A History of Public Conversation in the USA. The quality of public conversation is a subject of continuing concern in Australia as in the US. This study of the history of public conversation in the US will offer a longer historical perspective on current political and social concerns about declining social capital and civility in public discourse. Americans have always sought more and better public discussion, but for quite different reasons at different times. The research will illuminate the v ....A History of Public Conversation in the USA. The quality of public conversation is a subject of continuing concern in Australia as in the US. This study of the history of public conversation in the US will offer a longer historical perspective on current political and social concerns about declining social capital and civility in public discourse. Americans have always sought more and better public discussion, but for quite different reasons at different times. The research will illuminate the very rich history of public conversation in the US and shed some comparative light on Australian conditions.Read moreRead less
The Democractisation of Documentary Cinema in China. The Democratisation of Documentary Cinema in China has cultural, political, economic, and research benefits for Australia. Culturally, the Project provides an analysis of the ways China views itself and the world. Politically, the Project enriches Australia's understanding of how media control in China has been transformed from 1949 to the age of globalisation. Economically, the Project enhances Australia's chances of finding a niche in the wo ....The Democractisation of Documentary Cinema in China. The Democratisation of Documentary Cinema in China has cultural, political, economic, and research benefits for Australia. Culturally, the Project provides an analysis of the ways China views itself and the world. Politically, the Project enriches Australia's understanding of how media control in China has been transformed from 1949 to the age of globalisation. Economically, the Project enhances Australia's chances of finding a niche in the world's largest documentary film market. As a contribution to research, the Project will produce the first in-depth study of Chinese documentary film, its industry and politics and so offers Australia a new perspective on how political change is reflected in one of China's leading media productions.Read moreRead less
A Critical Investigation into the Life and Writings of Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850). Insofar as our culture was and to a large extent remains a development of the culture of Britain during the Romantic period, and of its often conflicting ideas of nature and subjectivity, individualism and nationalism, my research into Jeffrey's career and writings will bring benefit to Australia by making conceptual advances in key areas of our cultural and political history. The only places where Francis Jeffre ....A Critical Investigation into the Life and Writings of Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850). Insofar as our culture was and to a large extent remains a development of the culture of Britain during the Romantic period, and of its often conflicting ideas of nature and subjectivity, individualism and nationalism, my research into Jeffrey's career and writings will bring benefit to Australia by making conceptual advances in key areas of our cultural and political history. The only places where Francis Jeffrey's enormously influential 'Edinburgh Review' was read more avidly than in Britain in the early decades of the nineteenth century were in the ex-colony of America and in British colonies like Australia. Read moreRead less
The impact of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson on European modernism and cultural life. The story of how the Black American entertainers Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson became stars in Jazz-Age Europe is the stuff of legend. Lionised by artists and intellectuals and idolised by popular audiences, they embodied the spirit of the age. As an allegory for those times, their story reveals a secret history of cultural intermixing at the heart of European modernism. It also holds up a mirror to our ....The impact of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson on European modernism and cultural life. The story of how the Black American entertainers Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson became stars in Jazz-Age Europe is the stuff of legend. Lionised by artists and intellectuals and idolised by popular audiences, they embodied the spirit of the age. As an allegory for those times, their story reveals a secret history of cultural intermixing at the heart of European modernism. It also holds up a mirror to our times. By demonstrating the cosmopolitanism and ingenuity of popular culture, the research will simultaneously discomfort multicultural and anti-racist assumptions and deflate the myth of a pure or unchanging cultural identity.Read moreRead less
Making a Spectacle of Disagreement: Media and Controversy in Modern Chinese Thought. Polemical and combative rhetoric, as well as tactics of dispute and provocation, are an integral part of key debates that have shaped a century of modern Chinese thought. This study is the first attempt to survey and analyse intellectual contestations and controversies in twentieth-century and contemporary China in relation to their publication in different forms of media (especially electronic media) that have ....Making a Spectacle of Disagreement: Media and Controversy in Modern Chinese Thought. Polemical and combative rhetoric, as well as tactics of dispute and provocation, are an integral part of key debates that have shaped a century of modern Chinese thought. This study is the first attempt to survey and analyse intellectual contestations and controversies in twentieth-century and contemporary China in relation to their publication in different forms of media (especially electronic media) that have been available to Chinese intellectuals and the concerned public. We expect to provide a new critical account of Chinese intellectual history and contribute to knowledge of the socio-political and cultural impacts of new media in a non-Western context.Read moreRead less
Peepshows: Love Letters and the Death Penalty in a Sensation Trial and its Cultural Legacies. Criminal trials are primarily studied by cultural historians and legal scholars without reference to eachother. My aim is to produce a feminist cultural history of a sensation trial and its legacies that addresses the legal, historical and cultural dimensions of the case. The monograph will explore how a woman was hanged on the flimsy ?evidence? of her love letters, and how later critics and cultural pr ....Peepshows: Love Letters and the Death Penalty in a Sensation Trial and its Cultural Legacies. Criminal trials are primarily studied by cultural historians and legal scholars without reference to eachother. My aim is to produce a feminist cultural history of a sensation trial and its legacies that addresses the legal, historical and cultural dimensions of the case. The monograph will explore how a woman was hanged on the flimsy ?evidence? of her love letters, and how later critics and cultural producers used popular forms to speak back to law. The project significance stems from its multi-disciplinary approach, and the innovative synchronic and diachronic framewor, which will provide a model for later cultural studies of trials.Read moreRead less