Summer and Winter Research Programs

Project 1 

Queensland Atlas of Religion — Summer Scholarship

Project duration, hours of engagement & delivery mode

8 weeks at 20 hours per week

In the case of COVID-19 restrictions, the applicant will be able to work remotely, focussing on document-based research.

Description:

The Queensland Atlas of Religion (QAR) is an Australian Research Council Linkage project undertaken in partnership with the State Library of Queensland. The QAR aims to document the religious diversity of Queensland in approximately 150 essays and 30 oral history interviews to be published on a public reference website. The content of the site will reflect the diversity of religion within Queensland and shall be organised according to four broad themes: religious tradition, place, action, and story. The successful applicant for this scholarship will work under the direction of Dr Adam Bowles and Assoc. Prof. Geoff Ginn, the project's leaders, to develop materials towards one or more entries of the Atlas. This will include archival and site-based research. The specific objects of inquiry are open and shall be determined in discussion with the scholarship holder.

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

The successful applicant will assist in identifying candidates for QAR entries, which may include essays based on religious sites, organisations, or individuals in Brisbane. The scholar may be involved in site visits and informal interviews and will develop skills in data procurement and analysis. The scholar will contribute materials towards one or may entries for the Atlas and may be involved in writing (or co-writing) such an entry (an academic publication). The student may be asked to offer a presentation at the end of the scholarship period.

Suitable for:

We are looking for a motivated, independent learner, who is interested in local Brisbane stories. An interest or background in the academic study of religion would be helpful, but more important is a passion for discovering interesting stories from our present or our past. This is most suitable for students doing advanced level undergraduate subjects.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Adam Bowles & Assoc. Prof. Geoff Ginn

Further info:

Please contact Dr Adam Bowles for more information.

Project 2

Gammon Utopias and Biggest Mob Tea Parties

Project duration, hours of engagement & delivery mode

8 weeks and 20 hours per week

The project can be undertaken remotely if COVID-19 lockdowns prohibit access to the St Lucia campus.  Ideally, most or all of the projects will be based on campus.

Description:

Upon returning from the Cape of Good Hope in 1789, John Hunter found Governor Arthur Phillip in a leaky tent taking tea with an abducted Aboriginal man named Arabanoo. Phillip had dreams of a colonial utopia based on a proto-socialist, moneyless society that could reclaim everything Europe had lost. By forcing Arabanoo to channel the spirits of European custom, Phillip understood himself as starting to fulfill his prophetic vision that either Aboriginal people would assimilate or there would be war: effectively, the burgeoning colonial world would either play host to a biggest mob tea party or a bloodbath. Ultimately, both assimilation and apocalypse began during his term as Governor. Utopian fantasies and delusions of progress continued decade after decade, but how this fed colonists’ will to colonise Australia remains undertheorised and largely unexplored. This project will problematise history – as a progressive, linear approach to time – and its operationalisation within colonialism in Australia. It will also contribute to the further development of an ironic strategy of Aboriginal history writing that builds from the contemporary Aboriginal artistic strategies of “history” painting.

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

• Compiling archetypical digital archival primary source materials that reveal continuities, discontinuities and resurrections of utopian idealism and representations of civilisation and modernity from the late seventeenth century to the middle of the twentieth century.

• Contribute toward preliminary research that will inform the production of two journal articles on the birth of Australian history and the will to colonise; and the leveraging of aesthetic constructions cast onto Aboriginal people.

• This research will contribute toward the formation of an ARC Indigenous Discovery Grant 2023 application.

Suitable for:

An undergraduate student who is preferably at least in their third year of study and has a primary concentration within the humanities. First Nations peoples or individuals from backgrounds that are underrepresented within the discipline of history are strongly encouraged to apply.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Maxwell John Brierty

Further info:

Students interested in applying are welcome to contact Dr Maxwell John Brierty .