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
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
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
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
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
Connecting Indigenous Community Photographies: a transnational case study. The project aims to conduct the first transnational comparison of Indigenous community-controlled photography, exploring Indigenous peoples’ ways of seeing and documenting their worlds. The project seeks to significantly advance Australian and global understanding of Indigenous vernacular photography through investigating formerly unexplored private collections of images created by Indigenous photographers during the mid ....Connecting Indigenous Community Photographies: a transnational case study. The project aims to conduct the first transnational comparison of Indigenous community-controlled photography, exploring Indigenous peoples’ ways of seeing and documenting their worlds. The project seeks to significantly advance Australian and global understanding of Indigenous vernacular photography through investigating formerly unexplored private collections of images created by Indigenous photographers during the mid 20th Century in four communities across three countries. One of the outcomes of the project is a nuanced visual history that cannot be excavated from other sources. The benefits of this project include public exhibitions, a book, symposiums, and a scholarly anthology that encourages the public’s connection with the past.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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100394
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
From scientific specimen to Indigenous cultural property: the collection and use of Indigenous DNA samples since the 1960s. This anthropological and historical project will explore the provenance and present use of DNA samples collected from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. It will produce a new conceptual framework that will inform the conduct of genetic research in Indigenous communities and the governance of Indigenous sample collections and biobanks.