Cornstalks and new chums: crime and nutritional status in settler Australia. The project will use records for 200,000 Australian-born and migrant prisoners released from Tasmanian and Victorian gaols between 1853 and 1924 to probe links between childhood well-being and the propensity to re-offend. It will explore the extent to which childhood nutrition (inferred from adult height), the timing and place of birth, and adult occupation can explain migration advantages, the impact of large cities li ....Cornstalks and new chums: crime and nutritional status in settler Australia. The project will use records for 200,000 Australian-born and migrant prisoners released from Tasmanian and Victorian gaols between 1853 and 1924 to probe links between childhood well-being and the propensity to re-offend. It will explore the extent to which childhood nutrition (inferred from adult height), the timing and place of birth, and adult occupation can explain migration advantages, the impact of large cities like Melbourne on child health, and the circumstances that gave rise to recidivism? This project will also explore changes in the composition of offenders over time and the extent to which different penal systems helped offenders to ‘go straight’.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100550
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$356,808.00
Summary
Bioethics in the Antipodes: A history of Australian bioethics since 1980. This project aims to provide a comprehensive account of bioethics in Australia. Since the 1980s, bioethics sought to address the medical, legal and social implications of Australian research in reproductive medicine. Australian bioethics is often assumed to share a similar history to American bioethics, but the debate about reproduction, euthanasia and the nature of moral authority in secular liberal democracy is distinctl ....Bioethics in the Antipodes: A history of Australian bioethics since 1980. This project aims to provide a comprehensive account of bioethics in Australia. Since the 1980s, bioethics sought to address the medical, legal and social implications of Australian research in reproductive medicine. Australian bioethics is often assumed to share a similar history to American bioethics, but the debate about reproduction, euthanasia and the nature of moral authority in secular liberal democracy is distinctly Australian. To date, the history of these developments has not been examined. The project will use archival sources, interviews, and theoretical analysis. Potential benefits include a deeper understanding of the distinctive local and global contributions of Australian bioethics.Read moreRead less
A Cultural History of Information: Lessons from the Enlightenment. The significance of this project is that it places the idea of 'information explosion' in historical perspective. In early modern Europe (circa 1600-1800) there were already anxieties about 'the multitude of books', the expansion of the sciences, and threats to the ideal of a rounded education. The attempted solutions, such as the use of commonplace books, journals, encyclopaedias and library catalogues, emerged as responses duri ....A Cultural History of Information: Lessons from the Enlightenment. The significance of this project is that it places the idea of 'information explosion' in historical perspective. In early modern Europe (circa 1600-1800) there were already anxieties about 'the multitude of books', the expansion of the sciences, and threats to the ideal of a rounded education. The attempted solutions, such as the use of commonplace books, journals, encyclopaedias and library catalogues, emerged as responses during the Enlightenment, and subsequently became part of our current system of information management. Outcomes will include a scholarly book and another which links earlier problems and responses to current debates.Read moreRead less
Medieval Virtue Ethics and the Formation of the Feminine Moral Subject: Jeanne of Navarre to Marguerite of Navarre (1285-1550). This research will generate fresh community awareness of the importance of teaching ethics in everyday rather than academic language, with a particular relevance to women, thus contributing to the national debate about what constitutes values education. By showing how famous women writers were not isolated individuals, but adapted an established tradition of communicati ....Medieval Virtue Ethics and the Formation of the Feminine Moral Subject: Jeanne of Navarre to Marguerite of Navarre (1285-1550). This research will generate fresh community awareness of the importance of teaching ethics in everyday rather than academic language, with a particular relevance to women, thus contributing to the national debate about what constitutes values education. By showing how famous women writers were not isolated individuals, but adapted an established tradition of communicating ethics to women, the research will contribute to contemporary debates about the relevance of the teaching of ethics. The project will develop further existing close connections between Australian scholars and researchers in both Europe and the USA.Read moreRead less
Capital Offending: Income, Work and Crime in Australia’s Convict Era. At least 60 per cent of Australia’s current prison population has been in prison before. By contrast a mere 18 per cent of transported convicts were re-incarcerated following release. This project aims to use information on the bank accounts maintained for convicts while under sentence to measure the relationship between capital formation and post-sentence marriage, migration and reconviction rates. It will look in particular ....Capital Offending: Income, Work and Crime in Australia’s Convict Era. At least 60 per cent of Australia’s current prison population has been in prison before. By contrast a mere 18 per cent of transported convicts were re-incarcerated following release. This project aims to use information on the bank accounts maintained for convicts while under sentence to measure the relationship between capital formation and post-sentence marriage, migration and reconviction rates. It will look in particular at the extent to which skills, employment opportunities and asset accumulation enabled former transported convicts to go straight. It will also result in improved archival search engines enabling access for members of the public to internationally recognised record groups hitherto held by different institutions.Read moreRead less
Health and Medicine in the Dutch East Indies: Medical Research, Health Programs, and Colonial Networks of Mediation. Investigating the culture of plural medicine in the former Dutch East Indies, where different medical cultures existed side by side, will bring a greater understanding of our closest neighbour, Indonesia, in an area of prime importance: medicine and health. It will provide a greater insight into the colonial heritage of the Dutch East Indies. It will also provide new insights in t ....Health and Medicine in the Dutch East Indies: Medical Research, Health Programs, and Colonial Networks of Mediation. Investigating the culture of plural medicine in the former Dutch East Indies, where different medical cultures existed side by side, will bring a greater understanding of our closest neighbour, Indonesia, in an area of prime importance: medicine and health. It will provide a greater insight into the colonial heritage of the Dutch East Indies. It will also provide new insights in the approach to health issues in today's Indonesia, because indigenous medicines are very popular. They are manufactured by a large industry which is currently hoping to expand its exports abroad. Read moreRead less
A Sonic Approach to Anticolonialism in Interwar India . This project aims to apply the methods of Sound Studies to the history of anti-colonialism in India. Extending on earlier work which draws extensively on visual archives to construct historical narratives, this project aims to explicitly trace the reverberations of sound – especially mediated speech, slogans and song – in anti-colonial mobilisation in the interwar period. Orality was a critical element of political communication which, due ....A Sonic Approach to Anticolonialism in Interwar India . This project aims to apply the methods of Sound Studies to the history of anti-colonialism in India. Extending on earlier work which draws extensively on visual archives to construct historical narratives, this project aims to explicitly trace the reverberations of sound – especially mediated speech, slogans and song – in anti-colonial mobilisation in the interwar period. Orality was a critical element of political communication which, due to the difficulties in capturing the spoken word, has not yet been studied in detail; yet the archives are full of sound. The deeply affective qualities inherent in sound, and the growth of technologies to amplify and record them, renders this a rich approach to understanding anti-colonial politics.Read moreRead less
Princes, power, and the battle for the past: official historiography in renaissance Italy, 1400-1500. This study will be the first in any language to investigate in a systematic way the official histories produced by humanists in the courts and chanceries of renaissance Italy. The study will present evidence suggesting that, contrary to what is usually thought, such histories were a key contributor to the development of modern historical writing.
Reinterpreting the Sino-Japanese war: north China base areas 1939-1940. The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 was seminal to the development of communist power in China in and after 1949. This project builds on recent research to question accepted orthodoxy about the moderate and inclusive nature of communist mobilisation at that time, and the consequences for the later emergence of the People's Republic.
Researching, editing and publication of historical records of Australia. This project will continue and complete the original Historical Records of Australia Series originally supported by the Commonwealth Parliament Library, shortly after Federation, thus completing a great original Federation project and also provide vital historical documentation of historical processes continuing in this country.