Understanding a changing Australia: Ordinary people's politics. This project will use a body of interview material collected in the late 1980s supplemented with new material (to be collected) to investigate how Australians have made sense of the social and political changes of the past two decades. In particular it will focus on: how individual Australians construct their sense of moral community, their expectations of the role of government, and how they have negotiated the shift from an expli ....Understanding a changing Australia: Ordinary people's politics. This project will use a body of interview material collected in the late 1980s supplemented with new material (to be collected) to investigate how Australians have made sense of the social and political changes of the past two decades. In particular it will focus on: how individual Australians construct their sense of moral community, their expectations of the role of government, and how they have negotiated the shift from an explicitly white, British national identity to a multicultural one, their understandings of settler-indigenous relations. It will integrate these responses with analysis of their life histories and characteristic political ideologies.Read moreRead less
Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backya ....Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backyard, Australia's most hybrid ecosystem. I analyse how categories of environmental belonging - indigenous/introduced, wild/tame, hybrid/pure - are differentially applied to people, other species and landscapes, in policy and popular culture. This contributes to new theories of long term human-environment interactions and effective management of human landscapes. Outcomes will include books and museum exhibitions.Read moreRead less
A study of the public understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and its sustainable use. As a national icon, the survival of the Great Barrier Reef is of consequence to all Australians. As pressures on the Reef increase, it is imperative that the cultural heritage and social value of the Reef be recognised, understood, and mobilised to facilitate efforts to preserve the Reef for future generations. Reaching and informing broad and varied audiences in a range of communities, this project encourages ....A study of the public understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and its sustainable use. As a national icon, the survival of the Great Barrier Reef is of consequence to all Australians. As pressures on the Reef increase, it is imperative that the cultural heritage and social value of the Reef be recognised, understood, and mobilised to facilitate efforts to preserve the Reef for future generations. Reaching and informing broad and varied audiences in a range of communities, this project encourages a much wider appreciation of the value and importance of the Reef to Australian culture, and thus provides an important capacity-building step in realising the long-term social goal of sustainable use of the Reef's unique biodiversityRead moreRead less
Social Division and the Pursuit of Harmony Across the Antipodes in the Twentieth Century. Into the twentieth century,reformers envisaged the antipodes as a liberal utopia. The social laboratory in Australia and New Zealand is now viewed as a reactionary social model. This project sets out to place Paul Kelly's influential notion of an Australian Settlement within a series of frames which establish the extent of division and the limits to inclusion alongside the achievements of the antipodean exp ....Social Division and the Pursuit of Harmony Across the Antipodes in the Twentieth Century. Into the twentieth century,reformers envisaged the antipodes as a liberal utopia. The social laboratory in Australia and New Zealand is now viewed as a reactionary social model. This project sets out to place Paul Kelly's influential notion of an Australian Settlement within a series of frames which establish the extent of division and the limits to inclusion alongside the achievements of the antipodean experiment. It considers Arbitration as the core institution of the new liberal utopia, and its transformation by Labor into the 1980s. It will result in a major book, two shorter books and two doctoral theses.Read moreRead less
The recognition, interpretation and management of significant rock art and related dreaming (Jukurrpa) sites on the Canning Stock Route, Western Australia. The Canning Stock Route is an iconic linear transect of profound importance to a variety of parties: the original inhabitants of the Western Desert, surveyors and drovers who used it in the 20th century and more recently tourists and outback adventurers. Systematic documentation, mapping and synthesis of Indigenous cultural values of the Cann ....The recognition, interpretation and management of significant rock art and related dreaming (Jukurrpa) sites on the Canning Stock Route, Western Australia. The Canning Stock Route is an iconic linear transect of profound importance to a variety of parties: the original inhabitants of the Western Desert, surveyors and drovers who used it in the 20th century and more recently tourists and outback adventurers. Systematic documentation, mapping and synthesis of Indigenous cultural values of the Canning Stock Route will provide a unique resource of benefit to traditional custodians as well as the wider community. Accurate information on sites, places and landscapes and their cultural and scientific values should underpin successful management, protection of sites and sustainable use of the Canning Stock Route into the future.Read moreRead less
The search for family: A history of adoption in Australia. How has Australia cared for its children? This study will fill a significant gap in the nation's self-understanding by explaining the historical factors driving the changing place, meaning and significance of adoption. Whilst participants and practitioners debate its social worth, the policy pendulum is swinging back to an acceptance of adoption. Australian society is in urgent need of an open hearing of the contesting voices, and a bala ....The search for family: A history of adoption in Australia. How has Australia cared for its children? This study will fill a significant gap in the nation's self-understanding by explaining the historical factors driving the changing place, meaning and significance of adoption. Whilst participants and practitioners debate its social worth, the policy pendulum is swinging back to an acceptance of adoption. Australian society is in urgent need of an open hearing of the contesting voices, and a balanced account of the historical impact of adoption. Our project promises both, thus 'understanding and strengthening (a) key element of Australia's social fabric' - the family.Read moreRead less
Life after care: the life-histories of those who left institutional and other forms of out-of-home care, 1945-1989. This project, developed in close collaboration with the Industry Partner, MacKillop Family Services, will examine the impact of having been in out-of-home care for the subsequent identities and life histories of successive generations of care leavers. While focused on Catholic institutions in Victoria, it will provide more general insights into the role of church-based children's h ....Life after care: the life-histories of those who left institutional and other forms of out-of-home care, 1945-1989. This project, developed in close collaboration with the Industry Partner, MacKillop Family Services, will examine the impact of having been in out-of-home care for the subsequent identities and life histories of successive generations of care leavers. While focused on Catholic institutions in Victoria, it will provide more general insights into the role of church-based children's homes. Based on archival and oral history methods, it will also be an opportunity for those who experienced care to tell the story of life after leaving care.Read moreRead less
History of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, 1930-2003. This project will research and write the history of the Melbourne based Anglican welfare organisation, the Brotherhood of St Laurence since its foundation. It will be a multi-focussed history, which will reassess the Brotherhood's origins in the social divisions of the depression, examine its culture, including the interaction between its religious and secular missions, investigate its record of innovative social policy and service delivery, ....History of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, 1930-2003. This project will research and write the history of the Melbourne based Anglican welfare organisation, the Brotherhood of St Laurence since its foundation. It will be a multi-focussed history, which will reassess the Brotherhood's origins in the social divisions of the depression, examine its culture, including the interaction between its religious and secular missions, investigate its record of innovative social policy and service delivery, and interrogate its changing relationship with the local communities where it has a physical presence. The research will include interviews with present and former staff. The age of some of these makes this aspect of the research urgent.Read moreRead less
Psychoanalysis, Anthropology and the Australian Aborigine: the revaluing of myth in the twentieth-century. This project will uncover the role Western experience of Aboriginal Australian cultures has played in the revaluing of myths in the twentieth century particularly via the influence of psychoanalysis. It will show that European experience of Aboriginal Australia raised questions, and the attempted answers to those questions changed European thinking. Revealing this will add significantly t ....Psychoanalysis, Anthropology and the Australian Aborigine: the revaluing of myth in the twentieth-century. This project will uncover the role Western experience of Aboriginal Australian cultures has played in the revaluing of myths in the twentieth century particularly via the influence of psychoanalysis. It will show that European experience of Aboriginal Australia raised questions, and the attempted answers to those questions changed European thinking. Revealing this will add significantly to Australia's self understanding. It will add significantly to the understanding of the importance myth has gained over the last century. It will be an important Australian contribution to international scholarship of the histories of Anthropology, Science, and Psychoanalysis, and to Religious and Indigenous StudiesRead moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0239285
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$15,000.00
Summary
Aboriginal art history and tradition in the West Kimberley region, Western Australia: Representations and constructions of place, space and identity. There is a paucity of research on the topic of Aboriginal art history in the West Kimberley coast. This project aims to investigate how Aboriginal art styles have been influenced by European settlement and ideas during the last century in this region. The chief investigator will survey the historical record, examine collections of material cultura ....Aboriginal art history and tradition in the West Kimberley region, Western Australia: Representations and constructions of place, space and identity. There is a paucity of research on the topic of Aboriginal art history in the West Kimberley coast. This project aims to investigate how Aboriginal art styles have been influenced by European settlement and ideas during the last century in this region. The chief investigator will survey the historical record, examine collections of material cultural objects and the artworks held in Australian museums, and conduct fieldwork in the region. The project will result in the first comprehensive account of the art traditions in Aboriginal Communities of the area with anticipated outcomes of field reports, journal publications and a PhD thesis.Read moreRead less