Sonic practice in Japan: sound in everyday life. This anthropological project focuses on 'sonic practice' - a way of understanding how sound is made significant to people in their everyday life - and its impact on social relations in Japan.
Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection: Museums, Indigenous Perspectives and the Production of Cultural Knowledge. Spencer and Gillen's research placed Australia at the heart of world discourse in anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century and they influenced the paradigm changes that resulted in the development of the modern discipline. Digital technology now enables the material record of their research to be recreated as a whole revealing the richness of Aboriginal socie ....Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection: Museums, Indigenous Perspectives and the Production of Cultural Knowledge. Spencer and Gillen's research placed Australia at the heart of world discourse in anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century and they influenced the paradigm changes that resulted in the development of the modern discipline. Digital technology now enables the material record of their research to be recreated as a whole revealing the richness of Aboriginal society in central Australia at the turn of the twentieth century and uncovering a crucial period in the history of anthropology. The research project will advance understanding of Australia's role in the history of anthropology and related disciplines in addition to creating a cultural resource of great value not least for the Indigenous communities themselves.Read moreRead less
Time and timelessness in Aboriginal societies as exemplified in Ngarinyin body-imagery. My project is an investigation of northern Kimberley trading practices, arguing against some pervasive views in the Aboriginalist literature which cast Aboriginal people and cultures as emphasising timelessness and de-emphasising human creativity. Kimberley trading/sharing practices, I suggest, show that exchanges (at various levels of formality) between groups and individuals are locally experienced as an ac ....Time and timelessness in Aboriginal societies as exemplified in Ngarinyin body-imagery. My project is an investigation of northern Kimberley trading practices, arguing against some pervasive views in the Aboriginalist literature which cast Aboriginal people and cultures as emphasising timelessness and de-emphasising human creativity. Kimberley trading/sharing practices, I suggest, show that exchanges (at various levels of formality) between groups and individuals are locally experienced as an active and ongoing participation in the creation of the bodies of kin and of the country itself. This is done in a way which actively participates in, rather than merely reproduces, the creative travels of the first ancestral beings. Phenomenology and psychoanalysis theoretically inform my approach.Read moreRead less
Anthropological and Aboriginal perspectives on the Donald Thomson Collection: material culture, collecting and identity. This partnership offers a unique opportunity to combine anthropological research, museum practice and Indigenous community participation to explore the Donald Thomson Arnhem Land Ethnographic Collection. This is the most comprehensive collection of material culture made from any group in Australia while people were still living independently in the bush. This Collection is no ....Anthropological and Aboriginal perspectives on the Donald Thomson Collection: material culture, collecting and identity. This partnership offers a unique opportunity to combine anthropological research, museum practice and Indigenous community participation to explore the Donald Thomson Arnhem Land Ethnographic Collection. This is the most comprehensive collection of material culture made from any group in Australia while people were still living independently in the bush. This Collection is now of major cultural significance for non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians and can yield important insights into past socio-cultural life, Yolngu ethnotechnological skills and knowledge and the nature of collecting. The project will benefit many sectors including the museum-going public and the Yolngu.Read moreRead less
Place and displacement in Aboriginal Australia: a Warlpiri visual cultural enquiry. At a time of social turbulence and hyper-mobility, this project examines Aboriginal people’s transforming relationships to place. From ancestral places to the nation and beyond, it analyses how Warlpiri people of central Australia have pictured themselves in the world. Spanning sixty years of dynamic visual production, this project explores relationships between modes of governance, cultures of seeing, and Warlpi ....Place and displacement in Aboriginal Australia: a Warlpiri visual cultural enquiry. At a time of social turbulence and hyper-mobility, this project examines Aboriginal people’s transforming relationships to place. From ancestral places to the nation and beyond, it analyses how Warlpiri people of central Australia have pictured themselves in the world. Spanning sixty years of dynamic visual production, this project explores relationships between modes of governance, cultures of seeing, and Warlpiri creative practices. It uniquely blends anthropology with analytic insights from visual studies and history. Utilising rich visual materials, research outputs will include innovative exhibitions and offer fresh perspectives on protracted national debates about the future of remote Aboriginal communities.Read moreRead less
Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. This project will systematically analyse nineteenth century anthropologists Lorimer Fison and A.W. Howitt’s accounts of Indigenous kinship, social organisation, and local languages, and historical encounters between settlers and Indigenous people. This project will assemble Fison and Howitt’s meticulous records into best-practice digital formats, with widely accessible interactive data presentation, and bring these extraordinary recor ....Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. This project will systematically analyse nineteenth century anthropologists Lorimer Fison and A.W. Howitt’s accounts of Indigenous kinship, social organisation, and local languages, and historical encounters between settlers and Indigenous people. This project will assemble Fison and Howitt’s meticulous records into best-practice digital formats, with widely accessible interactive data presentation, and bring these extraordinary records to the broadest possible community. This research, which integrates anthropology, history and linguistics, is expected to open up new dimensions in Australian history, anthropological theory, and Australian linguistics.Read moreRead less
Body, Language and Socialisation across Cultures. This project aims to advance the understanding of how people learn languages, and in the process become socialized into particular cultures and communities. To that end, it will bring together an international team of leading experts in the field, and focus in new ways on the interplay of speech and sign with other bodily forms of communication in a wide variety of cultures. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of multimodal communica ....Body, Language and Socialisation across Cultures. This project aims to advance the understanding of how people learn languages, and in the process become socialized into particular cultures and communities. To that end, it will bring together an international team of leading experts in the field, and focus in new ways on the interplay of speech and sign with other bodily forms of communication in a wide variety of cultures. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of multimodal communication and language socialization, and enhancement of Australian research capacity in these fields. This should lead to significant practical benefits, improving Australia's ability to adapt to cultural diversity and to counteract its disadvantages in schools and everyday life.Read moreRead less