Projects

Australian fiction in the Anthropocene

This project investigates the Anthropocene as a self-reflexive element in contemporary Australian fiction and as a trace (or symptom) in Australia’s broader literary history. The English ecocritic Timothy Clark, following the work of Dipesh Chakrabarty, Bruno Latour and Timothy Morton, has suggested that the Anthropocene has created a radical problem of scale, in which planetary time and space become dynamic rather than stable. The planetary dimensions of the Anthropocene pose challenges to the human imagination, upending the usual historical and geopolitical coordinates that situate us as people in the world. This project considers the Australian literary response to the condition of the Anthropocene.

Wild cities: An environmental history of urban nature in Australia

This research, which commence in mid-2021, aims to understand relationships between people and nature in modern cities through their history. In an increasingly urbanised world, nature in cities is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, but today’s urban wildlife, trees and reserves –and residents’ relationships with them – are legacies of a largely unknown past. By providing insights into the drivers of urban residents’ everyday relationships with nature from 1880–2015 and engaging the public through historical narratives, the research will inform current urban greening, conservation and restoration projects and policy. The project expects to promote urban sustainability and produce vital new insights into changing urban cultures and environments. This research is funded by the Australian Research Council.

Histories of recovery and adaptation in the Australian Anthropocene

This research project, which commenced in mid-2021, seeks to understand how vulnerable communities cope and adapt when faced with multiple environmental challenges in the Anthropocene. Its aim is to help prepare for future environmental change by producing a major new study of historical and contemporary experiences in remote rural, and coastal communities grappling with freshwater renewal, vegetation regeneration and pollution legacies. The research will provide critical insights into cultural and social capacity for thriving in uncertain ecological futures. The project will also build capacity in Australian environmental history and humanities, and make a significant contribution to a growing area of international research activity. This research is funded by the Australian Research Council.