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The Laboratory of Modernity: Knowledge Formation and the Australian Settler Colonies (1788-1900) (2016-2021)

Abstract

Colonial Australia was a laboratory in which European ideas could be tested, raw data collected, and social experiments trialled, especially in managing settler, convict, and Aboriginal populations. This literary historical project will (1) analyse the production and circulation of colonial knowledge (2) focus on texts and print culture (2) map their influence on European thought and modern social theory. Grounded in meticulous archival and textual analysis, the Fellowship will trace the ways in which knowledge created in the settler colonies was produced by individuals and circulated by correspondence, institutions, and publication through imperial networks. It will produce new insights into Australia¿s literary and cultural history.

Experts

Professor Anna Johnston

Affiliate of Centre of Architecture, Theory, Culture, and History
Centre of Architecture, Theory, Criticism and History
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Affiliate of Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Affiliate Associate Professor of Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
Student Centre - Herston
Professor
School of Communication and Arts
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Anna Johnston
Anna Johnston