Women Writers and the Production of British History 1763-1886. This project addresses the critical neglect of women who engaged in writing history in Britain during the nineteenth century. It will demonstrate the importance of women writers in the construction of a national identity in Britain and will seek to understand how women engaged with nationalist history-making and used various forms of historical writing to explore their heritage. The social and political issues that occupied women as ....Women Writers and the Production of British History 1763-1886. This project addresses the critical neglect of women who engaged in writing history in Britain during the nineteenth century. It will demonstrate the importance of women writers in the construction of a national identity in Britain and will seek to understand how women engaged with nationalist history-making and used various forms of historical writing to explore their heritage. The social and political issues that occupied women as writers of history remain pertinent today in relation to how societies generate public memory and the nature of the relationship between political exclusion and historical writing.Read moreRead less
The Life and Writings of Sir Charles Brooke, second Rajah of Sarawak (1829-1917). The benefit of the project is an understanding of the processes and mentality which underlaid what was perhaps history's most successful experiment in enlightened European rule over Asian peoples during the Imperial era. There are lessons here here for Australians' relations with their Southeast Asian neighbours, notably Malaysia and Indonesia. In the British context, it will document and evaluate for the first ti ....The Life and Writings of Sir Charles Brooke, second Rajah of Sarawak (1829-1917). The benefit of the project is an understanding of the processes and mentality which underlaid what was perhaps history's most successful experiment in enlightened European rule over Asian peoples during the Imperial era. There are lessons here here for Australians' relations with their Southeast Asian neighbours, notably Malaysia and Indonesia. In the British context, it will document and evaluate for the first time the achievement of one of the great figures of the Imperial era. Within Malaysia (and notably Sarawak) it will provide a major contribution towards an understanding of the 'White Rajah' era and its legacy of economic autonomy and political and cultural pluralism. Read moreRead less
Spectacle and Multimedia in Late-Eighteenth-Century Europe: a programme of written and multi-media histories. I aim to demonstrate that Philippe de Loutherbourg, an eighteenth-century European artist and set-designer, pioneered revolutionary developments in the technology and culture of multi-media through the agency of 'spectacles.' These multi-sensory displays for entertainment and knowledge foreshadow the advent of modern cinema and multimedia, and suggest new ways of praticing history throug ....Spectacle and Multimedia in Late-Eighteenth-Century Europe: a programme of written and multi-media histories. I aim to demonstrate that Philippe de Loutherbourg, an eighteenth-century European artist and set-designer, pioneered revolutionary developments in the technology and culture of multi-media through the agency of 'spectacles.' These multi-sensory displays for entertainment and knowledge foreshadow the advent of modern cinema and multimedia, and suggest new ways of praticing history through multimedia re-creations.Read moreRead less
Beyond the Family: Fragmented Families and Household Strategies in England, 1400-1830. This project poses radical new questions to the history of families and domestic relations in England 1400-1830. We aim to provide the first systematic analysis of the extent, variety, and significance of non-nuclear family forms in this period, explore their affectual relationships, and locate them in European contexts. Using approaches from literary textual analysis to statistical demography, we will critiqu ....Beyond the Family: Fragmented Families and Household Strategies in England, 1400-1830. This project poses radical new questions to the history of families and domestic relations in England 1400-1830. We aim to provide the first systematic analysis of the extent, variety, and significance of non-nuclear family forms in this period, explore their affectual relationships, and locate them in European contexts. Using approaches from literary textual analysis to statistical demography, we will critique several areas of scholarship on family and household history, evoking new research on medieval and early modern non-nuclear family structures, and hopefully providing fresh perspectives on the historical context of the perceived 'breakdown' of nuclear families in modern western-type societies.Read moreRead less
Gothic Fiction and Imagined Worlds: Popular Literature, Emotion, and the transformation of experience in modernity. This project revises our understanding of Gothic Fiction, the most important prose genre of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its ground-breaking argument and innovative methodology help develop Australia's international reputation in Romantic studies, while expanding the methodological repertoire of literary studies. The project adds to our culture by contributin ....Gothic Fiction and Imagined Worlds: Popular Literature, Emotion, and the transformation of experience in modernity. This project revises our understanding of Gothic Fiction, the most important prose genre of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its ground-breaking argument and innovative methodology help develop Australia's international reputation in Romantic studies, while expanding the methodological repertoire of literary studies. The project adds to our culture by contributing to debates about the 'truth' status of (and relation between) emotions, literature, and imagined worlds. It adds to our understanding of the present, through its revisionary account of a key stage in the development of contemporary notions of experience, the fictive, imagined/virtual worlds, and the modern crisis of representation.Read moreRead less
Multiplying Worlds: Romanticism, Modernity, and the emergence of Virtual Reality. This project contends that virtual reality first emerges during the Romantic Period (1780-1830). Further, it argues that the contemporary prominence of virtual reality rests to a surprising degree on assumptions about the virtual that derive from this earlier period. To establish this aetiology of perhaps the most important phenomenon of the digital age, the project focuses on the production of virtual reality in E ....Multiplying Worlds: Romanticism, Modernity, and the emergence of Virtual Reality. This project contends that virtual reality first emerges during the Romantic Period (1780-1830). Further, it argues that the contemporary prominence of virtual reality rests to a surprising degree on assumptions about the virtual that derive from this earlier period. To establish this aetiology of perhaps the most important phenomenon of the digital age, the project focuses on the production of virtual reality in Enlightenment schemes for managing the real, popular entertainment, and Romanticism. It will make a major contribution to debates concerning Romanticism and (post)modernity, and to our understanding of the cultural histories that shape our reception of computer technologies.Read moreRead less
Reading Children in Early Modern Culture. This project will offer new understandings of childhood as a historically- and culturally-contingent construct that will impact on perceptions of childhood in twenty-first-century Australia. It will use local and international archives to uncover a variety of early modern texts that were produced for children but have not yet been considered in terms of child readership. It is important to explore the significant historical links between children and lit ....Reading Children in Early Modern Culture. This project will offer new understandings of childhood as a historically- and culturally-contingent construct that will impact on perceptions of childhood in twenty-first-century Australia. It will use local and international archives to uncover a variety of early modern texts that were produced for children but have not yet been considered in terms of child readership. It is important to explore the significant historical links between children and literature as it will enable us to access the history of this marginalized group and will result in a more nuanced understanding of the cultural processes of educating children and the important role of literature in defining childhood identities, issues that continue to be relevant today.Read moreRead less
Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subs ....Royal Ritual and the Order of the Garter: Tradition, Modernity and the Medieval in England, 1348-2002. The cultural history of the British monarchy can be characterised as a set of negotiations between the rival claims of tradition and modernity. The monarchy depends on its medieval past for cultural authority while also constantly seeking to reform and renew itself. This project analyses one of the monarchy's oldest rituals, the Order of the Garter, using its contested medieval origins and subsequent history as a powerful symptomatic register of the strategies by which the monarchy adapts its traditional heritage to changing social contexts. Comprehending this dynamic will revise our understanding of the relationship between medieval culture, tradition and modernity.Read moreRead less
Women's Poetry and Classicism in Early Modern England, 1500-1700. The primary national/community benefit of the project is the charting of how women pursued sophisticated education and imaginative literary expression despite the gender-biased structures of exclusion prevalent in early modern England. The period from Isabella Whitney's first published book (1567) to Margaret Cavendish's (1653) sees nothing less than the first emergence of Englishwomen as publishing authors. It is of great importa ....Women's Poetry and Classicism in Early Modern England, 1500-1700. The primary national/community benefit of the project is the charting of how women pursued sophisticated education and imaginative literary expression despite the gender-biased structures of exclusion prevalent in early modern England. The period from Isabella Whitney's first published book (1567) to Margaret Cavendish's (1653) sees nothing less than the first emergence of Englishwomen as publishing authors. It is of great importance that this historical emergence be interrogated because it will help us understand how women rose from domestic silence to public voice, how they turned masculine classical resources to 'feminist' ends, and how the idea of the woman writer developed in England in the age of print. Read moreRead less
The British Diaspora in the Modern World: A Social History of British Migration and Transnational Networks since the 1960s. As a migrant nation Australia has a vital interest in maintaining informed discussion of the diverse and overlapping historical threads that contribute to national make-up and identity. The substantial British contribution to this process in the later 20th century, and the wider shift in migration processes it illuminates, has been significantly understated in migration re ....The British Diaspora in the Modern World: A Social History of British Migration and Transnational Networks since the 1960s. As a migrant nation Australia has a vital interest in maintaining informed discussion of the diverse and overlapping historical threads that contribute to national make-up and identity. The substantial British contribution to this process in the later 20th century, and the wider shift in migration processes it illuminates, has been significantly understated in migration research. This project undertakes a timely exploration of British-Australians' experience, and their wider mobility, as many migrants adopt a more continuous pattern of movement. Understanding the complex threads of different migrant cultures' adaptation and 'belonging' will be valuable for policy-makers and for public and academic debate.Read moreRead less