australia, 1860s-1960s. This project will investigate historical moments when miscegenation was seen as a means of removing indigenous identity in Australia and the United States. This research will answer recent calls for transnational histories which explore the intimate side of colonisation. My hypothesis is that the presence of a large population of African American people in the United States made white America ....Whitewashing: Miscegenation, Assimilation and Genocide in the United States and Australia, 1860s-1960s. This project will investigate historical moments when miscegenation was seen as a means of removing indigenous identity in Australia and the United States. This research will answer recent calls for transnational histories which explore the intimate side of colonisation. My hypothesis is that the presence of a large population of African American people in the United States made white Americans comparatively more apprehensive about miscegenation than white Australians. My findings will contribute to ongoing debates about genocidal practice in settler societies by questioning prevailing assumptions about the benign nature of the process of indigenous assimilation.Read moreRead less
From Race to the Genome: the Tasmanian Aboriginal People in the Scientific Imagination. This project addresses the nationally significant issue of contested Aboriginality in Tasmania. It offers a broader understanding of complex scientific ideas and deeper insights into the 'History Wars' debate that goes to the heart of shaping Australian national identity. It provides a comprehensive historical and legal context to the current national definition of an Aboriginal, of direct relevance to the co ....From Race to the Genome: the Tasmanian Aboriginal People in the Scientific Imagination. This project addresses the nationally significant issue of contested Aboriginality in Tasmania. It offers a broader understanding of complex scientific ideas and deeper insights into the 'History Wars' debate that goes to the heart of shaping Australian national identity. It provides a comprehensive historical and legal context to the current national definition of an Aboriginal, of direct relevance to the collection of national census data, the allocation of welfare funding and the Government's current restructuring of ATSIC. It will place Tasmania and Australia within an international context and make accessible new sources of Tasmanian culture and history to scholarly, indigenous and regional communities.Read moreRead less