Growing Australian: domesticating native plants. This project is a pioneering study of the history and meanings of growing Australian native plants. It asserts the importance of the garden in ensuring an environmentally sustainable future and argues that in order to promote more environmentally responsible gardening practices, the history of Australian cultural attitudes towards native gardens must be understood, as must the ongoing resistance to gardening with native plants. The project will a ....Growing Australian: domesticating native plants. This project is a pioneering study of the history and meanings of growing Australian native plants. It asserts the importance of the garden in ensuring an environmentally sustainable future and argues that in order to promote more environmentally responsible gardening practices, the history of Australian cultural attitudes towards native gardens must be understood, as must the ongoing resistance to gardening with native plants. The project will advance the national and international debate from one concerned with "native plant vs exotic" and "indigenous plant vs weed" to one in which the cultural ideas invested in different gardening practices can be recognised and new ways of imagining and transforming gardening practice established.Read moreRead less
Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia's cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984. Support for film production is a high profile component in Australian cultural policy, but the cultural and commercial opportunity represented by cinema exhibition and attendance is less well understood. Focusing on the three decades after the introduction of television in 1956, this project is the first of its kind to use geospatial visualisation to map the social and economic circuits of cinem ....Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia's cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984. Support for film production is a high profile component in Australian cultural policy, but the cultural and commercial opportunity represented by cinema exhibition and attendance is less well understood. Focusing on the three decades after the introduction of television in 1956, this project is the first of its kind to use geospatial visualisation to map the social and economic circuits of cinema-going, and to identify the variables that explain cinema diversification, survival or closure. It will contribute to policy analysis in terms of local media access modelling, and will consolidate this team's international reputation for innovative Australian research in the representation of historical data.Read moreRead less
Regional Markets and Local Audiences: Case Studies in Australian Cinema Consumption, 1928-1980. The argument that Australian cinema maintains Australian identity is mirrored by the perception that imported cinema threatens national cultural integrity. We examine the historical basis for this discourse in order to propose alternative conceptual frameworks which view cultural exchange in less alarmist terms. In analysing the role of cinema in the creation of community identity, our research posit ....Regional Markets and Local Audiences: Case Studies in Australian Cinema Consumption, 1928-1980. The argument that Australian cinema maintains Australian identity is mirrored by the perception that imported cinema threatens national cultural integrity. We examine the historical basis for this discourse in order to propose alternative conceptual frameworks which view cultural exchange in less alarmist terms. In analysing the role of cinema in the creation of community identity, our research positions the social experience of Australian cinema-going as central to emerging international research, and provides a basis from which policy researchers can sustain a more complex account of national cultural maintenance, given the demographic circumstances which unavoidably position Australia as a net importer of cinema product.Read moreRead less
A history of terra nullius. The concept of 'terra nullius' has been central to debates concerning the land rights of indigenous peoples. The term, however, has been understood almost in an historical vacuum. Partly in consequence, landmark legal rulings supposedly overturning the doctrine of terra nullius have left European colonisers' justifications of their appropriation of land largely conceptually intact. The central innovation of this history will be to show that when terra nullius, prop ....A history of terra nullius. The concept of 'terra nullius' has been central to debates concerning the land rights of indigenous peoples. The term, however, has been understood almost in an historical vacuum. Partly in consequence, landmark legal rulings supposedly overturning the doctrine of terra nullius have left European colonisers' justifications of their appropriation of land largely conceptually intact. The central innovation of this history will be to show that when terra nullius, properly understood, is rejected in order to establish native title, the implications for the European tradition of property rights and human rights more generally will be profound.Read moreRead less
State formation and European expansion. There is a direct national benefit from this research. The aim of an intellectual history of colonisation is to provide an account of what Europeans engaged in expansion understood themselves to be doing. This account explores the justifications and political motivations for expansion and is accordingly of fundamental importance to contemporary legal debates over dispossession and the larger legacy of colonisation.
An intellectual history of theoretical innovation in the Anglo-American Humanities. This project makes an important contribution to the debate over humanities education. Post-structuralist theory in the humanities is attacked by some as modish and lacking in values, and defended by others as supporting critical reflection and progressive political and ethical values. The project explores the degree to which the 'moment of theory' represents the return of earlier European university metaphysics t ....An intellectual history of theoretical innovation in the Anglo-American Humanities. This project makes an important contribution to the debate over humanities education. Post-structuralist theory in the humanities is attacked by some as modish and lacking in values, and defended by others as supporting critical reflection and progressive political and ethical values. The project explores the degree to which the 'moment of theory' represents the return of earlier European university metaphysics to the centre of the humanities curriculum. The project will study these shifts in theory in the humanities and show these to be highly relevant to contemporary debates about teaching and learning.Read moreRead less
Understanding the concept and meaning of freedom in Western history. This project directly engages with current political and social debate and particularly with the National Research Priority 'Safeguarding Australia'. The priority goal 'Understanding our region and the world' is at the heart of the project because it addresses the principal political problem following from September 11, 2001: namely, the price of freedom. The project's principal national benefit will be to use history to chal ....Understanding the concept and meaning of freedom in Western history. This project directly engages with current political and social debate and particularly with the National Research Priority 'Safeguarding Australia'. The priority goal 'Understanding our region and the world' is at the heart of the project because it addresses the principal political problem following from September 11, 2001: namely, the price of freedom. The project's principal national benefit will be to use history to challenge our very understanding of the nature of freedom. The project questions the paradox that freedom can be assured by compromises made in the name of security and that, in this sense, freedom has a 'price'.Read moreRead less
Astride the Wallace Line 2: human evolution, dispersal, culture and environmental change in Southeast Asia. Our previous project on the archaeology and fossil record of Southeast Asia yielded results of international significance, including the discovery of a new human species and dates for major changes in the Indonesian faunal sequence. It also involved collaboration between Australian, Indonesian and Canadian researchers from a range of institutions and disciplines, and provided topics for s ....Astride the Wallace Line 2: human evolution, dispersal, culture and environmental change in Southeast Asia. Our previous project on the archaeology and fossil record of Southeast Asia yielded results of international significance, including the discovery of a new human species and dates for major changes in the Indonesian faunal sequence. It also involved collaboration between Australian, Indonesian and Canadian researchers from a range of institutions and disciplines, and provided topics for six PhD and two MA students. This level of significant research, international collaboration and training will continue with the current project.Read moreRead less
War, Trauma, and Rehabilitation: The Army, Psychiatry, and World War II. This project will examine a key episode in the history of twentieth century psychiatry: the development of new theoretical approaches and treatment methods for war neurosis encountered during World War II. This will be the first in-depth study of the topic and will be conducted from a trans-national perspective, in which the contributions of Australian, British, and American psychiatrists will be analysed. The development o ....War, Trauma, and Rehabilitation: The Army, Psychiatry, and World War II. This project will examine a key episode in the history of twentieth century psychiatry: the development of new theoretical approaches and treatment methods for war neurosis encountered during World War II. This will be the first in-depth study of the topic and will be conducted from a trans-national perspective, in which the contributions of Australian, British, and American psychiatrists will be analysed. The development of psychiatric diagnoses will be analysed in the context of the dynamic relationship between psychiatrists, soldiers, and the army. The outcome will be at least three refereed journal articles and a scholarly monograph.Read moreRead less
The Empire of New Idealism?: Civilisation and Australian New Idealism, 1850-1950. Philosophies, like people and commodities, travel the globe. This project traces the movement of British 'New Idealist' philosophy to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, its transformation into 'Australian New idealism', and return to Britain. It shows how the hopes of these first Australian philosophers for a global community overlapped with politicians and policy makers, and uncovers their shaping role in th ....The Empire of New Idealism?: Civilisation and Australian New Idealism, 1850-1950. Philosophies, like people and commodities, travel the globe. This project traces the movement of British 'New Idealist' philosophy to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, its transformation into 'Australian New idealism', and return to Britain. It shows how the hopes of these first Australian philosophers for a global community overlapped with politicians and policy makers, and uncovers their shaping role in the formulation of many social policies that remain with us today. It places Australian history and research at the heart of a new global vision of New Idealist studies and offers scholars, policy makers and educators the necessary background to more fully articulate Australian understandings of citizenship and civilisation.Read moreRead less