Indigenous Life Narratives and Racial Reconciliation in Australia and South Africa. The project studies the relationship between indigenous storytelling (life narratives, storytelling, testimony)and political campaigns for human rights and racial reconciliation in South Africa and Australia. It analyses the contexts of production, dissemination and consumption of these stories and their effects on indigenous and non-indigenous tellers and listeners within and beyond the respective nations, inclu ....Indigenous Life Narratives and Racial Reconciliation in Australia and South Africa. The project studies the relationship between indigenous storytelling (life narratives, storytelling, testimony)and political campaigns for human rights and racial reconciliation in South Africa and Australia. It analyses the contexts of production, dissemination and consumption of these stories and their effects on indigenous and non-indigenous tellers and listeners within and beyond the respective nations, including the emergence of new national literatures, indigenous identities, discourses on ethics, responsibility and racial reconciliation within and beyond the nations. The study offers a significant theoretical and methodological advance within the emerging field of critical global studies and the changing formations of nationhood.Read moreRead less
Anthropological perspectives on ethnographic collecting by Australian colonial administrators in Papua and New Guinea and their contribution to museum collections. Australian colonial administrators in PNG built up large ethnographic collections. This study will examine the contexts in which 'ethnographic' objects were acquired from Indigenous peoples in PNG with particular emphasis on the role of Sir Hubert Murray. This will be the first study to examine the historical and cultural context of ....Anthropological perspectives on ethnographic collecting by Australian colonial administrators in Papua and New Guinea and their contribution to museum collections. Australian colonial administrators in PNG built up large ethnographic collections. This study will examine the contexts in which 'ethnographic' objects were acquired from Indigenous peoples in PNG with particular emphasis on the role of Sir Hubert Murray. This will be the first study to examine the historical and cultural context of the large PNG collections now held by the National Museum of Australia. It will provide a new perspective on Australia's role as a colonial power in the Pacific using ethnographic objects to explore the relationship between key figures in the Administration and Indigenous people.Read moreRead less
Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget the Victimisation of Minorities in the Past. We will analyse how the victimisation of minorities is publicly and collectively remembered in a range of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Peru, Chile and the USA. We will identify key factors that enable democratic societies to work towards historical justice. By exploring how memories are contested and how communities ....Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget the Victimisation of Minorities in the Past. We will analyse how the victimisation of minorities is publicly and collectively remembered in a range of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Peru, Chile and the USA. We will identify key factors that enable democratic societies to work towards historical justice. By exploring how memories are contested and how communities actively negotiate the legacies of the past, we will address issues of crucial contemporary concern. The project will provide research training and international experience for a postdoctoral fellow and three doctoral students in an area at the cutting edge of the humanities and social sciences.Read moreRead less
Frontier Conflict in History and Memory: South and Central Australia from European settlement to the Present. The aims of this project are to map, as comprehensively as possible, the nature and extent of conflict between Aboriginal people and Europeans in South and Central Australia and to analyse the ways in which those events have survived in social memory. This is significant in light of recent contestations in Australian history about the degree and remembrance of conflict. No extensive regi ....Frontier Conflict in History and Memory: South and Central Australia from European settlement to the Present. The aims of this project are to map, as comprehensively as possible, the nature and extent of conflict between Aboriginal people and Europeans in South and Central Australia and to analyse the ways in which those events have survived in social memory. This is significant in light of recent contestations in Australian history about the degree and remembrance of conflict. No extensive regional study has been conducted for South and Central Australia. This project will contribute new research for academic and general social use.Read moreRead less
Rethinking Reconciliation and Pedagogy in Unsettling Times. In the context of ?unsettling times', reconciliation processes have the potential to strengthen the fragile network of relationships that holds Australian society together. Unfortunately, the pedagogical potential of reconciliation processes has yet to be adequately elaborated. We need more accounts of reconciliation in action. This project will provide cross-cultural comparative accounts of reconciliation processes in Australia, South ....Rethinking Reconciliation and Pedagogy in Unsettling Times. In the context of ?unsettling times', reconciliation processes have the potential to strengthen the fragile network of relationships that holds Australian society together. Unfortunately, the pedagogical potential of reconciliation processes has yet to be adequately elaborated. We need more accounts of reconciliation in action. This project will provide cross-cultural comparative accounts of reconciliation processes in Australia, South Africa and Israel. The project will also develop case study accounts of how reconciliation is represented and pursued in media culture particularly on the world-wide web. The analysis of these accounts will culminate in the development of a theory of pedagogies for reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Imagining Assimilation. The Australian Experience. The project will produce the first comprehensive cultural history of assimilation in Australia, with explanations of how this experience differed from other settler societies. This study is central to our understanding of Australia as a nation and to national development. Drawing on the concept of the 'social imaginary', the project will generate new readings of assimilation linked to broader issues in public debate. Sources will include officia ....Imagining Assimilation. The Australian Experience. The project will produce the first comprehensive cultural history of assimilation in Australia, with explanations of how this experience differed from other settler societies. This study is central to our understanding of Australia as a nation and to national development. Drawing on the concept of the 'social imaginary', the project will generate new readings of assimilation linked to broader issues in public debate. Sources will include official publications and works from the media, the arts and popular culture. Expected outcomes include a monograph, two articles, and a museum exhibition brief.Read 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
Regional, remote and radical: Australian community broadcasting audiences talk back. This project builds on research completed in 2002 by members of the research team in examining the cultural and public sphere role of Australian community radio. It proposes the first comprehensive qualitative audience study of the community sector in partnership with peak industry and federal government policy bodies and as such it is of international significance. The project team plans to develop, refine and ....Regional, remote and radical: Australian community broadcasting audiences talk back. This project builds on research completed in 2002 by members of the research team in examining the cultural and public sphere role of Australian community radio. It proposes the first comprehensive qualitative audience study of the community sector in partnership with peak industry and federal government policy bodies and as such it is of international significance. The project team plans to develop, refine and apply several new approaches to media audience research appropriate for the diverse nature of community broadcasting. This will involve multilingual focus group research and interviews with community organisations who use local radio and television.Read moreRead less
Voyages of Myth: Captain Cook in the Popular Australian Imagination. The approaches and writings that will be produced from this project can be taken up by national institutions such as museums and libraries and used as a vehicle to promote a different kind of national debate beyond fact or fiction or even right and wrong. Our outcomes should influence the collection design of national archives and suggest original and incisive frameworks for staging national displays of identity and the past. P ....Voyages of Myth: Captain Cook in the Popular Australian Imagination. The approaches and writings that will be produced from this project can be taken up by national institutions such as museums and libraries and used as a vehicle to promote a different kind of national debate beyond fact or fiction or even right and wrong. Our outcomes should influence the collection design of national archives and suggest original and incisive frameworks for staging national displays of identity and the past. Providing a contemporary account of how Cook was and is currently understood qualitatively by a cross section of Australians will provide a powerful set of national connections between an iconic historical figure and the everyday world.
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Four South Pacific Museums: New Museums and Public Culture. The last decade has witnessed a global explosion in the development of new museums. Nowhere is this more striking than in our region where four major new museum buildings opened between 1998 and 2001.
FOUR SOUTH PACIFIC MUSEUMS will explore these regional developments by asking:
-How are they renovating their institutions through exhibitionary, architectural, technological, commercial and entertainment strategies?
-How are they re-n ....Four South Pacific Museums: New Museums and Public Culture. The last decade has witnessed a global explosion in the development of new museums. Nowhere is this more striking than in our region where four major new museum buildings opened between 1998 and 2001.
FOUR SOUTH PACIFIC MUSEUMS will explore these regional developments by asking:
-How are they renovating their institutions through exhibitionary, architectural, technological, commercial and entertainment strategies?
-How are they re-negotiating relationships between indigenous people and museums in post-colonial nations?
This interdisciplinary project will generate significant publications, evaluate contemporary museum practices, enrich debate about the cultural and civic roles of museums, and contribute productively to imagining their future.
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