Mapping Creativity in Captivity during WWII. The project will map the little known cultural production by Italian Prisoners of War from 1940 to 1947. By analysing Italian detainees' creativity in Australia and elsewhere in the world, it will develop a new transnational approach to understanding the experience of captivity and of the many interactions between individuals and communities during WWII. The expected outcomes include new cross-cultural knowledge of migration and wartime experiences an ....Mapping Creativity in Captivity during WWII. The project will map the little known cultural production by Italian Prisoners of War from 1940 to 1947. By analysing Italian detainees' creativity in Australia and elsewhere in the world, it will develop a new transnational approach to understanding the experience of captivity and of the many interactions between individuals and communities during WWII. The expected outcomes include new cross-cultural knowledge of migration and wartime experiences and of the beneficial power of creative action for individuals’ wellbeing, still relevant today as we witness emergency lockdowns and peoples dislocated by wars. International collaboration and digital resources will bring the results beyond an academic audience to public and policymakers alike.
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Festival, Spectacle and Plays in Renaissance Florence. Wherever public money and community effort are expended on festive display, religious devotion, or promoting national prestige through performance, questions arise about how such expense can be justified, and how the community measures its success. This project examines those questions in relation to Renaissance Florence which provided many of the models for early modern European festivals. It will analyse some of the ways in which the commu ....Festival, Spectacle and Plays in Renaissance Florence. Wherever public money and community effort are expended on festive display, religious devotion, or promoting national prestige through performance, questions arise about how such expense can be justified, and how the community measures its success. This project examines those questions in relation to Renaissance Florence which provided many of the models for early modern European festivals. It will analyse some of the ways in which the community and its individual members contributed to and reaped the benefit of participation in public performance and devotion. It will also provide cautionary examples of the abuse of such modes of performance by corrupt regimes.Read moreRead less
Concord in the Renaissance. This project aims to analyse the diffusion and the political and religious use of the concept of concord among humanists, philosophers, theologians, poets and political writers during the fourteenth and the fifteenth century in the Italian peninsula. Starting with a novel approach to the thought of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, this analysis is expected to result in an enriched view of the Italian Renaissance, which will be re-assessed based on its contr ....Concord in the Renaissance. This project aims to analyse the diffusion and the political and religious use of the concept of concord among humanists, philosophers, theologians, poets and political writers during the fourteenth and the fifteenth century in the Italian peninsula. Starting with a novel approach to the thought of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, this analysis is expected to result in an enriched view of the Italian Renaissance, which will be re-assessed based on its contribution to the idea of common good. This project also aims to evaluate the uses and meanings of concord in relation to those of tolerance to show how, on the basis of a historically informed and theoretically sound definition, concord can become a new concept for modern political theory.Read moreRead less