Envisaging Citizenship: Australian Histories and Global Connections

Image: Peter Drew, ‘Aussie’ series (2016)

Investigating how visual images have defined, contested and advanced ideas of Australian citizenship and rights from European settlement to the present.

Investigators

  • Professor Melissa Miles
    Monash Art, Design and Architecture
  • Professor Jane Lydon
    The University of Western Australia
  • Professor Amanda Nettelbeck
    University of Adelaide
  • Associate Professor Fay Anderson
    Monash University

Funded by

  • Australian Research Council (ARC) 2019 Discovery Grant

We are working with the Immigration Museum, media organizations, communities and international colleagues to develop new research, education initiatives and inclusive community-building strategies around citizenship.

Professor Melissa Miles

Led by Prof Jane Lydon (UWA), the project responds to the lack of a shared mainstream understanding of Australian citizenship. It looks beyond legal definitions to explore the significance of cultural and especially visual views of citizenship over time.

Through collaboration with museum, media and education sectors, it will provide a forward-looking and accessible public history, and utilise the potential of images to broaden contemporary debates about citizenship.