A textual and critical study of Charlotte Brontë. This project aims to reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s original novels, which are stranger, more unsettling, and more artistically and socially challenging than the available editions lead readers to believe. This strangeness, so apparent in her manuscripts, is moderated in all print versions of the novels because Brontë’s punctuation was radically altered by the printers who altered them for the first editions, with profound effects on the novels a ....A textual and critical study of Charlotte Brontë. This project aims to reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s original novels, which are stranger, more unsettling, and more artistically and socially challenging than the available editions lead readers to believe. This strangeness, so apparent in her manuscripts, is moderated in all print versions of the novels because Brontë’s punctuation was radically altered by the printers who altered them for the first editions, with profound effects on the novels and their interpretation. This project will restore the original versions in a new scholarly print/digital edition, reproduce them along with the print versions in an innovative online critical archive of Brontë texts and contexts and analyse them in a book-length reinterpretation of the novels. In collaboration with prestigious international cultural institutions including The British Library, Morgan Library and Brontë Parsonage Museum, this project will create new ways for the general public to engage closely with some of the most important and least accessible documents of western literary heritage.
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Minds, Bodies, Machines: a cultural and intellectual history of technologies in the 21st century. This project benefits the intellectual and cultural life of the nation by establishing a unique dialogue between the I.T. community and University researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Using an
interdisciplinary methodology to explore technologically-driven social change across a period of more than two hundred years, the project will generate new and fresh ways of thinking about emerg ....Minds, Bodies, Machines: a cultural and intellectual history of technologies in the 21st century. This project benefits the intellectual and cultural life of the nation by establishing a unique dialogue between the I.T. community and University researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Using an
interdisciplinary methodology to explore technologically-driven social change across a period of more than two hundred years, the project will generate new and fresh ways of thinking about emerging areas of intense debate and controversy, such as humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence. The dialogue we propose will foster an environment of enhanced innovation, one in which knowledge translates directly and indirectly into social and economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Transforming the early modern archive: the Emmerson Collection at SLV. In 2015, State Library Victoria (SLV) received the bequest of the Emmerson Collection: a national treasure of over 5000 early modern rare books and manuscripts, the first and only early modern archive of scale to be held by an Australian institution. Bringing together experts in early modern studies and the digital humanities with specialist library staff, this project will uncover the contents and scope of the collection and ....Transforming the early modern archive: the Emmerson Collection at SLV. In 2015, State Library Victoria (SLV) received the bequest of the Emmerson Collection: a national treasure of over 5000 early modern rare books and manuscripts, the first and only early modern archive of scale to be held by an Australian institution. Bringing together experts in early modern studies and the digital humanities with specialist library staff, this project will uncover the contents and scope of the collection and promote its international scholarly significance to the wider world. In doing so, it will develop new digital tools designed to unlock the value of this unique public resource for a wide range of end-users.Read moreRead less
Innovative Approaches to Shakespeare and Literature Research in Australian Universities and Secondary Schools. Barker College and the University of Sydney unite in a major research initiative to tackle pressing issues in Australian humanities education with the express purpose of promoting an innovation culture and economy (National Research Priority 3, Goal 5). The project executes groundbreaking research into the teaching and learning of Shakespeare and the literary-critical skills of school a ....Innovative Approaches to Shakespeare and Literature Research in Australian Universities and Secondary Schools. Barker College and the University of Sydney unite in a major research initiative to tackle pressing issues in Australian humanities education with the express purpose of promoting an innovation culture and economy (National Research Priority 3, Goal 5). The project executes groundbreaking research into the teaching and learning of Shakespeare and the literary-critical skills of school and university students. The core research partnership, website and conference together deliver a shared-knowledge approach to determining innovative and effective new models for teaching and learning in the humanities. The project seeks wide participation from, and delivers diverse pedagogical benefits to, all Australian schools and universities.Read moreRead less
From British Imperialist to Honorary Aussie to International Meeting-Place: How Shakespeare has been spoken and staged in Australia 1910-2003. Aims: To discover how changing ideas of Australia's relationship to Britain and the world relate to performances of Shakespeare for Australian audiences.
Significance: For the last 100 years Shakespeare has been the most performed playwright in Australia, but theatre companies today are more likely to draw on Asian physical theatre than British speech tr ....From British Imperialist to Honorary Aussie to International Meeting-Place: How Shakespeare has been spoken and staged in Australia 1910-2003. Aims: To discover how changing ideas of Australia's relationship to Britain and the world relate to performances of Shakespeare for Australian audiences.
Significance: For the last 100 years Shakespeare has been the most performed playwright in Australia, but theatre companies today are more likely to draw on Asian physical theatre than British speech training. How Shakespeare's plays have been staged and spoken here reflects changing ideas about national character and identity, in terms of independence, sophistication, and sense of cultural geography.
Outcomes: A PhD thesis and a major exhibition catalogue essay by the APAI candidate; research publications by the Chief InvestigatorsRead moreRead less
Treating Criminals from Shore to Ship: Public Health, Humanitarianism and Convict Transportation. This project aims to explore the impact that penal reforms had on the diet and health of convicts on land and at sea. It intends to establish the extent to which the remarkable record of health amongst prisoners transported to Australia (monthly death rates were half those for fare paying trans-Atlantic passengers) can be attributed to their treatment prior to embarkation. The project aims to resul ....Treating Criminals from Shore to Ship: Public Health, Humanitarianism and Convict Transportation. This project aims to explore the impact that penal reforms had on the diet and health of convicts on land and at sea. It intends to establish the extent to which the remarkable record of health amongst prisoners transported to Australia (monthly death rates were half those for fare paying trans-Atlantic passengers) can be attributed to their treatment prior to embarkation. The project aims to result in new ways of communicating history to diverse audiences using innovative data visualisations.Read moreRead less
Australian Holocaust Memory, Human Rights and the Contemporary Museum. This project aims to explore and extend scholarly understandings of the public impact of Holocaust history and memory in the Australian context. As the ‘generation of witness’ comes to its natural end, the project intends to investigate new ways to harness this memory and link it to influential national and international debates pertaining to Holocaust and Human Rights museums. In partnership with the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJ ....Australian Holocaust Memory, Human Rights and the Contemporary Museum. This project aims to explore and extend scholarly understandings of the public impact of Holocaust history and memory in the Australian context. As the ‘generation of witness’ comes to its natural end, the project intends to investigate new ways to harness this memory and link it to influential national and international debates pertaining to Holocaust and Human Rights museums. In partnership with the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM), the project aims to critically evaluate and realign the SJM’s rich repository of material culture as it relates to these overarching themes. This research intends to result in scholarly publications and establish the conceptual foundations for a Human Rights and the Holocaust Centre.Read moreRead less
Seeing Change: Science, Culture and Technology in the Antipodes from the age of Darwin - a multi-media research collaboration. To build a collaboration across the humanities, natural sciences, business technology and public culture sectors that will use new forms of digital and visual research to demonstrate the neglected importance of Australasia in the formation of nineteenth-century evolutionary thought and to suggest the relevance of these ideas to understanding contemporary issues of enviro ....Seeing Change: Science, Culture and Technology in the Antipodes from the age of Darwin - a multi-media research collaboration. To build a collaboration across the humanities, natural sciences, business technology and public culture sectors that will use new forms of digital and visual research to demonstrate the neglected importance of Australasia in the formation of nineteenth-century evolutionary thought and to suggest the relevance of these ideas to understanding contemporary issues of environmental sustainability and the development of frontier technologies within our society and region. 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.
Learning from the Past? Evaluating the impact of Holocaust museum education. This project will determine and assess the long term educational impact of Holocaust education programs. Developed in partnership with Australia’s three Holocaust museums, our innovative methodology will enable a comprehensive understanding of these programs' potential to shape ethical thinking and engender behavioural change. The outcomes will generate more targeted and effective programs that engage students on cognit ....Learning from the Past? Evaluating the impact of Holocaust museum education. This project will determine and assess the long term educational impact of Holocaust education programs. Developed in partnership with Australia’s three Holocaust museums, our innovative methodology will enable a comprehensive understanding of these programs' potential to shape ethical thinking and engender behavioural change. The outcomes will generate more targeted and effective programs that engage students on cognitive and affective levels. With the rise of antisemitism, Islamophobia and political extremism in Australia and abroad prompting policy initiatives in which cultural institutions are characterised as agents of social change, maximising the long-term educational benefits of these programs is imperative.Read moreRead less