Category: Annual Themes

  1. Other Awful Years in History

    Around the world, people can’t wait for 2020 to end. COVID-19 has killed close to a million people globally over the course of the pandemic. On top of the coronavirus, there’s been significant floods in Uganda, Kenya, Pakistan and the UK, Australia has experienced devastating bush fires, storms have battered the Americas, and locusts have […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/09/21/other-awful-years-in-history

  2. WFH as a Textile Conservator

    Victoria Thomas is a textile conservator at Grimwade Conservation Services, the commercial arm of the Grimwade Centre. In this recent article, republished here from Gabberish, she explores what it’s like to be a conservator working from home during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown. She looks at how one can still carry out some of the complexities of […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/09/15/wfh-as-a-textile-conservator

  3. SHAPS Digest (August 2020)

    A monthly roundup of media commentary, publications and projects, and other news from across the School community.

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/09/11/shaps-digest-august-2020

  4. Volcanic Winter and Pandemic Pandemonium

    A terrible onslaught of bubonic plague in the sixth century abruptly ended Emperor Justinian’s dream of reunifying the Roman empire and caused massive geopolitical upheaval. Associate Professor Frederik Vervaet from Classics & Archaeology tells us more about this ancient pandemic and its consequences in this article republished from Pursuit. In 527 CE, when Emperor Justinian […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/08/16/volcanic-winter-and-pandemic-pandemonium

  5. Sport, Community and Everyday Life: World War One and COVID-19 Compared

    For many Australians, the economic pain brought by the COVID-19 crisis has been compounded by the disruption caused to sporting activities. For football-loving Melburnians, the very rhythm of the week was rendered unrecognisable after the temporary suspension of the 2020 AFL season in March. The closing down of sports at the local community level has […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/07/31/sport-community-everyday-life

  6. SHAPS Digest (June 2020)

    A monthly round-up of media commentary, publications and projects, and other news from across the School community.

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/07/09/shaps-digest-june-2020

  7. Episode 5 in the SHAPS Podcast Series: Professor Peter McPhee

    Societies have always used statues and other monuments as ways of recognising power and eminence. In Australia, as in many other places, there is currently public debate over whether some statues should be removed, who should make the decision, and what should be the fate of the statues themselves. Should they be displayed with explanatory plaques, taken away to be preserved in museums or simply removed? Such debates are common in history. In this episode, Professor Peter McPhee surveys the wide range of objects destroyed during the French Revolution – from buildings and statues to books and paintings – but also the remarkable responses of revolutionary governments. It concludes with some reflections about the place of monumental statues and heritage sites in Australia.

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/07/06/disaster-change-5

  8. Race, Change and Time in the USA

    Americans are reaching back into history to try to understand why progress on racial equality has been so heartbreakingly slow. In this article, republished from Pursuit, Professor David Goodman explores the question. Many commentators have compared or rejected comparison between the current public protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in the USA and the uprisings […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/07/03/race-change-and-time-in-the-usa

  9. Episode 4 in the SHAPS Podcast Series: Professor Nathan Rosenstein

    The catastrophic defeat Hannibal inflicted on Rome at Cannae in 216 BCE forced the Republic to drastically change how it would fight the Second Punic War. A strategy of direct military confrontation had to be abandoned in favour of a war of attrition. This strategic shift necessitated a series of additional changes in how Rome […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/06/15/disaster-change-4

  10. Chinese-Australian Perspectives on the Pandemic: A Personal Reflection

    History PhD candidate Luke Yin was on a research trip to China when the news of the COVID-19 outbreak was first made public. Returning to Melbourne in February 2020, he has been in a position to witness the pandemic from both Chinese and Australian perspectives. In this piece, he shares his reflections on how these […]

    blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/05/29/chinese-australian-perspectives-on-the-pandemic

Number of posts found: 37