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
Transnational selves: French narratives of migration to Australia. This project aims to examine texts authored by French-speaking migrants to Australia in order to explore how migrating subjects write their identity, how migrants represent the self between nations and between languages, and how Australia is viewed through the prism of another language. Expected outcomes to this project include enhanced knowledge of Australian literature, of practices of migrant writing, and of the construction ....Transnational selves: French narratives of migration to Australia. This project aims to examine texts authored by French-speaking migrants to Australia in order to explore how migrating subjects write their identity, how migrants represent the self between nations and between languages, and how Australia is viewed through the prism of another language. Expected outcomes to this project include enhanced knowledge of Australian literature, of practices of migrant writing, and of the construction of Australian identity. This will provide significant benefits, such as a wider understanding of the diversity of Australian literature, an increased awareness of literature in Languages Other Than English in Australia, and a more nuanced appreciation of Australian identity.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200704
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$178,386.00
Summary
Between Indian and Pacific Oceans: Reframing Australian Literatures. Between Indian and Pacific Oceans: Reframing Australian Literature. This project aims to analyse the presence and role of Pacific and Indian Oceans in Australian literature from the mid-nineteenth century until the present. Using innovative approaches developed from interdisciplinary oceanic and archipelagic studies, the project aims to generate new knowledge about how Australian culture has formed in relation to these oceanic ....Between Indian and Pacific Oceans: Reframing Australian Literatures. Between Indian and Pacific Oceans: Reframing Australian Literature. This project aims to analyse the presence and role of Pacific and Indian Oceans in Australian literature from the mid-nineteenth century until the present. Using innovative approaches developed from interdisciplinary oceanic and archipelagic studies, the project aims to generate new knowledge about how Australian culture has formed in relation to these oceanic regions. Expected outcomes of the project include building knowledge of Australian literature and enhancing research capacity in literary oceanic studies. It will benefit scholars in literary, historical and cultural fields, contributing to current debates about Australia’s place in the world. Read moreRead less
Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imaginati ....Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imagination, and bridging social, temporal and geographical distances between people. This research will strengthen the nation's social fabric by promoting inter-racial understanding, and by adding historical depth to present thinking about contemporary Aboriginal attitudes to literacy.Read moreRead less
J. M. Coetzee and Making Sense in LIterature. Focusing on the work of Nobel Prize winning South African-Australian novelist J. M. Coetzee, this project examines how Coetzee’s fiction develops techniques that generate or produce meaning about the world and involves levels of ‘translatability’ that allow it to maintain relevance across cultures. A detailed analysis that focuses on how Coetzee makes us question the nature of meaning itself has not yet been undertaken, even though this is of central ....J. M. Coetzee and Making Sense in LIterature. Focusing on the work of Nobel Prize winning South African-Australian novelist J. M. Coetzee, this project examines how Coetzee’s fiction develops techniques that generate or produce meaning about the world and involves levels of ‘translatability’ that allow it to maintain relevance across cultures. A detailed analysis that focuses on how Coetzee makes us question the nature of meaning itself has not yet been undertaken, even though this is of central importance to his work.Read moreRead less
Finding Australia’s Disabled Authors: Connection, Creativity, Community. This research project aims to explore disabled writers and disability more generally in Australian literature. As there is little awareness of the contribution that Australian authors with disability have made to literary culture, the project expects to generate new knowledge about how disabled people have forged their writing careers, and how their disability shapes their creative practice. The expected outcomes include a ....Finding Australia’s Disabled Authors: Connection, Creativity, Community. This research project aims to explore disabled writers and disability more generally in Australian literature. As there is little awareness of the contribution that Australian authors with disability have made to literary culture, the project expects to generate new knowledge about how disabled people have forged their writing careers, and how their disability shapes their creative practice. The expected outcomes include a greater understanding of the diversity of Australian writers and literature, community engagement with disability, and support for emerging disabled writers. The project will provide significant benefits including a greater awareness of disability and the capacity to combat ableism and discrimination. Read moreRead less
The first English speakers in their own words. This project aims to produce the first comprehensive study of the attitudes in the earliest English literature. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the first English speakers, what issues mattered most to them and how broad the range of attitudes was. Expected outcomes of this project include new approaches to studying the past, enhanced international collaborations and a public access to the project's data through an open access dig ....The first English speakers in their own words. This project aims to produce the first comprehensive study of the attitudes in the earliest English literature. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the first English speakers, what issues mattered most to them and how broad the range of attitudes was. Expected outcomes of this project include new approaches to studying the past, enhanced international collaborations and a public access to the project's data through an open access digital resource. This should provide significant benefits in terms of our understanding of the past and how it shapes attitudes in contemporary Australia. Read moreRead less
Rioting and the literary archive. This project aims to examine writers' enduring engagement with the riot's destructive energy and its transformative potential. Riots have become a familiar feature of an increasingly volatile global politics, but contemporary responses to these events have a long history across a range of media and modes of writing. Literary writers have historically struggled in the aftermath of riots to make sense of and communicate the collective trauma felt by families and c ....Rioting and the literary archive. This project aims to examine writers' enduring engagement with the riot's destructive energy and its transformative potential. Riots have become a familiar feature of an increasingly volatile global politics, but contemporary responses to these events have a long history across a range of media and modes of writing. Literary writers have historically struggled in the aftermath of riots to make sense of and communicate the collective trauma felt by families and communities who suffer resulting injury, death, homelessness or unemployment. Drawing together writing from Britain, United States of America, Australia and the Middle-East, this project will provide an understanding of the resurgence of the riot in a contemporary global context.Read moreRead less
Forms of world literature. This project aims to explore a new vision of ‘world literature’. Creative writing is a way of thinking, and theoretical possibilities arise from the exchange between literary criticism and literary practice. This project will bring the formal and thematic interests of four eminent Australian writers – Alexis Wright, Nicholas Jose, Gail Jones and J.M. Coetzee – into dialogue with each other and a team of critical respondents. Critical and creative dialogues between Indi ....Forms of world literature. This project aims to explore a new vision of ‘world literature’. Creative writing is a way of thinking, and theoretical possibilities arise from the exchange between literary criticism and literary practice. This project will bring the formal and thematic interests of four eminent Australian writers – Alexis Wright, Nicholas Jose, Gail Jones and J.M. Coetzee – into dialogue with each other and a team of critical respondents. Critical and creative dialogues between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia, Argentina, China, and England provide an opportunity to think about how contemporary Australian writing might meaningfully be considered in the terms of world literature.Read moreRead less