New Electronic Archives for Australian Literature. Information capacity in Australian literary studies has been dramatically expanded by national investment in electronic archives, while trends in the discipline increasingly demand empirical support for claims about literary history and literary value. At the same time, research about Australian literature remains primarily theoretical, insufficiently informed by newly available data. This project aims to further enrich the new data sets, and to ....New Electronic Archives for Australian Literature. Information capacity in Australian literary studies has been dramatically expanded by national investment in electronic archives, while trends in the discipline increasingly demand empirical support for claims about literary history and literary value. At the same time, research about Australian literature remains primarily theoretical, insufficiently informed by newly available data. This project aims to further enrich the new data sets, and to use them in an innovative return to the classical issues in Australian literary criticism and history. It will provide demonstration applications of data in new electronic archives.Read moreRead less
Antarctic Imaginations: A Study of Creative Responses to the Continent for Science. Antarctica has for two centuries been the subject of numerous novels, poems and plays, both by writers who have never seen the continent, and by expeditioners and explorers themselves. Apart from a small number of canonical nineteenth-century texts, these representations of the continent have been subject to very little analysis. This project examines creative written responses to Antarctica, drawing on both publ ....Antarctic Imaginations: A Study of Creative Responses to the Continent for Science. Antarctica has for two centuries been the subject of numerous novels, poems and plays, both by writers who have never seen the continent, and by expeditioners and explorers themselves. Apart from a small number of canonical nineteenth-century texts, these representations of the continent have been subject to very little analysis. This project examines creative written responses to Antarctica, drawing on both published works and archival material, and focussing particularly on the cultural significance of Antarctica's construction as a ?continent for science?. Research outcomes will include innovative interdisciplinary contributions to Antarctic studies and English studies.Read moreRead less
Travelling Home: A Study of Walkabout, Australia's Geographic Magazine (1934-74). Walkabout was one of mid-twentieth century's most popular magazines with a focus on inland Australia, as well as the Pacific region. It graced suburban lounge rooms, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, railway waiting rooms, ministerial offices, and school libraries. Walkabout's mixture of entertainment and education ensured its influence across a spectrum of readers: across age, class, and educational boundaries. Th ....Travelling Home: A Study of Walkabout, Australia's Geographic Magazine (1934-74). Walkabout was one of mid-twentieth century's most popular magazines with a focus on inland Australia, as well as the Pacific region. It graced suburban lounge rooms, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, railway waiting rooms, ministerial offices, and school libraries. Walkabout's mixture of entertainment and education ensured its influence across a spectrum of readers: across age, class, and educational boundaries. This project explores the role of Walkabout in the development of a modern national identity. Walkabout deliberately cultivated one of Australia's key modern economic foundations-the travel industry-and did so whilst also influencing knowledge formation and circulation. Read moreRead less
Female Convicts as Women Travellers: an investigation into how the itineraries of convict experience affected life narratives. For convict women sent to Australia, ?transportation? meant international travel. By mapping the convicts as travellers, this project will afford a new perspective on women whose convict itineraries radically affected the direction of their lives. Alert to the specifics of time and place, the project investigates the carceral and non-carceral experiences of women whose s ....Female Convicts as Women Travellers: an investigation into how the itineraries of convict experience affected life narratives. For convict women sent to Australia, ?transportation? meant international travel. By mapping the convicts as travellers, this project will afford a new perspective on women whose convict itineraries radically affected the direction of their lives. Alert to the specifics of time and place, the project investigates the carceral and non-carceral experiences of women whose shared voyage as convicts was neither the beginning nor the end of their travels. The research involves a systematic cluster sampling of three ships which sailed to Van Diemen's Land while transportation was at its height: the Harmony (1829), Atwick (1838), and Elizabeth and Henry (1847). Read moreRead less
Creatures of the Ice: A Cultural Analysis of Human-Animal Relations in Antarctica. Perceptions of animals in the world's largest wilderness, Antarctica, have changed dramatically over history: once seen primarily as commercial resources, whales, seals and penguins are now environmental icons. As few people ever travel to Antarctica, their views of its animals are usually dependent on written and visual texts. Combining expertise in the humanities and sciences, this project examines the ways in w ....Creatures of the Ice: A Cultural Analysis of Human-Animal Relations in Antarctica. Perceptions of animals in the world's largest wilderness, Antarctica, have changed dramatically over history: once seen primarily as commercial resources, whales, seals and penguins are now environmental icons. As few people ever travel to Antarctica, their views of its animals are usually dependent on written and visual texts. Combining expertise in the humanities and sciences, this project examines the ways in which humans have narrated their encounters with animals in Antarctica over the last two centuries. Australia is custodian of forty-two percent of Antarctica; this project provides a cultural context through which to understand current attitudes towards its fragile ecosystems.Read moreRead less
The 'paper war': Missionary Textuality and Early Nineteenth-Century Australian Colonial Culture. Early nineteenth-century Australian texts reverberate with the anxieties and controversies surrounding colonisation. The morality of colonisation and indigenous-settler relationships were hotly debated in a proliferation of books, pamphlets, letters, and editorials, and in this religious personnel, including missionaries, played a pivotal role. Yet no critical analysis of colonial missionary writing ....The 'paper war': Missionary Textuality and Early Nineteenth-Century Australian Colonial Culture. Early nineteenth-century Australian texts reverberate with the anxieties and controversies surrounding colonisation. The morality of colonisation and indigenous-settler relationships were hotly debated in a proliferation of books, pamphlets, letters, and editorials, and in this religious personnel, including missionaries, played a pivotal role. Yet no critical analysis of colonial missionary writing exists. This project conducts archival research into texts produced by a linked network of religious/missionary figures, focusing on the Lake Macquarie mission run by Lancelot Threlkeld, and analyses these through theories of colonial discourse and textuality. Research outcomes include original, innovative contributions to Australian literary/cultural studies and international colonial/postcolonial studies.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668073
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$544,000.00
Summary
AustLit - humanities research infrastructure development through knowledge-based dataset building, augmentation of key research elements and ICT developments. The AustLit development and augmentation program 2006-2008 will enable researchers to gain a greater understanding of the breadth and scope of Australia's conversation with the world through its literature by providing new datasets and enhanced access to the pre-eminent resource to our literary culture. AustLit aims to deliver authoritativ ....AustLit - humanities research infrastructure development through knowledge-based dataset building, augmentation of key research elements and ICT developments. The AustLit development and augmentation program 2006-2008 will enable researchers to gain a greater understanding of the breadth and scope of Australia's conversation with the world through its literature by providing new datasets and enhanced access to the pre-eminent resource to our literary culture. AustLit aims to deliver authoritative information and analysable data about all Australian writers and their writing and in 2006 will develop specialist datasets relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers; multicultural writers; and regional and colonial writing from Tasmania and Qld. ICT developments will provide other collaborative groups with an opportunity to use a highly successful middleware platform for new KM projects.Read moreRead less
Integrating the humanities into Antarctic studies. Antarctica is currently taking a key role in climate change debate. It is vital that we understand the cultural meanings we attach to the continent and the attitudes we bring to it. This project aims to create a rounded understanding of the Antarctic by integrating the humanities into what is currently a science-dominated research area.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882507
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$500,000.00
Summary
AustLit Phase Two: Research Infrastructure for Humanities and Education Researchers. The benefits of delivering a fully mature research and information facility to the education and research sectors and the general public will accrue over time by providing discovery and analysis opportunities to large numbers of enquirers. The capacity to reveal the wealth and diversity of a nation's cultural activities across its history is an inherent good and the resulting research activities will encourage a ....AustLit Phase Two: Research Infrastructure for Humanities and Education Researchers. The benefits of delivering a fully mature research and information facility to the education and research sectors and the general public will accrue over time by providing discovery and analysis opportunities to large numbers of enquirers. The capacity to reveal the wealth and diversity of a nation's cultural activities across its history is an inherent good and the resulting research activities will encourage a greater engagement with Australia's literary culture of the present and the past.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775619
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
AustLit: Phase Two - humanities research infrastructure development, augmentation and expansion. With ARC support, the university and library collaborators will deliver a unique national information service revealing the wealth of Australian's literary and cultural endeavours over time. Enquirers from across the research, education and library sectors will be able to access the results of decades of scholarship in Australian literary, theatre, critical and Indigenous culture. Senior and emerging ....AustLit: Phase Two - humanities research infrastructure development, augmentation and expansion. With ARC support, the university and library collaborators will deliver a unique national information service revealing the wealth of Australian's literary and cultural endeavours over time. Enquirers from across the research, education and library sectors will be able to access the results of decades of scholarship in Australian literary, theatre, critical and Indigenous culture. Senior and emerging researchers will be able to continue building AustLit over time, using the infrastructure as a source of existing information to interrogate, and as a repository for new data that can be analysed and enhanced as research in new areas is pursued. Read moreRead less