Imagining histories of love: the making of textual worlds in Taiwan romance fiction. This project examines the crucial question of how romantic love is imagined in contemporary Chinese societies. It innovates by analyzing the images of love presented in Taiwan romance fiction, a major genre of unstudied texts that provides knowledge of the emotional worlds of tens of millions of people worldwide. Its novel methodology approaches romantic narratives as documents of a history of love, producing ne ....Imagining histories of love: the making of textual worlds in Taiwan romance fiction. This project examines the crucial question of how romantic love is imagined in contemporary Chinese societies. It innovates by analyzing the images of love presented in Taiwan romance fiction, a major genre of unstudied texts that provides knowledge of the emotional worlds of tens of millions of people worldwide. Its novel methodology approaches romantic narratives as documents of a history of love, producing new concepts of Taiwan and Chinese society and history in which love is envisioned as the central experience of human life. Major outcomes will be a substantial monograph, an edited volume and several scholarly articles.Read moreRead less
Peking opera, epitheatre and writing in nineteenth-century Beijing. Employing the neglected 'flower-guide' booklets of nineteenth-century Beijing, this project explores the role theatre-based popular literature played in the formation of the capital city's emerging public sphere. Establishing epitheatre as a new field, it opens new horizons in the history of modern China, social history and literary criticism.
Digital dissent in the People's Republic: the language of protest and criticism in Sino-cyberspace. As Australia's relations with China continue to deepen, it is vital for Australia to acquire in-depth knowledge of how rapidly China is changing as a consequence of digital information flows. The project provides that knowledge through its analysis of digital dissent. The project explores how non-state players in the People's Republic respond and react to urgent problems in their midst. It will ....Digital dissent in the People's Republic: the language of protest and criticism in Sino-cyberspace. As Australia's relations with China continue to deepen, it is vital for Australia to acquire in-depth knowledge of how rapidly China is changing as a consequence of digital information flows. The project provides that knowledge through its analysis of digital dissent. The project explores how non-state players in the People's Republic respond and react to urgent problems in their midst. It will also shed light on present-day tensions in China between state and civil society. More specifically, the project will deepen Australia's critical engagement with China by focussing on such issues of consequence as censorship, corruption, environmental pollution, governance reform and calls for democracy and human rights.Read moreRead less
Ethnoecology and the State in Regional China. This project will enhance Australian knowledge about diversity amongst Han Chinese communities in the way that they have adapted to their environment, a diversity that underpins the responsiveness of Chinese populations to environmental transformation in the contemporary period. It will also strengthen Australia¡¯s reputation as a centre for the study of regional cultures within the Chinese landmass, provide additional insights into the lower Yangzi ....Ethnoecology and the State in Regional China. This project will enhance Australian knowledge about diversity amongst Han Chinese communities in the way that they have adapted to their environment, a diversity that underpins the responsiveness of Chinese populations to environmental transformation in the contemporary period. It will also strengthen Australia¡¯s reputation as a centre for the study of regional cultures within the Chinese landmass, provide additional insights into the lower Yangzi delta, which is one of the most affluent regions of China today, and build up Australia¡¯s capacity to train postgraduates with an understanding of China¡¯s great regional diversity.Read moreRead less
The Old Zhuang Script: a Vernacular Character Script from Southern China. The Zhuang are a Tai-speaking people and the most populous of China's minority peoples. Traditionally they used a modified version of the Chinese character script. The aim of this project is to provide the wherewithal for a decipherment of the old Zhuang character script, to present evidence for the age of the script, and to describe the social and political conditions that gave it birth and influenced its development.
From colonial to modern: transnational girlhood in Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian print cultures (1840-1940). This project will produce new histories of girlhood through the examination of Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian print culture. It will shed new light on how colonial girlhood reflected transitional ideals and how Australia related to fellow colonies through its print culture and developed unique national ideals for girls in the modern period.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100144
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$333,331.00
Summary
The Charitable Child: Children and Philanthropy in the Nineteenth Century. This project reconceptualises the relationship between children and philanthropic institutions in the nineteenth century by researching the role of children as active supporters of philanthropic enterprises. Despite numerous charitable campaigns in the British and colonial periodical press aimed at children, little has been done to explore how and why children became sympathetic towards others. This project will explore h ....The Charitable Child: Children and Philanthropy in the Nineteenth Century. This project reconceptualises the relationship between children and philanthropic institutions in the nineteenth century by researching the role of children as active supporters of philanthropic enterprises. Despite numerous charitable campaigns in the British and colonial periodical press aimed at children, little has been done to explore how and why children became sympathetic towards others. This project will explore how children operated as agents of philanthropy within imperial, missionary and national confines and will focus on the implications of race and gender in the development of charitable activities. Read moreRead less
New transnationalisms: Australia's multilingual literary heritage. This project will record, analyse and theorise Australian literary activity in four key languages other than English: Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese. The outcomes will significantly increase knowledge of the transnational dimensions of Australian writing in these languages and wider access to this writing through bilingual anthologies.
Rethinking the Victim: Gendered Violence in Australian Women's Writing. This project, the first to examine gendered violence in Australian literature, argues that literary texts by Australian women writers offer unique ways of understanding the social problem of gendered violence, bringing this often private and suppressed issue into the public sphere. It draws on the international field of violence studies to investigate how these writers challenge the victim paradigm and figure women's agencie ....Rethinking the Victim: Gendered Violence in Australian Women's Writing. This project, the first to examine gendered violence in Australian literature, argues that literary texts by Australian women writers offer unique ways of understanding the social problem of gendered violence, bringing this often private and suppressed issue into the public sphere. It draws on the international field of violence studies to investigate how these writers challenge the victim paradigm and figure women's agencies. By including white, Indigenous and minority women writers in its case studies, and by interviewing selected writers, it will shed new light on the role of gendered violence in the diverse and interconnected cultural histories of the nation, and will significantly extend the parameters of the Australian literary canon.Read moreRead less
Locating science fiction. The project will devise and develop a new 'cultural materialist' paradigm for science fiction studies and apply it to a case study of science fictional representations of catastrophe, especially nuclear war, plague and extreme climate change.