Transformative Utopianism: Contemporary Children's Literature Responding to Changing World Orders from Glasnost to 11 September, 2001. Political and cultural instabilities and conflicts from 1990 to the present have profoundly affected children's literature. Works of fiction in particular have deployed utopian and dystopian tropes to project possible futures to their implied readers. The project uses the concept of 'transformative utopianism' to suggest that these tropes do important social, cul ....Transformative Utopianism: Contemporary Children's Literature Responding to Changing World Orders from Glasnost to 11 September, 2001. Political and cultural instabilities and conflicts from 1990 to the present have profoundly affected children's literature. Works of fiction in particular have deployed utopian and dystopian tropes to project possible futures to their implied readers. The project uses the concept of 'transformative utopianism' to suggest that these tropes do important social, cultural and political work by challenging and reformulating ideas about power and identity, community, the body, spatio-temporal change, and ecology. In this way the project draws together multiple theoretical interpretations of texts to demonstrate the responsiveness of children's literature to broader ideological, social, theoretical and pedagogical contexts.Read moreRead less
Antarctic Imaginations: A Study of Creative Responses to the Continent for Science. Antarctica has for two centuries been the subject of numerous novels, poems and plays, both by writers who have never seen the continent, and by expeditioners and explorers themselves. Apart from a small number of canonical nineteenth-century texts, these representations of the continent have been subject to very little analysis. This project examines creative written responses to Antarctica, drawing on both publ ....Antarctic Imaginations: A Study of Creative Responses to the Continent for Science. Antarctica has for two centuries been the subject of numerous novels, poems and plays, both by writers who have never seen the continent, and by expeditioners and explorers themselves. Apart from a small number of canonical nineteenth-century texts, these representations of the continent have been subject to very little analysis. This project examines creative written responses to Antarctica, drawing on both published works and archival material, and focussing particularly on the cultural significance of Antarctica's construction as a ?continent for science?. Research outcomes will include innovative interdisciplinary contributions to Antarctic studies and English studies.Read moreRead less
A study of the writings of Alan Paton, a major literary and political figure. The outcome of this project will constitute an important contribution to the current debate in Australia and other Western countries about ethical responses to violence. Alan Paton is a major South African literary and political figure who faced extremism both from his country's government and its opponents. The proposed study of his letters will be an important addition to the literary corpus of one of Africa's fore ....A study of the writings of Alan Paton, a major literary and political figure. The outcome of this project will constitute an important contribution to the current debate in Australia and other Western countries about ethical responses to violence. Alan Paton is a major South African literary and political figure who faced extremism both from his country's government and its opponents. The proposed study of his letters will be an important addition to the literary corpus of one of Africa's foremost thinkers and writers, and will constitute an advance upon and contribution to the body of knowledge about the cultural history of Africa in the twentieth and twenty-first century. The project will raise the profile of Australian scholarship in the field of African literature and history.
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Exploration and Nation: the Cultural Impact of Exploration Literature from the Cook Voyages to the 'Novara' Circumnavigation. This comparative analysis of the cultural impact of the Cook voyages and the lavishly state-sponsored "Novara" expedition will improve our understanding of the international entanglements that affected the course of our history. Examining the broad cultural impact of publications about Pacific exploration will offer valuable new insights into the cross-fertilisations betw ....Exploration and Nation: the Cultural Impact of Exploration Literature from the Cook Voyages to the 'Novara' Circumnavigation. This comparative analysis of the cultural impact of the Cook voyages and the lavishly state-sponsored "Novara" expedition will improve our understanding of the international entanglements that affected the course of our history. Examining the broad cultural impact of publications about Pacific exploration will offer valuable new insights into the cross-fertilisations between colonisation and the formation of 19th-century nation states. A detailed study of how European nations employed the publication industry in their competition for colonial control will illuminate the conflicts over the boundaries of nation and empire and enhance the understanding of prominent issues in Australian humanities research.Read moreRead less
Wild Man from Borneo: species, race, representation. This project addresses the representation of species boundaries in Western accounts of the orangutan in the 19th and 20th centuries. Darwinian theory raised the possibility that animals could ?evolve?. Orangutans seemed ?closest? to humans and therefore raised key questions about the border between humans and animals. These questions were addressed in a vast range of scientific, popular, imaginative and juvenile literature. Even when ecolo ....Wild Man from Borneo: species, race, representation. This project addresses the representation of species boundaries in Western accounts of the orangutan in the 19th and 20th centuries. Darwinian theory raised the possibility that animals could ?evolve?. Orangutans seemed ?closest? to humans and therefore raised key questions about the border between humans and animals. These questions were addressed in a vast range of scientific, popular, imaginative and juvenile literature. Even when ecological models of the environment shifted attention from evolutionary potential to ecological role, orangutans retained a special status as ?sentinel? species. This project will produce a monograph examining the construction, maintenance and erosion of ideas of species boundaries.Read moreRead less
Working Together: Indigenous and Non-indigenous Collaboration in Australian Film and Literature. As the first, comprehensive study of Indigenous and non-indigenous collaboration in film and literature this project will make an important contribution to Australian cultural history. It will provide filmmakers, educators and publishers with expanded theoretical findings about the nature of collaboration. In the most general sense, this critical analysis of one of the ways in which Indigenous and ....Working Together: Indigenous and Non-indigenous Collaboration in Australian Film and Literature. As the first, comprehensive study of Indigenous and non-indigenous collaboration in film and literature this project will make an important contribution to Australian cultural history. It will provide filmmakers, educators and publishers with expanded theoretical findings about the nature of collaboration. In the most general sense, this critical analysis of one of the ways in which Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians have and continue to 'work together' will contribute to the national project of Reconciliation.Read moreRead less
George Eliot: Literature as Experimental Philosophy. This project aims to make significant and innovative contributions to research excellence in philosophy, history of ideas and literary studies. In addition it aims to provide a new conceptual framework and concepts necessary for constructive debate on current moral and social issues, many of which are complex legacies from Victorian thinkers, such as Eliot and her contemporaries. The overarching aim of rendering philosophy more inclusive and r ....George Eliot: Literature as Experimental Philosophy. This project aims to make significant and innovative contributions to research excellence in philosophy, history of ideas and literary studies. In addition it aims to provide a new conceptual framework and concepts necessary for constructive debate on current moral and social issues, many of which are complex legacies from Victorian thinkers, such as Eliot and her contemporaries. The overarching aim of rendering philosophy more inclusive and relevant is vital to the maintenance of a healthy, free and democratic public culture in contemporary Australia. 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.
Hannah Arendt, Émigré Intellectuals, and the Ethos of World Literature. My project will bring an inspiring movement of ethical resistance to the dehumanising forces of fascism, nationalism, and parochialism to the Australian public's attention. It will help ensure that Australia, a nation that now successfully exports its literature to the world, is also at the centre of a fruitful dialogue about methods of research and interpretation appropriate to the study of the world's literatures. It will ....Hannah Arendt, Émigré Intellectuals, and the Ethos of World Literature. My project will bring an inspiring movement of ethical resistance to the dehumanising forces of fascism, nationalism, and parochialism to the Australian public's attention. It will help ensure that Australia, a nation that now successfully exports its literature to the world, is also at the centre of a fruitful dialogue about methods of research and interpretation appropriate to the study of the world's literatures. It will address the relative paucity of the historiography and theory of comparative literature in Australian Universities and suggest the educational and moral value of comparative literature studies for future generations of Australian students.Read moreRead less
Anglophone Caribbean (auto)biography, plantation slavery, and the traffic of colonial reform and modernisation 1807-1834. The project, the preliminary work for which has already received major international recognition, will significantly enhance the international profile of Australian scholarship in postcolonial studies, nineteenth-century studies, and the history of feminism. It will consolidate Australia's considerable reputation for fine scholarship on the cultural history of slavery and its ....Anglophone Caribbean (auto)biography, plantation slavery, and the traffic of colonial reform and modernisation 1807-1834. The project, the preliminary work for which has already received major international recognition, will significantly enhance the international profile of Australian scholarship in postcolonial studies, nineteenth-century studies, and the history of feminism. It will consolidate Australia's considerable reputation for fine scholarship on the cultural history of slavery and its abolition, and at a time of reinvigorated debate in the field. Within the discipline of English the project will challenge scholars to think more creatively and enterprisingly about the nature and scope of extant archival sources and the necessity of close historical research in interpreting them. Read moreRead less