Domestic Subversions: maternalism and cross-cultural histories. This project will assist in the processes of reconciliation, by fostering a sense of a shared history, and increasing public awareness of the complexity of race relations histories in Australia. It will redress a significant gap in Australian knowledge and literature. Very little is known about the history of Aboriginal domestic workers and their relationships with their white employers in Australia, despite growing awareness of the ....Domestic Subversions: maternalism and cross-cultural histories. This project will assist in the processes of reconciliation, by fostering a sense of a shared history, and increasing public awareness of the complexity of race relations histories in Australia. It will redress a significant gap in Australian knowledge and literature. Very little is known about the history of Aboriginal domestic workers and their relationships with their white employers in Australia, despite growing awareness of the significance of domestic service in Aboriginal child removal policies. The project will also assist in establishing Australian historical scholarship at the forefront of leading international research initiatives in gender, race and colonialism studies. Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0775822
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$245,000.00
Summary
Elder Assessments of Early Material Culture Collections from Arnhem Land and Contemporary Access Needs to Them among Their Source Communities. There is enormous interest in Arnhem Land about the region's recorded history. In recent years, the return of digital materials from collections worldwide has become a significant and efficacious strategy for stimulating cultural maintenance there. The sense of history that these materials bring is proving invaluable in maintaining well-being and communit ....Elder Assessments of Early Material Culture Collections from Arnhem Land and Contemporary Access Needs to Them among Their Source Communities. There is enormous interest in Arnhem Land about the region's recorded history. In recent years, the return of digital materials from collections worldwide has become a significant and efficacious strategy for stimulating cultural maintenance there. The sense of history that these materials bring is proving invaluable in maintaining well-being and community in Arnhem Land amid the hardships of local life. Informed by custodians of the region's endangered languages and traditions, this project will produce findings of world heritage significance that will articulate the collections access needs of local people. It would be the first ARC project to be led by a Yolngu Elder.Read moreRead less
Explaining the Changing Roles of Collections, Curators and Exhibitions in the Production of Museum Images of the Pacific:1900-2000. This study advances the hypothesis, developed as the result of previous research, that museum representations of the Pacific between 1900-2000 were the result of the changing relationship between three factors: the construction of a particular cutural map of the region via the provenance attributed to collections, curatorial activities and exhbitions. It employs Edw ....Explaining the Changing Roles of Collections, Curators and Exhibitions in the Production of Museum Images of the Pacific:1900-2000. This study advances the hypothesis, developed as the result of previous research, that museum representations of the Pacific between 1900-2000 were the result of the changing relationship between three factors: the construction of a particular cutural map of the region via the provenance attributed to collections, curatorial activities and exhbitions. It employs Edward Said's post-colonial theory to explain the factors involved in the production of particular images and their transformation through the colonial and post-colonial periods. This is done in three case studies of two museum anthropology departments: The Australian Museum and the American Museum of Natural HistoryRead moreRead less
The Humanities beyond Humanism: Race, Nature and the Human in Australia from Enlightenment to Federation. This Project injects much needed specificity into the emotive and circular logic of racism that characterises accounts of settler/indigenous history in Australia. In so far as Australia's Aboriginal people defied enlightenment/colonial ideas about humans as separate from nature, they shook the very foundations of western humanism. In crediting Aboriginal people with this impact on European k ....The Humanities beyond Humanism: Race, Nature and the Human in Australia from Enlightenment to Federation. This Project injects much needed specificity into the emotive and circular logic of racism that characterises accounts of settler/indigenous history in Australia. In so far as Australia's Aboriginal people defied enlightenment/colonial ideas about humans as separate from nature, they shook the very foundations of western humanism. In crediting Aboriginal people with this impact on European knowledge and self-regard, the Project carries forward the critique of Australia's settlement from a fresh perspective. It challenges the persistent tendency of Australians to write Aborigines into nature, and forces a novel revision in thought about what it means to be 'properly human'.Read moreRead less
Reconceptualising Heritage Collections: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Museum Collections and Documentation. Museums worldwide are responding to technical advances in digital media. Collection databases and their availability on the World Wide Web are part of this initiative. The potential scope for collections documentation has been transformed by digital technologies, but in reality this has not been matched by the quality of information held in databases - its relationship to current knowled ....Reconceptualising Heritage Collections: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Museum Collections and Documentation. Museums worldwide are responding to technical advances in digital media. Collection databases and their availability on the World Wide Web are part of this initiative. The potential scope for collections documentation has been transformed by digital technologies, but in reality this has not been matched by the quality of information held in databases - its relationship to current knowledge, the needs of online users and new interdisciplinary approaches to material culture research. This project will reconceptualise museum collections acquisition, documentation practices, create a new multidisciplinary multimedia knowledge structure and reform museum practice to address these issues to greatly enhance the value of collections.Read moreRead less
The Construction of Race and Racial Identity at the Antipodes of Empire, 1788-1840. The view that Australia was always a racially based society, pursuing racial policies to the detriment of indigenous Australians and our Asian neighbours, is subject to rancorous national debate. Polemical assertion by high profile journalists that race was never a driving force in Australian history is not conducive to understanding complex history, nor are derogatory attacks on historians helpful in explaining ....The Construction of Race and Racial Identity at the Antipodes of Empire, 1788-1840. The view that Australia was always a racially based society, pursuing racial policies to the detriment of indigenous Australians and our Asian neighbours, is subject to rancorous national debate. Polemical assertion by high profile journalists that race was never a driving force in Australian history is not conducive to understanding complex history, nor are derogatory attacks on historians helpful in explaining the past to our neighbours. Whether colonial Australia was a race-based society remains to be established. With indigenous uncertainty over the demise of ATSIC and rising antagonism among our Islamic neighbours, there is need, as never before, for dispassionate scholarship to provide a complex interpretation of Australia's past.Read moreRead less
Whiteness: A Genealogical Study. We know so little about the white fathers of indigenous children and yet they remain a crucial part of stolen generations history. Bringing to the fore material about white fathers may further research on the possibilities of reconciling different historical accounts of Australian social life. As such, this research promises both intellectual innovation and practical societal benefits.
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0237862
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$27,000.00
Summary
BLACKMAN / WAIJIN - Facts, Fears and Fallacy - Relationships between Aboriginal Men and white women. This pilot project aims to investigate archival records relating to the interpersonal relationships between Aboriginal men and white women. There has been much written and researched regarding the relationships between white men and Aboriginal women, including studies of the role and abuse of Aboriginal women in the stock industry and the maltreatment endured by Aboriginal girls taken from their ....BLACKMAN / WAIJIN - Facts, Fears and Fallacy - Relationships between Aboriginal Men and white women. This pilot project aims to investigate archival records relating to the interpersonal relationships between Aboriginal men and white women. There has been much written and researched regarding the relationships between white men and Aboriginal women, including studies of the role and abuse of Aboriginal women in the stock industry and the maltreatment endured by Aboriginal girls taken from their families and indentured out into the apprenticeship scheme. However, this study aims to research the reverse subject; that is relationships between Aboriginal men and white women. The outcome is intended not only to be a contribution to historical scholarship, but also to the contemporary debates on issues surrounding reconciliation, gender, inter-marriage and colonialism.Read moreRead less
From Print to the Internet: The Media in Australia since 1803. At a time when media institutions grapple with the challenges and opportunities posed by new technologies and a fundamental shift in media ownership legislation, From Print to the Internet will constitute an unprecedented study of the Australian media since 1803. The project's centrepiece, A Companion to the Australian Media, will bring together the expertise of individuals interested in building professional and community knowledge ....From Print to the Internet: The Media in Australia since 1803. At a time when media institutions grapple with the challenges and opportunities posed by new technologies and a fundamental shift in media ownership legislation, From Print to the Internet will constitute an unprecedented study of the Australian media since 1803. The project's centrepiece, A Companion to the Australian Media, will bring together the expertise of individuals interested in building professional and community knowledge of the media's role in Australian society. It will serve as the foundational authoritative work for Australian media scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and businesses; enable more informed public debates about the Australian media; and be a landmark contribution to the media studies field internationally.Read moreRead less
The role of Queensland Museum collections in producing knowledge of Aboriginal people from Federation to the present day. The project will investigate the production of knowledge about Aboriginal peoples by the Queensland Museum since the late nineteenth century. The focus will be on the changing role of material culture collections in the construal of Aboriginality. The APAI will analyse material culture collection in the context of nation building and will investigate both the changing meaning ....The role of Queensland Museum collections in producing knowledge of Aboriginal people from Federation to the present day. The project will investigate the production of knowledge about Aboriginal peoples by the Queensland Museum since the late nineteenth century. The focus will be on the changing role of material culture collections in the construal of Aboriginality. The APAI will analyse material culture collection in the context of nation building and will investigate both the changing meanings and the contemporary relevance of such collections to Aboriginal communities. The project will produce a body of research that can be used in the design of new exhibitions that will reveal the true complexity of cross-cultural interactions in the development of the Museum's collections.Read moreRead less