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Learning to Drink:a socio-cultural history of the introduction of alcohol to Indigenous Australians and a critique of existing explanations. The wide distribution of alcohol-related problems among Indigenous people is undoubtedly related to the ongoing legacy of Australia's colonisation. This study examines forces and factors that have shaped distinctive present-day Indigenous alcohol-related behavioural patterns, by analysing the history of interactions between Aborigines and colonisers around ....Learning to Drink:a socio-cultural history of the introduction of alcohol to Indigenous Australians and a critique of existing explanations. The wide distribution of alcohol-related problems among Indigenous people is undoubtedly related to the ongoing legacy of Australia's colonisation. This study examines forces and factors that have shaped distinctive present-day Indigenous alcohol-related behavioural patterns, by analysing the history of interactions between Aborigines and colonisers around alcoholic beverages. In this endeavour, the historical and cultural continuities in the style of drinking are the focus, rather than the number of consumers. Current understandings of problem drinking, emphasising distress and biology, impede progress and will be challenged. In contrast, a social learning model is conducive to optimism about implementing new treatment approaches.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200920
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$265,000.00
Summary
A History of Community Health in Australia. This project aims to complete a comprehensive history of the development of community health centres and services in Australia, including Aboriginal community controlled organisations. It is intended to be significant in showing how the Aboriginal, women's, workers' and other social movements interacted with social and political institutions in crafting the variety of community health services now existing in Australia. It is intended to trace the chan ....A History of Community Health in Australia. This project aims to complete a comprehensive history of the development of community health centres and services in Australia, including Aboriginal community controlled organisations. It is intended to be significant in showing how the Aboriginal, women's, workers' and other social movements interacted with social and political institutions in crafting the variety of community health services now existing in Australia. It is intended to trace the changing meanings of 'community' and 'health' over the past fifty years. It is anticipated the research will enhance understanding of cultural, political and institutional influences on healthcare in Australia, thereby assisting in improving interventions promoting community health and well-being.Read moreRead less
Respectability and health: private life and the health transition in two capital cities, London and Melbourne, 1850?1980. This study will explore the relationship between the dramatic normative changes that occurred in working-class private life after 1850 and the health transition. Using grass-roots case studies and databases of both London and Melbourne, it will analyse the changing mortality experience of the poor?as infants, young, and older adults?in relation to changes in self-care, self- ....Respectability and health: private life and the health transition in two capital cities, London and Melbourne, 1850?1980. This study will explore the relationship between the dramatic normative changes that occurred in working-class private life after 1850 and the health transition. Using grass-roots case studies and databases of both London and Melbourne, it will analyse the changing mortality experience of the poor?as infants, young, and older adults?in relation to changes in self-care, self-image and family life made possible by the transition in these two mercantilist cities from casualised to regular labour markets. It will then endeavour to relate these findings about life chances among the most disadvantaged to health and social policy for the future.Read moreRead less
Land and life: Aborigines, convicts and immigrants in Victoria, 1835-1985: an interdisciplinary history. This project is an interdisciplinary investigation of dispossession and colonization of southeast Australia. It uses longitudinal cohort studies to produce new findings on the impact of stress, dislocation and economic change on individuals and families across five generations.
Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia. How do we change culture to improve public health? This project investigates the history of Australian anti-cancer campaigns to understand the nexus between science, advocacy, policy and behavioural change. The campaigns of Cancer Council Victoria modified government policy, pushed Australia into international prominence in public health research and translation, and influenced behaviour. The project seeks to analyse the deploymen ....Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia. How do we change culture to improve public health? This project investigates the history of Australian anti-cancer campaigns to understand the nexus between science, advocacy, policy and behavioural change. The campaigns of Cancer Council Victoria modified government policy, pushed Australia into international prominence in public health research and translation, and influenced behaviour. The project seeks to analyse the deployment of such campaigns, the socio-cultural and political context that allowed them to leverage policy change, and their connection to life-saving behaviours. Distilling elements of success and failure will better inform advocates and governments in preventing cancer and other diseases through future health promotion.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200460
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$176,511.00
Summary
A history of domestic violence in Australia, 1850-2020. The project aims to investigate similarities and differences in women's lived experiences of domestic violence across ethnic, cultural and class contexts; to historicise its cultural representations and their impacts; and to identify and assess policy and legal measures to constrain domestic violence. Its significance lies in its goal to address a persistent threat in Australia. Expected outcomes are the first book-length history of domesti ....A history of domestic violence in Australia, 1850-2020. The project aims to investigate similarities and differences in women's lived experiences of domestic violence across ethnic, cultural and class contexts; to historicise its cultural representations and their impacts; and to identify and assess policy and legal measures to constrain domestic violence. Its significance lies in its goal to address a persistent threat in Australia. Expected outcomes are the first book-length history of domestic violence in Australia, articles, direct sector engagement and a digital database to build future research capacity. Its anticipated benefit is new analysis that assists policy makers, service providers, the media and public to understand historical processes that have shaped Australian gender relations.Read moreRead less
A history of psychiatric institutionalisation and community care in Australia, 1830s-1990s. A vigorous debate is underway in Australia currently over the policy of closing mental institutions and caring for the mentally ill in the community. Whereas doctors, politicians and journalists have contributed to this debate, regularly resorting to history to bolster their arguments, historians themselves have had relatively little to say. A genuinely national history of mental health care simply does n ....A history of psychiatric institutionalisation and community care in Australia, 1830s-1990s. A vigorous debate is underway in Australia currently over the policy of closing mental institutions and caring for the mentally ill in the community. Whereas doctors, politicians and journalists have contributed to this debate, regularly resorting to history to bolster their arguments, historians themselves have had relatively little to say. A genuinely national history of mental health care simply does not exist. This study provides that comprehensive history, in the belief that policy making in such a vital area of health cannot be undertaken effectively without an informed understanding of the successes and failures of the last 150 years.Read moreRead less
Reading the Objects: Developing Online Personal Stories from Australia's 'Museums of Madness', 1870-1980. Museum Victoria's Psychiatric Services Collection contains over 1,600 objects from mental hospitals that operated in the state between 1870 and 1980. It is one of the largest collections of its type in the world. As the relative merits of psychiatric institutionalization and community care remain controversial, making digitized images of all these objects available online, accompanied by exp ....Reading the Objects: Developing Online Personal Stories from Australia's 'Museums of Madness', 1870-1980. Museum Victoria's Psychiatric Services Collection contains over 1,600 objects from mental hospitals that operated in the state between 1870 and 1980. It is one of the largest collections of its type in the world. As the relative merits of psychiatric institutionalization and community care remain controversial, making digitized images of all these objects available online, accompanied by expert historical commentaries, will not only throw light on the daily lives of patients and staff and the care offered in institutions now largely vanished, but it will also help promote a better informed public debate about this vital area of mental health policy.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200615
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$270,662.00
Summary
Shaping Australia’s Aboriginal Health Services: Politics, power and people. This project aims to provide the first comprehensive Aboriginal-owned and -authored history of the national Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services network – comprised of 150 local primary health providers and recognised as critical to ‘closing the gap’ in Aboriginal disadvantage. Using unique archives and a custom web portal to support distance research, the project expects to capture hidden histories of partici ....Shaping Australia’s Aboriginal Health Services: Politics, power and people. This project aims to provide the first comprehensive Aboriginal-owned and -authored history of the national Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services network – comprised of 150 local primary health providers and recognised as critical to ‘closing the gap’ in Aboriginal disadvantage. Using unique archives and a custom web portal to support distance research, the project expects to capture hidden histories of participants, philosophies and events. The innovative, community-led research processes will contribute to Aboriginal research capacity and engagement through academic-community partnerships and highly validated historical accounts. This should lay foundations for improved and engaged policy responses in health and education.Read moreRead less
Northland Secondary College: Koori kids' education. This project aims to chart the extraordinary history of the closure and eventual re-opening of Northland Secondary College (1992-1995). This is an episode known to Melbourne Aboriginal communities but despite its historical, political, legal and sociological significance, is largely overlooked in scholarly accounts. The project will deliver scholarly research resources and analysis, publicly accessible outputs and will provide culturally approp ....Northland Secondary College: Koori kids' education. This project aims to chart the extraordinary history of the closure and eventual re-opening of Northland Secondary College (1992-1995). This is an episode known to Melbourne Aboriginal communities but despite its historical, political, legal and sociological significance, is largely overlooked in scholarly accounts. The project will deliver scholarly research resources and analysis, publicly accessible outputs and will provide culturally appropriate accounts of this history.Read moreRead less