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Beyond the pale: Sovereignty, Law and Indigenous peoples. The project contributes to understanding inequality in law and practice. It expands knowledge of the colonial dimensions of sovereignty, demonstrating how excluding Indigenous peoples from the ordinary operations of both international and domestic law helped constitute and transform sovereignty and produce racialised identities in settler societies. The research provides a new, more comprehensive conceptual framework for analysing front ....Beyond the pale: Sovereignty, Law and Indigenous peoples. The project contributes to understanding inequality in law and practice. It expands knowledge of the colonial dimensions of sovereignty, demonstrating how excluding Indigenous peoples from the ordinary operations of both international and domestic law helped constitute and transform sovereignty and produce racialised identities in settler societies. The research provides a new, more comprehensive conceptual framework for analysing frontier practices, ameliorating the polarising effects of recent debates surrounding this historiography. As the war on terrorism has again seen the suspension of the law in certain circumstances, investigations into the strengths and limits of the rule of law are opportune and timely.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0775833
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$40,000.00
Summary
Aboriginal Women Law and Colonialism: Safe Places for Women. There has been extensive media reporting on violent crimes against Aboriginal women and children in Aboriginal communities across Australia, which has created wide public debate. In particular the role of the courts when sentencing Aboriginal offenders of violent crimes has drawn attention to the interpretation of Aboriginal law and culture. The evaluation of Australian case law will be invaluable in expanding the Australian communit ....Aboriginal Women Law and Colonialism: Safe Places for Women. There has been extensive media reporting on violent crimes against Aboriginal women and children in Aboriginal communities across Australia, which has created wide public debate. In particular the role of the courts when sentencing Aboriginal offenders of violent crimes has drawn attention to the interpretation of Aboriginal law and culture. The evaluation of Australian case law will be invaluable in expanding the Australian communities knowledge in this area of law and policy, in planning safer Aboriginal communities for Aboriginal women and children in the future. Read moreRead less
European Naturalists and the Constitution of Human Difference in Oceania: Crosscultural Encounters and the Science of Race, 1768-1888. This research will promote better understanding of the historical antecedents to contemporary Australian regional interventions, relations with our neighbours and conceptions of racial or ethnic differences. It thus directly addresses current debates on the politics of history. The assumptions about regional differences which underpin current Australian attitudes ....European Naturalists and the Constitution of Human Difference in Oceania: Crosscultural Encounters and the Science of Race, 1768-1888. This research will promote better understanding of the historical antecedents to contemporary Australian regional interventions, relations with our neighbours and conceptions of racial or ethnic differences. It thus directly addresses current debates on the politics of history. The assumptions about regional differences which underpin current Australian attitudes and policies stem from much earlier debates on the racial histories and collective physical variations of Oceanian people and from beliefs about natural European dominance over indigenous populations. This project will produce an accessible history of the genesis of such ideas and demonstrate the historical embeddedness of Australia within the wider context of Oceania.Read moreRead less
The Mission to Civilise: Colonialism, Race and Criminal Codes. This project will consider the historical relationships between ideologies of race and law enforcement, and will chart their social formation and naturalisation. This will be set within the context of colonisation in Australia, where there existed tensions between the equally dominant ideologies of overt racism, and ideals of liberal universalism that justified the Rule of Law. Archival research will scrutinise the way in which the ....The Mission to Civilise: Colonialism, Race and Criminal Codes. This project will consider the historical relationships between ideologies of race and law enforcement, and will chart their social formation and naturalisation. This will be set within the context of colonisation in Australia, where there existed tensions between the equally dominant ideologies of overt racism, and ideals of liberal universalism that justified the Rule of Law. Archival research will scrutinise the way in which the superficially racially-neutral language of criminality was constituted by notions such as property and civil order which became racialised in historically and socially specific ways, revealing underlying consistencies between apparently incompatible ideologies of colonial practices.Read moreRead less
John Vincent Barry: law, social reform and institutional innovation in mid-twentieth century Australia. The capacity of governing institutions to adapt to changing social conditions was a critical component of Australian post-war history. As jurist, social reformer, sponsor and mentor of an emerging Australian criminology, criminal justice practitioner, intellectual and internationalist, John Barry was an exemplar of an activist in this cause. This study explores the dimensions of this activity ....John Vincent Barry: law, social reform and institutional innovation in mid-twentieth century Australia. The capacity of governing institutions to adapt to changing social conditions was a critical component of Australian post-war history. As jurist, social reformer, sponsor and mentor of an emerging Australian criminology, criminal justice practitioner, intellectual and internationalist, John Barry was an exemplar of an activist in this cause. This study explores the dimensions of this activity of institution-building and intellectual engagement through the record of Barry's life in its political and social context. Outcomes will include a published biography and articles dealing with the conditions of intellectual and political engagement in social reform in post-war Australia.Read moreRead less
Naming Oceania: geography, raciology and local knowledge in the 'fifth part of the world', 1511-1920. A history of the marriage of space and race in our region restores Australia to regional histories and wider Oceania to global histories. It offers a grounded basis to grasp how regional, national and local nomenclatures and identities mutated over 400 years, in contexts of European exploration, imperialism, colonisation, emergence of the science of race and intensifying face-to-face encounters. ....Naming Oceania: geography, raciology and local knowledge in the 'fifth part of the world', 1511-1920. A history of the marriage of space and race in our region restores Australia to regional histories and wider Oceania to global histories. It offers a grounded basis to grasp how regional, national and local nomenclatures and identities mutated over 400 years, in contexts of European exploration, imperialism, colonisation, emergence of the science of race and intensifying face-to-face encounters. By uncovering traces of past naming systems, Indigenous and foreign, the research will show how present names and boundaries of states, places and people are constructs rather than eternal truths. It will cast light on the antecedents to modern Australian regional interventions, neighbourly relations and conceptions of racial or ethnic differences.Read moreRead less
The South Pacific and the European Mind 1763-1840. European scrutiny of the distant mirror of the South Pacific in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries helped to refashion dominant conceptions of the character and development of humankind. Though the role of Pacific contact in the emergence of the social sciences is known it has not been analysed in the depth that its importance merits nor given the comparative, cross-European dimension this project proposes. Such a study offers th ....The South Pacific and the European Mind 1763-1840. European scrutiny of the distant mirror of the South Pacific in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries helped to refashion dominant conceptions of the character and development of humankind. Though the role of Pacific contact in the emergence of the social sciences is known it has not been analysed in the depth that its importance merits nor given the comparative, cross-European dimension this project proposes. Such a study offers the opportunity to scrutinise the ways in which the mapping of knowledge as well as of the globe were shaped by Pacific exploration with consequences that endure.Read moreRead less
Encountering the Pacific in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution. Through a study of the interaction of the peoples of Europe and of the Pacific the project will explore the character of attitudes towards other peoples and human society more generally which helped to shape European Australia in its formative phase. The strong historical imprint of such attitudes means that they still have to be reckoned with in assessing our position in the increasingly troubled region of the Pacific. Since t ....Encountering the Pacific in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution. Through a study of the interaction of the peoples of Europe and of the Pacific the project will explore the character of attitudes towards other peoples and human society more generally which helped to shape European Australia in its formative phase. The strong historical imprint of such attitudes means that they still have to be reckoned with in assessing our position in the increasingly troubled region of the Pacific. Since the project draws heavily on major collections here in Australia it will help to raise the profile of such cultural institutions and to promote their usage by others including postgraduates. Read moreRead less
Scientific voyages in the Antipodes. Thomas Huxley, John McGillivray and the Darwinian Revolution. This project examines the scientific British survey expeditions to Australasia during the nineteenth century. The research focuses on the importance of Australasia in the formation of Darwinism, one of the key scientific and social theories of modern western culture. Environmental change and scientific and cultural heritage in our region will be traced back to these early scientific voyagers.
Civilizing Divorce: Social Change, Law and the Transformation of Parenthood. The project will leave policy-makers, professionals, law reformers, and parents and their children themselves, better equipped to navigate their way through a major process of transformation in the way our intimate lives are structured. It will help take some of the 'heat' out of the child custody debate, to see current changes as an integral part of a broader process of change in our emotional relationships, and to br ....Civilizing Divorce: Social Change, Law and the Transformation of Parenthood. The project will leave policy-makers, professionals, law reformers, and parents and their children themselves, better equipped to navigate their way through a major process of transformation in the way our intimate lives are structured. It will help take some of the 'heat' out of the child custody debate, to see current changes as an integral part of a broader process of change in our emotional relationships, and to broaden the conceptual resources available to policy-making and law reform concerning post-separation child custody.Read moreRead less