Future fables: literature, evolution and artificial intelligence. The future of AI is a site of considerable philosophical and cultural anxiety in the West. Given the future of AI is currently only available to publics through literary or fictional tropes, it is vital that we investigate the historical evolution of these literary or fictional tropes of AI to understand its future direction. This project aims to understand (1) how the post-Darwinian literary imagination has shaped our current anx ....Future fables: literature, evolution and artificial intelligence. The future of AI is a site of considerable philosophical and cultural anxiety in the West. Given the future of AI is currently only available to publics through literary or fictional tropes, it is vital that we investigate the historical evolution of these literary or fictional tropes of AI to understand its future direction. This project aims to understand (1) how the post-Darwinian literary imagination has shaped our current anxieties about AI and (2) how literary and scientific writers after Darwin rethink the future of the human species by imagining the co-evolution of humans, animals and machines. Expected outcomes of the project include conceptual resources to understand the human-nonhuman relation and the future of AI.Read moreRead less
The new medical body in contemporary Chinese imaginaries. Advances in organ transplant, blood transfusion, and related practices not only affect understandings of the human body in medical and scientific communities, but in society at large. This project will analyse contemporary Chinese literature, cinema, art, and popular media to better understand the impact of medical innovations on Chinese culture.
The early woman writer, 1530-1660. This project aims to provide a literary history of women’s textual practice in the English Renaissance. This project will examine the scope, content and purpose of early modern women’s writing to make new discoveries about reading, writing and book use in the period when book production and distribution was first appearing on a larger scale. It uses digital technologies to create open-access digital forms of this writing to extend access to it, and also to furt ....The early woman writer, 1530-1660. This project aims to provide a literary history of women’s textual practice in the English Renaissance. This project will examine the scope, content and purpose of early modern women’s writing to make new discoveries about reading, writing and book use in the period when book production and distribution was first appearing on a larger scale. It uses digital technologies to create open-access digital forms of this writing to extend access to it, and also to further Australia’s position in both cutting edge digital scholarship and scholarship on the early modern period.
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The Laboratory of Modernity: Knowledge Formation and the Australian Settler Colonies (1788-1900). Colonial Australia was a laboratory in which European ideas could be tested, raw data collected, and social experiments trialled, especially in managing settler, convict, and Aboriginal populations. This literary historical project will analyse the production and circulation of colonial knowledge, by focusing on texts and print culture, and will map their influence on European thought and modern soc ....The Laboratory of Modernity: Knowledge Formation and the Australian Settler Colonies (1788-1900). Colonial Australia was a laboratory in which European ideas could be tested, raw data collected, and social experiments trialled, especially in managing settler, convict, and Aboriginal populations. This literary historical project will analyse the production and circulation of colonial knowledge, by focusing on texts and print culture, and will map their influence on European thought and modern social theory. Grounded in meticulous archival and textual analysis, this project will trace the ways in which knowledge created in the settler colonies was produced by individuals and circulated by correspondence, institutions, and publication through imperial networks. This project will produce new insights into Australia’s literary and cultural history.Read moreRead less
The Economics of Birds: Colonial Australia's Relationship to Native Species. This project aims to produce the first comprehensive analysis of native bird species in the cultural, scientific, and economic life of colonial Australia. It expects to generate new knowledge about Australia’s environmental imagination, identity and practices locally, nationally and globally. Anticipated outcomes include new insights into the circulation, cultural meanings and uses of species and species knowledge and t ....The Economics of Birds: Colonial Australia's Relationship to Native Species. This project aims to produce the first comprehensive analysis of native bird species in the cultural, scientific, and economic life of colonial Australia. It expects to generate new knowledge about Australia’s environmental imagination, identity and practices locally, nationally and globally. Anticipated outcomes include new insights into the circulation, cultural meanings and uses of species and species knowledge and the tensions between enchantment and pragmatism in creative, affective and material responses to birdlife. This should significantly benefit understandings of Australia’s past and present by mapping its historical relationships to bird species and producing new insights into the pressing ecological concerns of today. Read moreRead less
Comic medievalism and the modern world. This project will study comic depictions of the Middle Ages, examining how they reflect views about the past and the present. It will produce new knowledge about how this historical humour intersects with, and contributes to, ongoing debates about progress, social changed and cultural tolerance, which are vital to Australian public life.
Reading at the interface: literatures, cultures, technologies. This project intends to use massively expanded digital evidence of reception to investigate a central insight of cultural criticism - that meaning is produced through interactions between texts, contexts and readers. The project expects to generate new knowledge of literary culture and digital approaches to research in the humanities. The project will employ new digital evidence and methods to explore general and professional readi ....Reading at the interface: literatures, cultures, technologies. This project intends to use massively expanded digital evidence of reception to investigate a central insight of cultural criticism - that meaning is produced through interactions between texts, contexts and readers. The project expects to generate new knowledge of literary culture and digital approaches to research in the humanities. The project will employ new digital evidence and methods to explore general and professional reading in concert. Mapping the impact of new media on reception of Australian literature should provide significant social and disciplinary benefits in fostering literary research capable of engaging diverse publics and responding effectively to policy demands to demonstrate impact.Read moreRead less
Australian poetry today. This project surveys the field of contemporary Australian poetry, its products, personnel, institutions, and processes. Through interviews with poets, publishers, booksellers, academics, editors and managers, as well as extensive archival research, it will provide the first major synoptic research into the state of Australian poetry today. This project aims to establish possible future directions for Australian poetry and its importance for Australian culture more genera ....Australian poetry today. This project surveys the field of contemporary Australian poetry, its products, personnel, institutions, and processes. Through interviews with poets, publishers, booksellers, academics, editors and managers, as well as extensive archival research, it will provide the first major synoptic research into the state of Australian poetry today. This project aims to establish possible future directions for Australian poetry and its importance for Australian culture more generally.Read moreRead less
Modernism and the Early Middle Ages. This project aims to understand how Modernist writers engaged with early mediaeval thought and texts.Literary Modernism draws heavily on medieval literature and thought, particularly Anglo-Saxon poetry, the Provençal poetry of the Troubadours, and Dante’s Divina Commedia – but little attention has been paid to their influence on Modernist writers. This project will use the transmission of late classical thought and such textual practices as linear commentarie ....Modernism and the Early Middle Ages. This project aims to understand how Modernist writers engaged with early mediaeval thought and texts.Literary Modernism draws heavily on medieval literature and thought, particularly Anglo-Saxon poetry, the Provençal poetry of the Troubadours, and Dante’s Divina Commedia – but little attention has been paid to their influence on Modernist writers. This project will use the transmission of late classical thought and such textual practices as linear commentaries and glossatory techniques to study Modernism and the High Middle Ages. The project expects to provide a foundation for and counterpart to the newly vibrant field of Modernism and the High Middle Ages.Read moreRead less
The politics of medievalism: persuasive narratives. This project aims to understand how narratives about the medieval past help form identities and spread ideologies in the present, across the political spectrum, time and national borders. It aims to generate new knowledge about medievalism and its persuasive power. It will shed new light on extremist exploitation of popular culture using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, digital analysis, and engaged partnerships. It will enhance capaci ....The politics of medievalism: persuasive narratives. This project aims to understand how narratives about the medieval past help form identities and spread ideologies in the present, across the political spectrum, time and national borders. It aims to generate new knowledge about medievalism and its persuasive power. It will shed new light on extremist exploitation of popular culture using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, digital analysis, and engaged partnerships. It will enhance capacity to identify extremist messaging and create new grassroots programs promoting political tolerance and resilience to extremist propaganda and far-Right ideology, generating social and cultural benefit by strengthening Australian security, social cohesion and national values. Read moreRead less