SHAPS Digest (March 2024)
Bronwyn Beech Jones (Hansen PhD scholar; Teaching Periodic, History), was interviewed for the Talking Indonesia podcast about her research on women and girls in early twentieth-century Sumatra. Bronwyn’s PhD thesis looks at how women and girls from Sumatra articulated their experiences and conceived of themselves, their communities and aspirations in Malay-language periodicals published between 1912 and 1929; a time when a movement of young women writers were finding new ways to express their identities, build communities and achieve their dreams.
The HPS Podcast published episodes featuring:
- Carmelina Contarino (Honours student, HPS) and Samara Greenwood (PhD candidate, HPS) on ‘Seeing Science Differently‘.
- Lorraine Daston (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) and Peter Harrison (University of Queensland) on ‘Scientists and History‘.
- Kate Lynch (HPS) on ‘Causal Explanation in Science‘.
Jenny Judge (Philosophy) was interviewed for The Philosopher’s Zone on ABC Radio National, about what it is to have good taste in music, and why Spotify’s recommender algorithm doesn’t help you to cultivate it, despite purporting to do so.
Jenny Judge also wrote a philosophical essay for the San Francisco Symphony and Cartier, on the synaesthetic art of the early twentieth-century Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. The essay accompanies a 2024 performance of Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, in which colours and bespoke fragrances (designed by a Cartier perfumier) accompany Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s solo turn with the San Francisco Symphony.
Incoming Mykola Zerov Fellow in Ukrainian Studies, Iryna Skubii (History), was interviewed on the politics of language in wartime Ukraine, for a Secret Life of Languages podcast episode, hosted by Olga Maxwell (School of Languages & Linguistics).
Sadra Zekrgoo (Cultural Materials Conservation) and Mandana Barkeshli (Honorary, History) launched their website, Persian Manuscripts, in time for Persian New Year (Nowrouz):
The platform is dedicated to the exploration of the material technology behind Persian manuscripts. Our goal is to illuminate the materials utilised in historical Persian manuscripts, showcasing the methods and techniques derived from Taimurid to Qajar historical recipes, complemented by images captured during the reconstruction process. As we embark on this journey, we are unveiling the 1st and 2nd phases, ‘Paper Dyes’ and ‘Paper Sizings’. The website will be updated as we progress with other phases such as inks and pigments.
The website was made available through the the generous grants provided by The Barakat Trust, and collaborations with University of Melbourne and UCSI University, Malaysia. Scroll down below to read more about Sadra’s current work.
Academic Publications
Mike Arnold, with Tamara Kohn (Anthropology), Bjørn Nansen (Media Studies) and Fraser Allison (Human Computer Interaction), ‘Representing Alkaline Hydrolysis: A Material-Semiotic Analysis of an Alternative to Burial and Cremation’, Mortality
Alkaline hydrolysis can lay claim to being a resource-efficient, effective, economical and environmentally sound method of final body disposition, relative to burial and cremation. On technical grounds it may have much to recommend it, however, like many other technical innovations, its takeup is hindered by the fact that it lacks a clear position in the public imagination. For this position to take shape, an understanding of just what it is and what it offers is required by proponents in the funeral industry who advise the bereaved, as well as by the material representations of the alkaline hydrolysis technologies themselves.
In this article, we describe and analyse four extant alternative material and discursive forms of alkaline hydrolysis and how they variously occupy the fraught space where morality, death and marketing converge. Currently, each of the four forms of alkaline hydrolysis struggle to represent themselves in a public narrative that conveys their different ontologies and their competitive advantage, relative to burial and cremation, and this paper describes some key rhetorical and technical aspects of these struggles.
Cancy Chu, Julianne Bell and Petronella Nel (Cultural Materials Conservation), with Melane Barrett, Sarah Bunn and Francesca Zilio, ‘Surveys of Plastics in Post-1950 Non-published Book Collections‘, International Journal for the Preservation of Library and Archival Material
Research over the past three decades has demonstrated that certain plastics in cultural materials are inherently unstable, displaying short lifespans and accelerating the degradation of neighbouring collection materials. Knowledge of the conservation of plastics is increasingly common in museum settings. However, less information is available on conserving plastics found in paper-based collections, and even less guidance on the materials and deterioration of plastic components found in book and document bindings.
As plastics have been present in popular bookbinding materials since the mid-twentieth century, collection care professions require knowledge and methods for preserving these materials entering book collections. The aim of this paper is to determine strategies for the care of post-1950s books containing plastic. Collection surveys were conducted to determine the materials, structures, and degradation patterns of non-published books found in archive and archive-like settings at the South Australian Museum, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne.
A methodology combining condition reporting and infrared spectroscopy identified six plastic polymers in 35 binding styles that are summarised as 10 binding types. Recommendations are made for the use of preventive storage strategies responding to four categories of damage.
Mark Edele (Hansen Chair in History), ‘Laughing about Dictatorships – and Ourselves‘, Ab Imperio
This essay is a contribution to the discussion forum ‘Mainstream Narratives of Soviet History and the Laughter of Surprise’, framed as responses by literary scholars, historians, and political scientists to Sheila Fitzpatrick’s essay ‘Soviet History as Black Comedy’. Mark Edele embraces Fitzpatrick’s appreciation of black comedy as affording a position of alienation from ourselves and a productive analytical distance. But the Soviet hierarchical, bureaucratised sociocultural system that generates comic effects has parallels in many non-Soviet cultures, including Edele’s own Australian academic culture. The real question then becomes: Does a preoccupation with the absurd promote a certain kind of history writing? Going through many examples of jokes about tragic circumstances and dictatorial regimes by insiders in particular, Edele concludes that outsiders can embrace this mode of reflecting on dictatorships to expose them as absurd and pompous exercises.
Nathan Gardner (PhD in History, 2022), ‘Histories of Chinese and Japanese Residents Challenging the White Australia Policy, 1945–1960: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary’, History Australia, Special Issue: Ruptured Histories: Australia, China, Japan
Post-WWII histories about Japanese ‘war brides’, pearl shell divers, Chinese sailors and ‘Colombo Plan’ students frame these cohorts as early ‘challengers’ of the White Australia Policy. Because these histories are typically siloed from each other, bringing them together offers a fresh way to view how Japanese and Chinese residents shared a social space that linked Australia’s societal change and domestic concerns to international developments. Juxtaposition of these cohorts also compels considerations of less familiar cohorts of Chinese and Japanese residents in post-WWII Australia and of how historians might best use their craft to draw ‘extraordinary meaning’ through studies of these supposedly ‘ordinary lives’.
Sarah Walsh (History), ‘Hero’s Legacy: Martial Strength and Race in Republican Chile‘, Hispanic American Historical Review
This article examines the Roto Chileno war memorial in downtown Santiago as a complex site of Chilean identity making in the republican era. Conflating two separate nineteenth-century military victories over the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru, the memorial was a physical manifestation of an intricate process of identity construction that celebrated the mestizo heritage of average citizen-soldiers while also emphasising the idea that Chileans were racially superior compared to other South American nations. The memorial being dedicated specifically to the roto, a mutable radicalised term that can be perceived as pejorative even in the present, is therefore an especially evocative example of how this conceptual combination was visually rendered to access elements of white identity. Using fine art media coverage, this article highlights the entangled relationship between memory, nationalism, and race in late nineteenth-century Latin America to consider the role that militarism and masculinity play in the construction of whiteness.
Research Higher Degree Completions
Artem Bourov (MA in Philosophy, 2024), ‘Be a Body: From Experiential Self-Awareness to a Truly Bodily Self’
Dan Zahavi has defended a systematic and influential account of our most basic form of experiential self-consciousness, pre-reflective self-awareness (PRSA). For Zahavi, PRSA captures the subtle way in which we are always immediately aware of the experiences we are having, are aware of them as being our experiences, and, in being so aware, are minimally self-aware. One aspect of Zahavi’s model that is underdeveloped, however, is its relation to the body. Is PRSA a form of body awareness? Does PRSA depend on bodily self-experience in some way? In what sense is PRSA embodied?
In my thesis, I show first that PRSA should not be identified with the forms of bodily self-consciousness that are most prevalent in the philosophical and empirical literature. This finding leads me to consider whether bodily self-consciousness is instead a transcendental condition of possibility for PRSA. To establish this dependence relation, I examine a Husserlian argument (found in Zahavi’s early work) for the embodiment of perceptual experience. By adapting this argument to overcome an empirical challenge from the case of locked-in syndrome, I conclude that PRSA is only possible for a bodily subject of experience. Conscious subjects are, at core, truly bodily selves.
Supervisors: Dr Andrew Inkpin, Associate Professor François Schroeter
James Field (PhD in Social Theory and Philosophy, 2024), ‘Democratic Constitutions, Disobedient Citizens: Conflict and Culture in Habermas’ Political Theory’
This thesis reads Habermas’ political theory in light of his arguments about civil disobedience. I argue that the concept of civil disobedience stands in as a model of democratic conflictuality that is otherwise absent from Habermas’ formal political theory. The idea of social conflict within boundaries, formed not by legality but by a democratic ethos, is the basis of what I term ‘disobedient citizenship’, a concept implicit in Habermas’ theory that nonetheless displaces his model of procedural civic patriotism as the cultural centre of democratic politics.
I argue that Habermas’ central programmatic claim that ‘democracy and the rule of law are internally related’ can be revisited from this perspective. In addition, his writings on religion and interstate relations indicate that the notion of disobedient citizenship is central to spaces of ‘complementary freedoms’ that are constituted by a culture of tolerance, rather than procedural secularism or international law. The thesis argues that both conflict and tolerance are core values in his democratic theory. The thesis therefore presents a critical but sympathetic reading of Habermas’ ‘unwritten monograph’ on political theory. It argues that the modernity of democracy emerges in Habermas’ work not primarily through epistemic or cognitive rationality, but rather through the openness with which the democratic imagination approaches disagreement and conflict, evaluates and sets limits to it.
James’s PhD was undertaken jointly across School of Social & Political Sciences and SHAPS
Supervisors: Professor John Rundell (SSPS), Dr Gerhard Wiesenfeldt
Ruby Komic (MA in Philosophy, 2024) Fictions, Knowledge, and Justice
Fictions are a cornerstone of human cultures: they are created, shared, discussed, modified, and valued. Yet, philosophical accounts which privilege the ‘classical knower’ struggle to explain how fictions can affect us so deeply. Further, the fact that fictions seem to impact broader society and whole populations is largely overlooked, despite being observed in other disciplines. In this thesis, I draw on theories from philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and epistemology to argue that fictions offer us epistemic resources of a unique kind, and that these resources lead to knowledge practices which can eventuate in harm.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Karen Jones, Associate Professor François Schroeter
PhD Milestones
Cat Gay (PhD Completion seminar, History) Girls in Nineteenth-Century Victoria, Australia: A Material History
This thesis examines the experiences of Aboriginal and settler girls who grew up the colony of Victoria between 1835–1901. I argue that, both as individuals and as a collective group, girls in Victoria contributed significantly to their families, communities, society and culture, whilst influencing, manipulating and defying the expectations these structures placed upon them. By centring girls as historical subjects and prioritising their material culture as a primary source, my analysis offers a new perspective on Australia’s colonial history, complicating, challenging and enriching a historiography that has historically privileged the voices and experiences of adults.
Catherine Gay is a Hansen Trust PhD Scholar in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has published several independent and co-authored articles in Australian and international journals, most recently in The History of the Family. She has been awarded several scholarships and prizes, including an inaugural Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant in 2023. Catherine is a Research Associate at Museums Victoria.
Lambros Tapinos (PhD Confirmation seminar, Classics & Archaeology) Frames of Liminality: A Diachronic Study of the Running Spiral Motif in the Aegean and the Near East
Spirals are a common motif across time and space but interlocking running spirals are characteristic of the Aegean tradition derived from Early Bronze Age Cycladic artwork with diffusion to Minoan Crete and hereafter to the artistic repertoires of all cultures in the eastern Mediterranean. Running spirals commonly appeared on frescoes, pottery, larnakes, signet rings, cylinder seals, scarabs, metal cups and ivory objects. Although their significance is not always clear the running spirals should not be considered as purely decorative ornamentation. Instead, running spirals should be interpreted as having multivalent meanings across cultural and temporal milieus.
This paper undertakes a diachronic study of the running spirals concluding the motif initially represented water in the Cycladic, but following diffusion to the Near East became imbued with new power and religious symbolism. The running spirals are compared to the guilloche pattern, which is well-attested in the Near Eastern artistic repertoire and probably symbolised cosmic waters, protection, and renewal. Returning to the Aegean, the running spirals undertook transformational change, no longer representing water but the framing of ritual action and liminality.
Victor Turner’s concept of liminality refers to in-between stages of transition in performative rituals – the concept can apply to individuals, time, and space. This paper suggests running spirals became recognisable frames of liminality and delineated palatial spaces, altars, tombs, funerary objects, griffins, sailing ships, and sacred garments. The widespread use of running spirals as a decorative motif could underscore the importance of liminality in the worldview of the Minoans and Mycenaeans.
Lambros Tapinos is currently doing his PhD at The University of Melbourne after completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Advanced) within the discipline of Classics & Archaeology in 2022. Previously, Lambros completed a Masters Degree in Ancient History at Macquarie University (2016).
School News & Projects
Sadra Zekrgroo recently completed his Mary Lugton fellowship at the Grimwade Centre and has shared an update on his activities:
I am pleased to share the progress and achievements made during my tenure as the recipient of the esteemed Mary Lugton fellowship, February 2022–2024. Over the past two years, my focus has centred on conducting pioneering research into traditional Persian manuscript inks, which I started over a decade ago, culminating in the forthcoming publication of my book, Tradition and Science of Persian Ink Making, slated for release this April.
In tandem with my fellowship, I have had the privilege of collaborating with Professor Dr Mandana Barkeshli, an eminent authority in the field of material technology pertaining to Persian manuscripts. Professor Barkeshli currently serves as the Head of Research and Post Graduate School at the De Institute of Creative Arts and Design, UCSI University Malaysia, and holds an honorary fellowship at The University of Melbourne.
Our joint endeavour has been the development of a comprehensive online platform dedicated to cataloguing traditional Persian recipes for the creation of dyes, sizing agents, inks, pigments, and papermaking techniques, alongside scientific analyses. Supported by generous grants from the Barakat Trust, this initiative commenced in 2022 and, to date, significant strides have been made, with the completion of sections on paper dyes and sizing material.
Furthermore, Professor Barkeshli and I have done several Persian dye, pigment and inkmaking workshops, the most important of which were for the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, in 2018, and most recently for Qatar National Library (QNL) in February 2024. We are currently working with QNL and Qatar Foundation as consultants for their project analysing the corrosion of iron-gall ink and Verdigris on Islamic and Middle Eastern Manuscripts.
I am delighted to announce the official launch of our website, Persian Manuscript Materials, which took place on 20 March 2024, coinciding with the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, meaning ‘new day/year’. Celebrating the onset of spring and the spring equinox, Nowruz holds profound cultural significance, making it a fitting occasion for the unveiling of our project.
As we progress into the next phase of the website, focusing on the intricate art of inkmaking, I am enthusiastic about leveraging my expertise in this domain to contribute meaningfully to our shared objectives, ensuring the information can be shared with the general public.
SHAPS staff, fellows, students, alumni: if you have news items for the monthly SHAPS digest, email us the details.