Anglos Abroad: Memoirs of Immersion in a Foreign Language and Culture. A study of Anglophone narratives of language immersion offers a significant intellectual resource for thinking about ways in which Australian non-immigrant selves are shaped by culture and language: an issue with important implications for just practises within a wide range of national institutions and agencies, including education, immigration and social work. It thus contributes to the priority goal of strengthening Austral ....Anglos Abroad: Memoirs of Immersion in a Foreign Language and Culture. A study of Anglophone narratives of language immersion offers a significant intellectual resource for thinking about ways in which Australian non-immigrant selves are shaped by culture and language: an issue with important implications for just practises within a wide range of national institutions and agencies, including education, immigration and social work. It thus contributes to the priority goal of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric (Research Priority 2). It also contributes to enhancing our capacity to interpret and engage with our region and the world through a greater understanding of other languages and cultures (Research Priority 4).Read moreRead less
Germaine Greer, celebrity and popular feminism. This project aims to evaluate Germaine Greer’s contribution to popular understandings of feminism. It will use newly available archival material to examine Greer's global influence as a celebrity feminist. The project will assess Greer’s writing and its effect on her audiences, her interventions into various forms of media, and how her public persona has been constructed including her own role in this process. It will consider why she remains such ....Germaine Greer, celebrity and popular feminism. This project aims to evaluate Germaine Greer’s contribution to popular understandings of feminism. It will use newly available archival material to examine Greer's global influence as a celebrity feminist. The project will assess Greer’s writing and its effect on her audiences, her interventions into various forms of media, and how her public persona has been constructed including her own role in this process. It will consider why she remains such a highly visible and contested feminist figure. This project expects to understand how feminist ideas circulate in the public domain.Read moreRead less
Autobiographical Avatars: testimony and emerging technologies of life narrative. Australian research has led to new ways of thinking about the ethical, social and political work of these autobiographical genres. This project builds on a national reputation for excellence in this scholarly field, and it promotes writing across the fields of literary studies, and creative and professional writing which are areas of particular strength at the institutional location of this project. Some case stud ....Autobiographical Avatars: testimony and emerging technologies of life narrative. Australian research has led to new ways of thinking about the ethical, social and political work of these autobiographical genres. This project builds on a national reputation for excellence in this scholarly field, and it promotes writing across the fields of literary studies, and creative and professional writing which are areas of particular strength at the institutional location of this project. Some case studies selected for this project involve people, nations and polities with which the Australian government is engaged in long-term diplomatic, political and military engagements - Iraq and Afghanistan, for example.Read moreRead less
Indigenous Life Narratives and Racial Reconciliation in Australia and South Africa. The project studies the relationship between indigenous storytelling (life narratives, storytelling, testimony)and political campaigns for human rights and racial reconciliation in South Africa and Australia. It analyses the contexts of production, dissemination and consumption of these stories and their effects on indigenous and non-indigenous tellers and listeners within and beyond the respective nations, inclu ....Indigenous Life Narratives and Racial Reconciliation in Australia and South Africa. The project studies the relationship between indigenous storytelling (life narratives, storytelling, testimony)and political campaigns for human rights and racial reconciliation in South Africa and Australia. It analyses the contexts of production, dissemination and consumption of these stories and their effects on indigenous and non-indigenous tellers and listeners within and beyond the respective nations, including the emergence of new national literatures, indigenous identities, discourses on ethics, responsibility and racial reconciliation within and beyond the nations. The study offers a significant theoretical and methodological advance within the emerging field of critical global studies and the changing formations of nationhood.Read moreRead less
The Collaborative Museum: Embedding Cultural Infrastructure in the City. In partnership with the Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences, this project analyses the developing, complex processes of collaboration needed to embed the new Powerhouse Museum within the key Western Sydney city of Parramatta. The project’s significance lies in exploring the concept of the ‘collaborative museum’ as a synergising agent, proposing an invaluable, ground-breaking framework for establishing community-embedded cul ....The Collaborative Museum: Embedding Cultural Infrastructure in the City. In partnership with the Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences, this project analyses the developing, complex processes of collaboration needed to embed the new Powerhouse Museum within the key Western Sydney city of Parramatta. The project’s significance lies in exploring the concept of the ‘collaborative museum’ as a synergising agent, proposing an invaluable, ground-breaking framework for establishing community-embedded cultural infrastructure. Its outcomes will be beneficial across the entire cultural sector in shaping dynamic programs and encounters that resonate both locally and globally in underpinning an exciting model for conducting innovative, engaged research in large, diverse and culturally under-resourced metropolitan regions. Read moreRead less
Textual traditions, identity and cultural production in contemporary Bali. This project investigates contemporary interest in Bali's unique textual heritage as a marker of ethnic, religious and cultural identity and highlights the political and social consequences of new technologies in this process. It will provide new understandings of regional concerns with identity and cultural difference in Indonesia.
The couple: commitment and durability in the era of marriage equality. This project aims to examine the notion of the couple in the era of marriage equality. It is generally thought that couple longevity is an incontestable good socially, psychologically, and economically. The advent of same-sex marriage in Australia provides the occasion to reconsider why it is that general cultural benefits are thought to devolve from coupled intimacy alone. Rather than dismiss the value of marriage, either st ....The couple: commitment and durability in the era of marriage equality. This project aims to examine the notion of the couple in the era of marriage equality. It is generally thought that couple longevity is an incontestable good socially, psychologically, and economically. The advent of same-sex marriage in Australia provides the occasion to reconsider why it is that general cultural benefits are thought to devolve from coupled intimacy alone. Rather than dismiss the value of marriage, either straight or gay, this project looks at an archive of contemporary representations in which the couple form presents as a public good, not a private good. This anthropological study tests the supposed connection between intimate companionship and collective thriving.Read moreRead less
Reconceiving the queer public sphere: an interdisciplinary analysis of same-sex couple domesticity. Using literary, biographical and photographic sources, this project will produce a ground-breaking history of same-sex domestic environments across the twentieth century. Critically analysing queer home life, this project will transform current understandings of the relation between homosexuality, private life and the public sphere.
The politics of (un)forgetting: Indonesia’s nativist decolonisation. The project aims to investigate the dynamics of Indonesia’s politics today as an extended battle to remember or forget violent events, including those which took place around Indonesia’s decolonisation in the 1940s. It will offer new insights into ethical and political issues of how that past has significant bearing upon key political debates in contemporary Indonesia. In addition to conventional archives, the project will exam ....The politics of (un)forgetting: Indonesia’s nativist decolonisation. The project aims to investigate the dynamics of Indonesia’s politics today as an extended battle to remember or forget violent events, including those which took place around Indonesia’s decolonisation in the 1940s. It will offer new insights into ethical and political issues of how that past has significant bearing upon key political debates in contemporary Indonesia. In addition to conventional archives, the project will examine popular culture (cinema, radio, fiction, newspaper) as an innovative research field in its own right. The project aims to deliver richly-nuanced insights about Indonesia and its longstanding connections with Australia beyond the pursuit of material interests.Read moreRead less
Governing Prostitution in the People's Republic of China. This project will generate knowledge for 'Understanding Our Region and the World', part of the National Research Priority-Safeguarding Australia. It will do so by producing the first detailed study of the governmental regulation of prostitution in present-day China. Its impact will be increased knowledge of different, local responses to the governance of prostitution businesses and practices. It will position Australian research at the in ....Governing Prostitution in the People's Republic of China. This project will generate knowledge for 'Understanding Our Region and the World', part of the National Research Priority-Safeguarding Australia. It will do so by producing the first detailed study of the governmental regulation of prostitution in present-day China. Its impact will be increased knowledge of different, local responses to the governance of prostitution businesses and practices. It will position Australian research at the international forefront of this field, thereby enabling Australian researchers to lead and contribute to international policy debate on prostitution, public health issues and related government regulation.Read moreRead less