J. M. Coetzee and Making Sense in LIterature. Focusing on the work of Nobel Prize winning South African-Australian novelist J. M. Coetzee, this project examines how Coetzee’s fiction develops techniques that generate or produce meaning about the world and involves levels of ‘translatability’ that allow it to maintain relevance across cultures. A detailed analysis that focuses on how Coetzee makes us question the nature of meaning itself has not yet been undertaken, even though this is of central ....J. M. Coetzee and Making Sense in LIterature. Focusing on the work of Nobel Prize winning South African-Australian novelist J. M. Coetzee, this project examines how Coetzee’s fiction develops techniques that generate or produce meaning about the world and involves levels of ‘translatability’ that allow it to maintain relevance across cultures. A detailed analysis that focuses on how Coetzee makes us question the nature of meaning itself has not yet been undertaken, even though this is of central importance to his work.Read moreRead less
Transnational selves: French narratives of migration to Australia. This project aims to examine texts authored by French-speaking migrants to Australia in order to explore how migrating subjects write their identity, how migrants represent the self between nations and between languages, and how Australia is viewed through the prism of another language. Expected outcomes to this project include enhanced knowledge of Australian literature, of practices of migrant writing, and of the construction ....Transnational selves: French narratives of migration to Australia. This project aims to examine texts authored by French-speaking migrants to Australia in order to explore how migrating subjects write their identity, how migrants represent the self between nations and between languages, and how Australia is viewed through the prism of another language. Expected outcomes to this project include enhanced knowledge of Australian literature, of practices of migrant writing, and of the construction of Australian identity. This will provide significant benefits, such as a wider understanding of the diversity of Australian literature, an increased awareness of literature in Languages Other Than English in Australia, and a more nuanced appreciation of Australian identity.Read moreRead less
Indigenous Life Narratives and Racial Reconciliation in Australia and South Africa. The project studies the relationship between indigenous storytelling (life narratives, storytelling, testimony)and political campaigns for human rights and racial reconciliation in South Africa and Australia. It analyses the contexts of production, dissemination and consumption of these stories and their effects on indigenous and non-indigenous tellers and listeners within and beyond the respective nations, inclu ....Indigenous Life Narratives and Racial Reconciliation in Australia and South Africa. The project studies the relationship between indigenous storytelling (life narratives, storytelling, testimony)and political campaigns for human rights and racial reconciliation in South Africa and Australia. It analyses the contexts of production, dissemination and consumption of these stories and their effects on indigenous and non-indigenous tellers and listeners within and beyond the respective nations, including the emergence of new national literatures, indigenous identities, discourses on ethics, responsibility and racial reconciliation within and beyond the nations. The study offers a significant theoretical and methodological advance within the emerging field of critical global studies and the changing formations of nationhood.Read moreRead less
Forms of world literature. This project aims to explore a new vision of ‘world literature’. Creative writing is a way of thinking, and theoretical possibilities arise from the exchange between literary criticism and literary practice. This project will bring the formal and thematic interests of four eminent Australian writers – Alexis Wright, Nicholas Jose, Gail Jones and J.M. Coetzee – into dialogue with each other and a team of critical respondents. Critical and creative dialogues between Indi ....Forms of world literature. This project aims to explore a new vision of ‘world literature’. Creative writing is a way of thinking, and theoretical possibilities arise from the exchange between literary criticism and literary practice. This project will bring the formal and thematic interests of four eminent Australian writers – Alexis Wright, Nicholas Jose, Gail Jones and J.M. Coetzee – into dialogue with each other and a team of critical respondents. Critical and creative dialogues between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia, Argentina, China, and England provide an opportunity to think about how contemporary Australian writing might meaningfully be considered in the terms of world literature.Read moreRead less
Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imaginati ....Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imagination, and bridging social, temporal and geographical distances between people. This research will strengthen the nation's social fabric by promoting inter-racial understanding, and by adding historical depth to present thinking about contemporary Aboriginal attitudes to literacy.Read moreRead less
Linguistic analysis of Ngarrindjeri texts. The Ngarrindjeri language of the Lower Murray of South Australia was richly documented in the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The largest body of texts (163 texts in Berndt and Berndt, 1993) is a treasure-trove of language and cultural knowledge from the 1940s, but has received little linguistic attention, because of difficulties in interpreting writing conventions and because of the inadequate translations provided. Through systematic linguisti ....Linguistic analysis of Ngarrindjeri texts. The Ngarrindjeri language of the Lower Murray of South Australia was richly documented in the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The largest body of texts (163 texts in Berndt and Berndt, 1993) is a treasure-trove of language and cultural knowledge from the 1940s, but has received little linguistic attention, because of difficulties in interpreting writing conventions and because of the inadequate translations provided. Through systematic linguistic analysis and reconstructions, this project aims to shed light on how Ngarrindjeri changed over the 100 years since first documentation, how clan languages differed, and how Ngarrindjeri texts and sentences were structured. It is expected to provide important insight into the variation expected in language contact situations.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0238930
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
Austlit: The Australian Literature Gateway - Enhancement Stage Two. The Austlit: The Australian Literature Gateway Enhancement Stage Two Project will deliver enhanced functionality for researchers using the integrated resource discovery service developed in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the Gateway will add new bibliographic, biographical and full text sources to the service, and map rich literary relationships based on this data, supporting the development of new research questions on the place of th ....Austlit: The Australian Literature Gateway - Enhancement Stage Two. The Austlit: The Australian Literature Gateway Enhancement Stage Two Project will deliver enhanced functionality for researchers using the integrated resource discovery service developed in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the Gateway will add new bibliographic, biographical and full text sources to the service, and map rich literary relationships based on this data, supporting the development of new research questions on the place of the national literature in Australian culture. The Gateway's technical infrastructure will be developed to offer a sophisticated browsing interface, customised services to support specific research, and broader interoperability with other services, including flexible education and portal services.Read moreRead less
Lost Generation: Women Writers and Postwar Modernity. This project will restore a 'lost generation' of Australian women writers to, and reconfigure the meanings of, literary culture in the post-World War 2 years. 1945-65 is a key period of Australian cultural development that is under-researched but over-laden with stereotypes, which still frame and restrict our understanding of it. A fuller and more complex picture of Australian modernity and modernism will be gained by placing women centrally ....Lost Generation: Women Writers and Postwar Modernity. This project will restore a 'lost generation' of Australian women writers to, and reconfigure the meanings of, literary culture in the post-World War 2 years. 1945-65 is a key period of Australian cultural development that is under-researched but over-laden with stereotypes, which still frame and restrict our understanding of it. A fuller and more complex picture of Australian modernity and modernism will be gained by placing women centrally in the picture, and by placing the Australian case within the international field. Such an enhanced understanding of the past is essential for us to have a more productive and harmonious future, and to play a significant role internationally.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347049
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$403,000.00
Summary
Building Australian Literary Knowledge Infrastructure. The primary goal of AustLit: the Australian Literature Gateway is to facilitate and encourage research in, and teaching of, the nation's creative and critical literature. AustLit's innovative world class resource discovery service utilises best practice techniques in information management and knowledge sharing. In 2003, AustLit will develop new technical services and important new content to meet the defined needs of a wide range of educati ....Building Australian Literary Knowledge Infrastructure. The primary goal of AustLit: the Australian Literature Gateway is to facilitate and encourage research in, and teaching of, the nation's creative and critical literature. AustLit's innovative world class resource discovery service utilises best practice techniques in information management and knowledge sharing. In 2003, AustLit will develop new technical services and important new content to meet the defined needs of a wide range of education and information consumers in the area. AustLit provides the foundation for a subject specific digital library that will retain and expand its usefulness into the future.Read moreRead less
Rioting and the literary archive. This project aims to examine writers' enduring engagement with the riot's destructive energy and its transformative potential. Riots have become a familiar feature of an increasingly volatile global politics, but contemporary responses to these events have a long history across a range of media and modes of writing. Literary writers have historically struggled in the aftermath of riots to make sense of and communicate the collective trauma felt by families and c ....Rioting and the literary archive. This project aims to examine writers' enduring engagement with the riot's destructive energy and its transformative potential. Riots have become a familiar feature of an increasingly volatile global politics, but contemporary responses to these events have a long history across a range of media and modes of writing. Literary writers have historically struggled in the aftermath of riots to make sense of and communicate the collective trauma felt by families and communities who suffer resulting injury, death, homelessness or unemployment. Drawing together writing from Britain, United States of America, Australia and the Middle-East, this project will provide an understanding of the resurgence of the riot in a contemporary global context.Read moreRead less