Recent Australian Research Council Funded Research Projects
Persuasive Force: The Role of Aesthetic Experience in Moral Persuasion
- Dr Alison Ross
- Professor Krzysztof Ziarek (State University of New York at Buffalo)
- Professor Andrew Benjamin
Funding:
- 2009 : $ 67,000
- 2010 : $ 55,000
- 2011 : $ 52,000
Project:
This project will make a significant contribution to the pressing contemporary topic of moral motivation. Because of
its innovative approach to the problem of moral motivation this proposal will have an international impact on
debates over moral conduct and raise the international profile of Australia in this field. In addition to its academic
benefits for research training and our national research reputation, this proposal has implications for the way social
policy is devised. In particular, the reconsideration of the sources of moral action proposed here has important
implications for understanding the dynamics involved in religious fundamentalism and political violence.
Imagining the Great Southern Land: Utopia, Dystopia and Science Fiction in Australia
- Professor Andrew Milner
- Professor Andrew Benjamin
- Associate Professor Kate Rigby
- Dr Tina Weller
- Professor Ian Buchanan (Cardiff University)
- Professor Verity Burgmann (University of Melbourne)
Funding:
- 2007: $185,711
- 2008: $196,065
- 2009: $178,317
Project:
This is a critical-historical appraisal of utopianism in Australian literature, architecture and popular culture, especially science fiction. It examines the ways Australia has been used as the setting, and sometimes as the inspiration, for imaginings of a significantly better or worse society than that in which the author lived. Its special academic significance lies in its use of a wide range of disciplinary approaches to analyse the specificity of Australian utopian traditions. Its outcome will be a deepened understanding of how those traditions were shaped by, and in turn helped to shape, real political and social developments.
Demanding the Impossible: Utopianism in Philosophy, Literature and Science Fiction
- Professor Andrew Milner
- Professor Andrew Benjamin
- Associate Professor Kate Rigby
- Associate Professor Roland Boer
- Professor Ian Buchanan (Cardiff University)
- Dr Robert Savage (Research Assistant)
Funding:
- 2005: $160,000
- 2006: $100,000
- 2007: $100,000
Project:
This is a critical appraisal of utopianism in politics, literature and science fiction. It asks whether there is a place for utopianism in contemporary thought. It situates these utopianisms in relation to the wider comparative context of utopianism in theology, philosophy and art. Its special academic significance is in the combination of a wide range of disciplinary approaches with a dual focus on Australian and overseas materials. The outcome will be a deepened understanding of how better and worse futures have been imagined, both in Australia and overseas, and also of the extent to which real social changes have been the effect of previously imagined utopias or dystopias.
Reason in Revolt: The Role of Intellectuals in Australian Radicalism
- Professor Andrew Milner
- Dr Matthew Ryan (Research Assistant)
- Professor Verity Burgmann (University of Melbourne)
- Professor Stuart Macintyre (University of Melbourne)
Funding:
- 2004: $74,000
- 2005: $74,000
- 2006: $74,000
Project:
The project aims to produce new ways of understanding and interpreting the role of intellectuals in the development of Australian political radicalism during the period 1872 to 2000. By digitizing a sizeable and representative data base of primary source materials produced by radical intellectuals, the Chief Investigators will be able to investigate these texts in innovative ways, producing a co-authored monograph and other research that will provide an improved understanding of Australia's past, present and possible futures. Secondary outcomes will include the establishment of a substantial on-line collection of radical political primary source material, with scholarly commentary and analysis, easily accessible to other researchers. See Reason in Revolt: Source Documents of Australian Radicalism
Between the Outback and the Sea: The Place of Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Australia
- Professor Andrew Benjamin
- Professor Jeff Malpas (University of Tasmania)
Funding:
- 2004 : $69,000
- 2005 : $100,000
- 2006 : $90,000
Project:
'Place' is an increasingly contested and problematic notion. In contemporary Australia, it arises as a central issue in relations between the indigenous and the 'settled'; between the refugee and the citizen; between the regional and the international. By focusing on the idea of the 'cosmopolitan' as it arises in the Australian context, and particularly with respect to the built environment (often neglected in favour of the concepts of 'land' or 'wilderness'), the project will enable a reconfiguration of the significance and meaning of place for ideas of citizenship and identity.
Political Myth and the Bible
- Associate Professor Roland Boer
- Mr Ibrahim Abraham (Research Assistant)
- Mr Matthew Chrulew (Research Assistant)
- Ms Fiona Marantelli (Research Assistant)
Funding:
- 2005: $29,000
- 2006: $48,000
- 2007: $37,000