Reading the Nation: A critical study of Aboriginal/settler representations in the contemporary Australian literary landscape. This project will map literary representations of Aboriginal Australians by non-Aboriginal authors in the post-Mabo period, and the reciprocal representations by Aboriginal Australians. This is a study of the politics of representation that play out between Aboriginal and white Australians in the contemporary literary landscape.
Developing narratives from language and stories indigenous to the south coast of Western Australia. Over time linguists have collected Indigenous language narratives. This research project involves returning these narratives to the descendants of the people who first created human society in their part of the world. It will investigate the extent to which an Indigenous language and its stories, can inform contemporary writing in English about Australian identity.
Australian Indigenous storytelling: a critical study of the way Aboriginal stories are being told in Australia today. This research project will investigate the role and effectiveness of Aboriginal storytelling in the current environment of Aboriginal policy in Australia. The outcomes will form a set of benchmarks for understanding the power of effective Aboriginal storytelling.
The David Unaipon Award: Shaping the literary and cultural history of Aboriginal writing in Australia. The David Unaipon Award has fostered a rich lode of Aboriginal writing and is a vital site for the study of Aboriginal literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This project uses the Award to critically analyse Aboriginal writing and cultural expression in the historical and political context of post-bicentenary Australia. In 2014 the award reaches its 25th year. Now is the time t ....The David Unaipon Award: Shaping the literary and cultural history of Aboriginal writing in Australia. The David Unaipon Award has fostered a rich lode of Aboriginal writing and is a vital site for the study of Aboriginal literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This project uses the Award to critically analyse Aboriginal writing and cultural expression in the historical and political context of post-bicentenary Australia. In 2014 the award reaches its 25th year. Now is the time to review and explore the established canon of Aboriginal literature. The book produced from this project will model an historically broader, more nuanced and culturally sensitive paradigm for reading, reviewing, engaging with and teaching Aboriginal literature in the twenty-first century.Read moreRead less
‘Like the Thunder’: Seeing Stories in the Gulf Country. This project investigates the nature of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It will generate imaginative understandings of how new relations might have been built through the historical marriage of a Waanyi woman and Chinese man in the late gold rush era; consider the challenges of contemporary Aboriginal advocacy; and examine how storytelling allows us to understand the nature of relation ....‘Like the Thunder’: Seeing Stories in the Gulf Country. This project investigates the nature of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It will generate imaginative understandings of how new relations might have been built through the historical marriage of a Waanyi woman and Chinese man in the late gold rush era; consider the challenges of contemporary Aboriginal advocacy; and examine how storytelling allows us to understand the nature of relations. The outcomes will be presented in major works of fiction and non-fiction and a collection of scholarly essays. Cultural benefits include showing how storytelling helps reveal the essential nature of human relations, and how the capacity to remake relations is essential to intercultural reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Developing a predictive toxicity model for metallic anions in plants. This project aims to develop competitive anionic toxicity models for antimony, arsenic, molybdenum and selenium supported by detailed speciation information. Available ecotoxicological models for inorganic toxicants have exclusively focused on cations such as zinc, and ignored anionic toxicants such as arsenic and antimony. For available models on cations to be applicable to contaminated environments, it is essential for equiv ....Developing a predictive toxicity model for metallic anions in plants. This project aims to develop competitive anionic toxicity models for antimony, arsenic, molybdenum and selenium supported by detailed speciation information. Available ecotoxicological models for inorganic toxicants have exclusively focused on cations such as zinc, and ignored anionic toxicants such as arsenic and antimony. For available models on cations to be applicable to contaminated environments, it is essential for equivalent anionic toxicity models be developed. This project will develop the first such model, which will provide new insights on ecotoxicological modelling for inorganic anionic toxicants. The project will transform ecotoxicological modelling approaches for metals and metalloids in terrestrial systems and directly improve our ability to assess risks associated with environmental contamination.Read moreRead less
Barriers and pathways to development of Indigenous traditional medicines. This project aims to explore how Australian regulatory systems can better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Knowledge (TK) holders to commercialise their traditional medicines. Focusing on the mudjala plant and working with the Kimberley’s Nyikina people, the project should generate new anthropological methods for documenting TK related to traditional medicine, new models for regulating traditional ....Barriers and pathways to development of Indigenous traditional medicines. This project aims to explore how Australian regulatory systems can better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Knowledge (TK) holders to commercialise their traditional medicines. Focusing on the mudjala plant and working with the Kimberley’s Nyikina people, the project should generate new anthropological methods for documenting TK related to traditional medicine, new models for regulating traditional medicinal products, and pharmacological insights into traditional methods of activating the plant. Additional expected outcomes include unlocking the significant, untapped potential for Indigenous Australians to benefit from the development of traditional medicine products regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal identity and community online: a sociological exploration of Aboriginal peoples’ use of online social media. This project explores Aboriginal peoples’ activity on social media, to provide a better understanding of how Aboriginal people make use of online network sites, as social media sites are popular for social and cultural interaction. The project will also explore whether there is a link between online and offline social and cultural engagements.
Wellbeing not Winning: remote Indigenous identity and organised sport. This project examines the construction of Indigenous identity through organised sport in remote communities. Despite high profile successes of Indigenous people in elite sports, the effectiveness of relationships between remote communities and organised sport is not well understood. This project addresses the problem of how participation in organised sport affects identity and everyday life in remote Indigenous communities, b ....Wellbeing not Winning: remote Indigenous identity and organised sport. This project examines the construction of Indigenous identity through organised sport in remote communities. Despite high profile successes of Indigenous people in elite sports, the effectiveness of relationships between remote communities and organised sport is not well understood. This project addresses the problem of how participation in organised sport affects identity and everyday life in remote Indigenous communities, both positively and negatively. The project aims to provide an understanding of the role of organised sport in Indigenous identity construction in remote Australia and thus open opportunities for equitable and reconciliatory modes of participation.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal Help-Seeking behaviours on Social Media. This project is designed to contribute to knowledge of formal and informal help-seeking behaviours among Indigenous Australians. Given the rapid uptake of social media by Indigenous people, this project particularly aims to investigate help-seeking behaviours online. It is anticipated that the outcome of this research may influence the development of formal help sources in the services and programs relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islan ....Aboriginal Help-Seeking behaviours on Social Media. This project is designed to contribute to knowledge of formal and informal help-seeking behaviours among Indigenous Australians. Given the rapid uptake of social media by Indigenous people, this project particularly aims to investigate help-seeking behaviours online. It is anticipated that the outcome of this research may influence the development of formal help sources in the services and programs relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including health (eg suicide prevention), employment, housing, economic opportunities and legal services. Another intended outcome of the project is to better understand informal help-seeking and the way in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people respond to help.Read moreRead less