Category: Fellows & Associates
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Assessing Joe Biden’s Legacy
Dr Liam Byrne (Honorary Fellow, History) and Dr Emma Shortis (RMIT) look back on Joe Biden’s presidency, in this article, originally published in the Conversation. Should a US president by judged by what they achieved, or by what they failed to do? Joe Biden’s administration is over. Though we have an extensive record, it is […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2025/01/30/assessing-joe-bidens-legacy
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Jewish Women in Nineteenth-Century France
A new book by Dr Helen M. Davies (Honorary Fellow, History) explores the lives of two remarkable Jewish women in nineteenth-century France. The book sheds light on gender, family, and Jewish experiences in France, from the Napoleonic period through to the Dreyfus Affair. This adapted excerpt introduces the book’s main themes. My book, Herminie and […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2024/10/17/jewish-women-in-nineteenth-century-france
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Annual Fellows’ Research Day
On 21 July 2023, the SHAPS Fellows & Friends of History held the annual Fellows’ Research Day. Fay Woodhouse wrote an overview of the day for Forum, discussing the speakers and their topics, as well as other enjoyable aspects of the day. The Annual SHAPS Fellows’ Research Day, held on a predictably cold Melbourne morning […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2023/11/13/annual-fellows-research-day
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Safe Sex – Roman Style
A video-recording of Professor Tim Parkin's presentation to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates Seminar (October 2021)blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2022/02/21/safe-sex-roman-style
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Exploring the History of Indian Philosophy
Purushottama Bilimoria (Principal Fellow in Philosophy) is co-editor (with Amy Rayner) of a major volume, History of Indian Philosophy. Covering three thousand years of Indian philosophy, with 58 contributors, the volume was published as part of the Routledge History of World Philosophies series in 2018 and recently re-issued in paperback. In this interview by Philosophy […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2022/02/14/exploring-the-history-of-indian-philosophy
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Women & the Plague: The 1919 Spanish Influenza Pandemic in Melbourne
A video recording of Mary Sheehan's presentation to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates Seminar (September 2021).blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/11/25/women-the-plague
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Discovering the ‘Mess and Stink’ of Romeo Lane
A video recording of Professor Janet McCalman's presentation to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates Seminar (July 2021). -
Equality and Fairness: Vaccines Against this Pandemic of Mistrust
The COVID crisis has laid bare a crisis of trust. In many Western nations there’s a small but significant minority refusing to follow distancing guidelines, wear masks or get a vaccination. Protests in recent weeks have demonstrated just how much they mistrust politicians, scientists, bureaucrats, the ‘mainstream media’ and many of their fellow citizens. And […] -
Peter Yule on Vietnam Veterans and the Victorian Bar
A video recording of Peter Yule's presentation to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates seminar (June 2021).blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/07/13/peter-yule-on-vietnam-veterans-and-the-victorian-bar
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Control & the Imagery of Power: The Case of Emperor Augustus
Episode 1 in the 2021 SHAPS 'Control' Podcast Series: Dr Roslynne Bell (Classics & Archaeology).blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/06/28/augustus-public-image
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What was it Like to be a Child in the Roman Empire?
As the researcher for a new children’s novel set in Ancient Roman times, archaeologist and SHAPS Honorary Tamara Lewit found herself hunting for answers to questions she’d never considered. She tells us about Roman childhood in this new article republished from Pursuit. What would a school day be like in 313 CE? What games would […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/06/02/what-was-it-like-to-be-a-child-in-the-roman-empire
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The Life Stories of Gippsland Lakes Fishers
An oral history project involving SHAPS Fellow Nikki Henningham is preserving the memories of the people who fished the Gippsland Lakes before commercial fishing was shutdown. This article, authored by Nikki and republished from Pursuit, explores the project. With little fanfare or attention, commercial fishing in the Gippsland Lakes in eastern Victoria ceased on 1 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/04/02/the-life-stories-of-gippsland-lakes-fishers
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Gita Yoga: Interview with Dr Fay Woodhouse
In October 2020, SHAPS Fellow Fay Woodhouse released her new book, Gita: Melbourne’s First Yoga School – 65 Years of History, exploring the different phases of Melbourne’s first full-time permanent yoga school, founded in 1954. Nicole Davis chatted to Fay about the book, the history of Gita Yoga, and its place in Melbourne’s and Australia’s […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/03/25/gita-yoga-interview-with-dr-fay-woodhouse
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Charles Coppel on Elias Godfrey Coppel CMG QC LLD on the Supreme Court of Victoria
A video recording of Charles Coppel's presentation to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates seminar (February 2021). -
What Philosophy Can Tell Us About Sex and the Human Condition
Dr Damon Young is an associate in Philosophy, and the author of several acclaimed nonfiction books, including Philosophy in the Garden (MUP 2012) and The Art of Reading (MUP 2016). His most recent book is On Getting Off: Sex and Philosophy (Scribe 2020) which looks more closely at this most intimate (but often disparaged) part of […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2021/01/29/philosophers-on-sex
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Darius von Güttner on Bona Sforza and Polish Foreign Policy (1518–1548)
A video recording of Darius von Güttner's presentation to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates Seminar (January 2021). -
David Palmer on Korean Forced Laborers in Wartime Japan
During World War II, Imperial Japan relied on hundreds of thousands of Koreans for its economy. Authorities transported almost 800,000 Koreans from their homeland by force from 1939 to 1945 in the largest migration of non-Japanese into Japan in the country’s history. SHAPS Associate in History Dr David Palmer presented his research on this topic to the SHAPS Fellows & Associates seminar in October 2020. -
The Queen who Defied the Holy Roman Emperor
An Italian-born princess and sole heir to the Sforza dukedom, the life of Bona Sforza helps us understand how elite Renaissance women acquired, maintained and negotiated power. In this article, republished from Pursuit, SHAPS Fellow Darius von Güttner-Sporzynski explores the life of Queen Bona and her legacy. Among the women of the European Renaissance, Bona Sforza […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/12/20/the-queen-who-defied-the-holy-roman-emperor
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‘Donkey Work’ and the History of Labour
Kathryn Smithies, Associate in History, recently published the book Introducing the Medieval Ass, on the cultural and socio-economic history of the donkey (previously known as the ass) in the Middle Ages and beyond. She also blogs about all things donkey at bloggingdonkeys.com. In this piece, she explores the history of the phrase “working like a donkey”, […] -
The Uncounted Death Toll of Coronavirus in Aged Care
Associate in History Marama Whyte reflects on the acute crisis in the aged care sector that has been revealed so tragically by the pandemic.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/11/04/the-uncounted-death-toll-of-coronavirus-in-aged-care
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Feminism and the History of Democracy
The English historian Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791) was one of the leading radical thinkers of her time and, yet, she has been largely forgotten today. In this blog post, Karen Green, Honorary Professorial Fellow in Philosophy, and author of a number of works about Catharine Macaulay, makes the case for reintegrating her legacy into the history […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/11/02/feminism-and-the-history-of-democracy
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Darius von Güttner on Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland
Bona (1494–1557) was the Sforza heir to the throne of Milan and became the Queen of Poland. She was a key figure in the politics and economic life of early modern Europe, an economic innovator and reformer, art and architectural patron. Significant extant source base about Bona’s activities allows for investigation into, and interpretation of, […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/10/20/born-to-rule-bona-sforza-queen-of-poland
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Federation Stars: The Meanings of Popular Astronomy in Australia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
In 1901 a new flag was chosen to represent a new nation, and the central emblem was a constellation of the southern sky. By this time, the symbolism of the Southern Cross had been entrenched; almost all previous Australian flag designs had included this device. The meanings of the Cross and the southern stars were, […] -
Pirates or Partners?
Famed as the home of the dreaded Barbary pirates, the ‘scourge of Christendom’, for many early modern Europeans and Britons, the Maghreb was a distant and terrifying place. Some, however, saw the corsairing states as legitimate military rivals, potential trading partners or allies, and even attractive places for migration and personal advancement. Recently, History PhD […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/09/08/pirates-or-partners
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Is This the Earliest Depiction of a Dodo in Art?
The Jagiellonian arrases – tapestries that decorate the walls of Wawel Castle in Poland – may be one of the earliest known artistic representation of the long-extinct dodo. SHAPS Principal Research Fellow Dr Darius von Güttner tells us more in this fascinating article republished from Pursuit. This month marks 500 years since the birth of […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/08/07/is-this-the-earliest-depiction-of-a-dodo-in-art
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Hagia Sophia Reigns Serene
Istanbul’s 1,500 year-old Hagia Sophia has a tumultuous history and its return to being a mosque is only the latest twist for a building that has long rolled with the times. SHAPS Principal Fellow (Honorary) Associate Professor Roger Scott, gives us a snapshot of its history in this article, republished from Pursuit. If you were […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/07/23/hagia-sophia-reigns-serene
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Mary Proctor: A Forgotten Populariser of Astronomy
In a recent History & Philosophy of Science seminar, SHAPS Research Fellow Dr Martin Bush presented his work on British-American populariser of astronomy, Mary Proctor, and her intriguing relationship to Australian history. From 1912–1914, Mary conducted a high-profile public lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand at the invitation of astronomer Walter Duffield. The purpose […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2020/06/03/mary-proctor-a-forgotten-populariser-of-astronomy
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The Remarkable Journey of Leonardo’s Inscrutable Masterpiece
Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, known as the Lady with an Ermine, is one of Poland’s national treasures, but the painting has had an extraordinary history. Dr Darius von Güttner, Principal Fellow (Honorary) in SHAPS, tells us more in an article republished from University of Melbourne’s Pursuit. Over a decade ago the Czartoryski […] -
Living the French Revolution: A Symposium in Honour of Peter McPhee
The most significant event in French revolutionary studies ever to be held in Australia took place on 9 and 10 July 2019 at the University of Melbourne. Fourteen distinguished international scholars, along with their Australian counterparts, contributed to a symposium in honour of the great historian of France, Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee AM. Their presence […] -
The Woman Who Stitched Her Way into Art History
Known for her bold and bright work, artist Mirka Mora was a trailblazer for women artists in the 1970s, bringing ‘feminine techniques’ to the forefront of art. Grimwade Centre Honorary Fellow Sabine Cotte discusses Mirka’s life, work, and legacy in this article, originally published in the University of Melbourne’s Pursuit. Mirka Mora was one of […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/10/14/the-woman-who-stitched-her-way-into-art-history
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Fellows & Friends of History
The SHAPS Fellows and Friends of History Group started in 2005, when a group of retired academics, historians, classicists and archaeologists met monthly to discuss their current research. We all continue our research work, publishing books, book chapters, journal articles and book reviews, as well as in various online journals and other forums. We are […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/01/17/fellows-associates
