Waves of words: mapping and modeling Australia’s Pacific ties. This project aims to determine the extent and nature of ancient contact relationships between first peoples of Australia and the Pacific by exploring linguistic interactions. The project will use complementary sets of methods and expects to discover what kinds of social configurations underlie different linguistic outcomes in language contact situations. This will improve our understanding of the relationship between language change ....Waves of words: mapping and modeling Australia’s Pacific ties. This project aims to determine the extent and nature of ancient contact relationships between first peoples of Australia and the Pacific by exploring linguistic interactions. The project will use complementary sets of methods and expects to discover what kinds of social configurations underlie different linguistic outcomes in language contact situations. This will improve our understanding of the relationship between language change and socio-cultural change, which will have significant impact on linguistic and anthropological theory.Read moreRead less
The languages of Southern New Guinea. This project will investigate, analyse and record the barely-known languages of Southern New Guinea, stretching across Papua New Guinea and Indonesia just kilometres from Australia's borders. It will produce grammatical descriptions for ten of the thirty languages of the area, plus a comparative database and handbook of the languages of this strategic region.
Locating LGBTIQ+ youth in the archive: Telling new stories for belonging. This project aims to produce the first study of LGBTIQ+ youth in Australia’s past and investigate what these histories mean to LGBTIQ+ youth today. We will generate new knowledge of Australian LGBTIQ+ history and links between historical knowledge and wellbeing in relation to LGBTIQ+ youth. Working with LGBTIQ+ youth we will also develop new archival storytelling techniques, theorising archives as ‘laboratories of belongin ....Locating LGBTIQ+ youth in the archive: Telling new stories for belonging. This project aims to produce the first study of LGBTIQ+ youth in Australia’s past and investigate what these histories mean to LGBTIQ+ youth today. We will generate new knowledge of Australian LGBTIQ+ history and links between historical knowledge and wellbeing in relation to LGBTIQ+ youth. Working with LGBTIQ+ youth we will also develop new archival storytelling techniques, theorising archives as ‘laboratories of belonging’. In doing so, the project forges links between cultural studies of storytelling, LGBTIQ+ youth studies and Australian history. Benefits include innovations in reparative historical methodologies, new resources for the GLAM, youth and education sectors and improvements in LGBTIQ+ youth wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Opening Australia's Multilingual Archive. Australian Anglocentrism raises important questions about the dynamics of living in a multilingual society. This project aims to mobilise Australia’s considerable and under-utilised non-English language resources in order to rethink our migrant and settler history. It asks what difference language makes in the ways people engage with, and ultimately think of themselves as ‘Australian’ or not. For the first time, a rich multilingual archive will be used t ....Opening Australia's Multilingual Archive. Australian Anglocentrism raises important questions about the dynamics of living in a multilingual society. This project aims to mobilise Australia’s considerable and under-utilised non-English language resources in order to rethink our migrant and settler history. It asks what difference language makes in the ways people engage with, and ultimately think of themselves as ‘Australian’ or not. For the first time, a rich multilingual archive will be used to examine Australia’s history from non-English perspectives. Outcomes include a framework outlining the role of language diversity in shaping Australian identity which will equip scholars, policymakers and the public to confront the challenge of cultural pluralism today. Read moreRead less
Reconstructing Australia’s linguistic past: Are all Australian languages related to one another? This project addresses a central question about Australia’s past. Are all the languages of Australia related, deriving from a common source language: Proto-Australian. The project will examine the implications of a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer for analyses of Australian prehistory, and for general analyses of human prehistory. The project involves extensive documentation of an endangered language Yanyuwa, ....Reconstructing Australia’s linguistic past: Are all Australian languages related to one another? This project addresses a central question about Australia’s past. Are all the languages of Australia related, deriving from a common source language: Proto-Australian. The project will examine the implications of a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer for analyses of Australian prehistory, and for general analyses of human prehistory. The project involves extensive documentation of an endangered language Yanyuwa, because of the significance of Yanyuwa data in deciding between a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer. The project will provide a descriptive grammar of Yanyuwa, a book evaluating the Proto-Australian hypothesis, and articles discussing the significance of the success or failure of the hypothesis for theories of the general human past.Read moreRead less
Cultural Conversations: A History of ABC Radio National. From old media to the digital, this project offers a detailed study and critical assessment of the national ideas network, Radio National. This ensemble of practices, identified within traditions of 'cultural radio', constitutes one of the most significant yet still underestimated platforms of public media internationally, and remains a singular cultural and media institution in Australia. The project will map practices and programs to und ....Cultural Conversations: A History of ABC Radio National. From old media to the digital, this project offers a detailed study and critical assessment of the national ideas network, Radio National. This ensemble of practices, identified within traditions of 'cultural radio', constitutes one of the most significant yet still underestimated platforms of public media internationally, and remains a singular cultural and media institution in Australia. The project will map practices and programs to understand their changing contribution to Australian public life, media and culture, whether through fostering the arts or contributing to the national conversation around science, politics, art or religion.Read moreRead less
Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming. Despite the acknowledged National Heritage significance of the Dampier Archipelago's petroglyphs and stone features, there has been little research which assists in knowing when, why and how this art was produced. This landscape was occupied and art was produced both before and after sea level rise c.8-6,000 years ago. Developing a reliable chronology of occupation will allow a reconstruction of the role that art played in land-use systems of the Archipelago a ....Murujuga: Dynamics of the Dreaming. Despite the acknowledged National Heritage significance of the Dampier Archipelago's petroglyphs and stone features, there has been little research which assists in knowing when, why and how this art was produced. This landscape was occupied and art was produced both before and after sea level rise c.8-6,000 years ago. Developing a reliable chronology of occupation will allow a reconstruction of the role that art played in land-use systems of the Archipelago and adjacent Abydos Plain. This aims to be achieved by targeting and analysing landscapes associated with the earliest art of the Archipelago. The second aim is to explore contemporary social connections to this place back to first contact with historical seafarers and colonial settlers.Read moreRead less
Museum, field, metropolis, colony: practices of social governance. This project studies early twentieth-century Australian museums comparatively by considering parallel developments in Europe, North America, and New Zealand. Examining the relations between anthropological collections and social governance in colonial and metropolitan settings, it highlights the roles of museums in culturally diverse societies.
Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. This project will systematically analyse nineteenth century anthropologists Lorimer Fison and A.W. Howitt’s accounts of Indigenous kinship, social organisation, and local languages, and historical encounters between settlers and Indigenous people. This project will assemble Fison and Howitt’s meticulous records into best-practice digital formats, with widely accessible interactive data presentation, and bring these extraordinary recor ....Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. This project will systematically analyse nineteenth century anthropologists Lorimer Fison and A.W. Howitt’s accounts of Indigenous kinship, social organisation, and local languages, and historical encounters between settlers and Indigenous people. This project will assemble Fison and Howitt’s meticulous records into best-practice digital formats, with widely accessible interactive data presentation, and bring these extraordinary records to the broadest possible community. This research, which integrates anthropology, history and linguistics, is expected to open up new dimensions in Australian history, anthropological theory, and Australian linguistics.Read moreRead less
Decolonising the human: towards a postcolonial ecology. Do you think you're human? This project interrogates how the notion of mind has come to shape western attitudes about what it means to be human. Focusing on the notorious head-measuring practices of colonial times, it provokes a rethinking of our cherished claim of being privileged among other life-forms.