The Laboratory of Modernity: Knowledge Formation and the Australian Settler Colonies (1788-1900). Colonial Australia was a laboratory in which European ideas could be tested, raw data collected, and social experiments trialled, especially in managing settler, convict, and Aboriginal populations. This literary historical project will analyse the production and circulation of colonial knowledge, by focusing on texts and print culture, and will map their influence on European thought and modern soc ....The Laboratory of Modernity: Knowledge Formation and the Australian Settler Colonies (1788-1900). Colonial Australia was a laboratory in which European ideas could be tested, raw data collected, and social experiments trialled, especially in managing settler, convict, and Aboriginal populations. This literary historical project will analyse the production and circulation of colonial knowledge, by focusing on texts and print culture, and will map their influence on European thought and modern social theory. Grounded in meticulous archival and textual analysis, this project will trace the ways in which knowledge created in the settler colonies was produced by individuals and circulated by correspondence, institutions, and publication through imperial networks. This project will produce new insights into Australia’s literary and cultural history.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100238
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$313,000.00
Summary
Georgiana Molloy, Life Writing and Environment in 1830s Western Australia. This project aims to use ecobiography, a mode of life-writing that details the relationship of a person with their environment, to prompt a reconsideration of the anthropocentric relationship between humans and non-humans in a settler colony. Through analysis of archival and contemporary writing on the environment of 1830s south-west Western Australia, it aims to illuminate interactions between botanist Georgiana Molloy, ....Georgiana Molloy, Life Writing and Environment in 1830s Western Australia. This project aims to use ecobiography, a mode of life-writing that details the relationship of a person with their environment, to prompt a reconsideration of the anthropocentric relationship between humans and non-humans in a settler colony. Through analysis of archival and contemporary writing on the environment of 1830s south-west Western Australia, it aims to illuminate interactions between botanist Georgiana Molloy, the Noongar people and plants. The resulting monograph will be designed to demonstrate how syntheses of the sciences and humanities can respond creatively to environmental deterioration. The project also intends to contribute to recent scholarship on Aboriginal agency and land management practices.Read moreRead less