A difficult marriage: gender, politics and the romance in literary accounts of German unification. This project focuses on the interrelationships between gender, politics and the romance in literary accounts of German unification. Through an exploration of how the political ?marriage? between East and West Germany, with its conventionalised gender roles, is mapped onto literary marriages, the project examines the challenges and opportunities that unification has afforded men and women. It will y ....A difficult marriage: gender, politics and the romance in literary accounts of German unification. This project focuses on the interrelationships between gender, politics and the romance in literary accounts of German unification. Through an exploration of how the political ?marriage? between East and West Germany, with its conventionalised gender roles, is mapped onto literary marriages, the project examines the challenges and opportunities that unification has afforded men and women. It will yield insights into the ways in which unification has rewritten the scripts for femininity and masculinity and forced a transformation of intimacy. Its findings will enhance knowledge of gender relations in post-communist Europe and the relationships between gender, the nation and modernity.Read moreRead less
Sexual Technologies and Reproductive Powers. The project is to investigate the impact of the new reproductive technologies on the concepts of the sexual relation. The derivation of concepts of sexual equality, and their relation and dependence on technology will be examined. Using the theoretical perspectives of European philosophy, in conjunction with contemporary feminist philosophy, the direction of change in concepts will be investigated.
Women and self-development in French history; implications for Australian women's experience. Our culture values individualism for all but assigns women more responsibility than men for caring for others. Women are caught in a double bind between two conflicting roles, self-development and self-sacrifice. We seek to historicise the development of the self for women in nineteenth-century France, a period which has had an immense impact on contemporary gender roles and the way we understand the ge ....Women and self-development in French history; implications for Australian women's experience. Our culture values individualism for all but assigns women more responsibility than men for caring for others. Women are caught in a double bind between two conflicting roles, self-development and self-sacrifice. We seek to historicise the development of the self for women in nineteenth-century France, a period which has had an immense impact on contemporary gender roles and the way we understand the gendered self today. We will produce an international comparative history of women's self-hood which demonstrates its importance for women today.Read moreRead less
Imperialism, reform and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë is usually thought to be imprecise about the time period of Jane Eyre. Working from a close chronology established from Brontë's historical allusions to West Indian slave rebellions, I propose to write a pioneering book about the novel and aspects of its reception, situating them and Brontë's juvenilia in relation to axes of reform politics in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s. I draw on innovative primary research on ....Imperialism, reform and the making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë is usually thought to be imprecise about the time period of Jane Eyre. Working from a close chronology established from Brontë's historical allusions to West Indian slave rebellions, I propose to write a pioneering book about the novel and aspects of its reception, situating them and Brontë's juvenilia in relation to axes of reform politics in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s. I draw on innovative primary research on the articulation of gender, empire and Englishness in relation to these axes and address the implications of Brontë's invocation in 1847 of an earlier reform complex.Read moreRead less
The Impact of Globalisation in Transforming Sexuality and Cultural Citizenship in Transnational Chinese Cultures: A Comparative Analysis. This project analyses the impact of globalisation and the rapidly increasing use of new media in transforming gender and sexual identities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. New forms of cultural citizenship are emerging in these Chinese societies, and alongside them new modes of sexuality. Specifically, the project examines changing conc ....The Impact of Globalisation in Transforming Sexuality and Cultural Citizenship in Transnational Chinese Cultures: A Comparative Analysis. This project analyses the impact of globalisation and the rapidly increasing use of new media in transforming gender and sexual identities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. New forms of cultural citizenship are emerging in these Chinese societies, and alongside them new modes of sexuality. Specifically, the project examines changing conceptions of femininity seen in representations of lesbian identity in fiction, film, television, popular music, manga comics, and the Internet. The project will provide the first comparative, scholarly analysis of this transformation, and will help us understand its broader implications for the region as a whole.Read moreRead less
Sexual harassment in Australia: Contexts, outcomes and prevention. Sexual harassment remains a persistent workplace issue with significant social costs. The project will examine how to most effectively prevent sexual harassment and to reduce the impact of sexual harassment for individuals and organizations where it occurs. A comprehensive analysis will be undertaken, drawing on a longitudinal study of more than 100 'targets' of sexual harassment, interviews with a wide range of employers and ext ....Sexual harassment in Australia: Contexts, outcomes and prevention. Sexual harassment remains a persistent workplace issue with significant social costs. The project will examine how to most effectively prevent sexual harassment and to reduce the impact of sexual harassment for individuals and organizations where it occurs. A comprehensive analysis will be undertaken, drawing on a longitudinal study of more than 100 'targets' of sexual harassment, interviews with a wide range of employers and external complaint handling bodies, and an analysis of formal and informal reports. The project outcomes will contribute to improved policy and practice in workplaces and human rights and assist other bodies to prevent and more effectively respond to sexual harassment.Read moreRead less
Development assistance to women in postconflict situations. In the last decade, internal armed conflicts have attracted increasing attention as major obstacles to development in poor countries. For development assistance organisations this poses serious challenges. Moreover, men and women experience conflict differently. This project documents, analyses and assesses work amongst women in post-conflict situations by an Australian non-government development agency, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (OCAA ....Development assistance to women in postconflict situations. In the last decade, internal armed conflicts have attracted increasing attention as major obstacles to development in poor countries. For development assistance organisations this poses serious challenges. Moreover, men and women experience conflict differently. This project documents, analyses and assesses work amongst women in post-conflict situations by an Australian non-government development agency, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (OCAA). Three countries, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and East Timor, comprise the case studies. In reports and scholarly articles, this research will evaluate how well OCAA meets women's needs in the post-conflict transition, and identify how development organisations can improve such work in future.Read moreRead less
Scalded memory: violence, gender and the Irish, 1169-1923. The history of the Irish at home and abroad from the medieval period has been extraordinarily violent. While historians have studied wars and rebellions in terms of heroic political narratives, there has been no systematic analysis of what a poet has termed Ireland's 'scalded memory?: the meanings of violence in the lives of ordinary Irish women and men. This project will undertake an extremely ambitious interrogation of violence and ge ....Scalded memory: violence, gender and the Irish, 1169-1923. The history of the Irish at home and abroad from the medieval period has been extraordinarily violent. While historians have studied wars and rebellions in terms of heroic political narratives, there has been no systematic analysis of what a poet has termed Ireland's 'scalded memory?: the meanings of violence in the lives of ordinary Irish women and men. This project will undertake an extremely ambitious interrogation of violence and gender in Ireland and the Irish diaspora. It will promote collaboration between Irish and Australian universities, provide training for a PhD student and help foster Irish Studies in Australia. Read moreRead less
Mapping Matrons: Women's Cultural Patronage Networks in Seventeenth Century Northern Italy: from Maria Cristina of Savoy to Vittoria della Rovere. This project adds an important historical dimension to contemporary debates concerning social capital and female leadership. It retrieves women's significant public engagement and community building in the realm of public taste. Historical precedents show how female networks and agency contribute to the community and public sector. Women's networks of ....Mapping Matrons: Women's Cultural Patronage Networks in Seventeenth Century Northern Italy: from Maria Cristina of Savoy to Vittoria della Rovere. This project adds an important historical dimension to contemporary debates concerning social capital and female leadership. It retrieves women's significant public engagement and community building in the realm of public taste. Historical precedents show how female networks and agency contribute to the community and public sector. Women's networks of taste shaped human creativity then...and now. This study will illuminate how our culture (and democracy) emerged in gendered networks of cultural exchange. The project also contributes to Australia's international reputation for high-quality scholarship on early modern Europe, and adds another dimension to cultural and gender studies in this country. Read moreRead less
Australian domestic violence public policy: history, discourse and impact, 1985-2005. The outcomes of the research will be of critical importance to policy makers and practitioners. Domestic violence has significant costs to the community and this project will have national benefits by identifying effective policy directions. The project will provide better understandings of the ways in which domestic violence policy has developed over time and, in doing so, provide assistance to state, territ ....Australian domestic violence public policy: history, discourse and impact, 1985-2005. The outcomes of the research will be of critical importance to policy makers and practitioners. Domestic violence has significant costs to the community and this project will have national benefits by identifying effective policy directions. The project will provide better understandings of the ways in which domestic violence policy has developed over time and, in doing so, provide assistance to state, territory and federal governments in formulating future policy in this area. Read moreRead less