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
ARC Research Network for Early European Research. The Network offers a dynamic resource for enhancing Australian research into the culture and history of Europe between the fifth and nineteenth centuries. Through a programme of dedicated conferences and symposia, new digital resources, publications, and specialist postgraduate mentoring, Network management will mobilise existing strengths to build up national and international research partnerships in key emerging areas of scholarly enquiry. The ....ARC Research Network for Early European Research. The Network offers a dynamic resource for enhancing Australian research into the culture and history of Europe between the fifth and nineteenth centuries. Through a programme of dedicated conferences and symposia, new digital resources, publications, and specialist postgraduate mentoring, Network management will mobilise existing strengths to build up national and international research partnerships in key emerging areas of scholarly enquiry. The Network will coordinate large-scale cross-disciplinary investigations, strengthen links with cultural heritage institutions and organizations, and nurture the next generation of researchers. It will make innovative use of digital infrastructure to manage communication and to disseminate results.Read moreRead less
Migration, Cultural Diversity and Television: Reflecting Modern Australia. This project seeks to document the evolving history of popular television and its contribution to national discussions about migration, cultural diversity and citizenship. The project will endeavour to examine selected television programs that depict the contemporary nation and their representations of cultural diversity across six decades. The project intends to take a cross-disciplinary approach that will combine the cr ....Migration, Cultural Diversity and Television: Reflecting Modern Australia. This project seeks to document the evolving history of popular television and its contribution to national discussions about migration, cultural diversity and citizenship. The project will endeavour to examine selected television programs that depict the contemporary nation and their representations of cultural diversity across six decades. The project intends to take a cross-disciplinary approach that will combine the critical examination of production processes and program content with the personal perspectives of inter-generational migrant communities, youth and key industry figures. In association with Museum Victoria and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, outcomes are expected to include scholarly publications, exhibitions and public programs.Read moreRead less
Aboriginalia: Collecting Histories of Aboriginal Representation. Since Federation, non-Indigenous people have produced material objects for the home depicting Aboriginal bodies, artefacts and designs and marketing these as the truly Australian look. Since the 1960s, Aboriginal people started to collect these material objects, defined as 'Aboriginalia'. This interdisciplinary project aims to examine Aboriginal collectors' representations of 'Aboriginalia'. This is the first study to examine Abori ....Aboriginalia: Collecting Histories of Aboriginal Representation. Since Federation, non-Indigenous people have produced material objects for the home depicting Aboriginal bodies, artefacts and designs and marketing these as the truly Australian look. Since the 1960s, Aboriginal people started to collect these material objects, defined as 'Aboriginalia'. This interdisciplinary project aims to examine Aboriginal collectors' representations of 'Aboriginalia'. This is the first study to examine Aboriginal collectors' representations of non-Indigenous historical depictions of Aboriginality within Australian material culture. The research and associated publications will explore the Aboriginal social life of material objects in historical perspective.Read moreRead less
Return, reconcile, renew: understanding the history, effects and opportunities of repatriation and building an evidence base for the future. The repatriation of ancestral remains is an extraordinary Indigenous achievement and inter-cultural development of the past 40 years. This international project will provide critical new knowledge to understand repatriation, its history and effects and will provide scholarly and public outcomes that empower community-based research and practice.
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less