School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
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Item‘For noble and valiant France’: French-Australian relations, French Australian identities during the First World War( 2020)This thesis investigates the perception, projection, and mobilisation of French identity in Australia during the First World War. Australia’s participation on the Western Front from 1916 onwards meant that more Australians than ever before had a tangible connection with France, and it became a place of trauma as well as fascination. Yet, from the beginning of the conflict, French identity, language, and culture took on a heightened significance in Australia. French-Australians and their networks of francophones and francophiles played an important role in shaping this mobilisation of identity and culture, despite their numerically small proportion of the population. Drawing on a wide variety of French and Australian sources, this thesis examines the responses of French-Australians to the war and analyses how French identity was expressed in both civilian and military contexts. This thesis represents the first study to incorporate an extensive use of French sources to examine Australia’s First World War experience, and to analyse the role played by French-Australian relations. The French sources, notably the French diplomatic archives, demonstrate that the discourse regarding French identity was driven by a diverse range of people, in multiple spheres, and on many levels of society. French-Australian connections and networks based on social, political, cultural, and linguistic identities reveal a transnational influence which is not widely known. From diplomats and government officials, to businessmen, soldiers, charity workers and the ordinary man on the street, many people took part in, and were influenced by, the discourse. In the public domain, French national identity, French cultural imagery and essentialised images of France and French people were linked to the rhetoric of patriotism and were used to influence public opinion and support for the war. On the home front, the French-Australian fundraising organisations drew on transnational connections and successfully combined cultural representations with patriotism and fundraising. In the military sphere, French national identity had implications for men of military age who were subject to French military service obligations, and their experiences reveal a wide range of opinions and attitudes towards French identity. Examining how French identity was projected and mobilised, by whom, and for what purpose, provides a new perspective from which to understand this pivotal period of Australian and French shared history.
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ItemBehind the presence of Chinese: the linguistic landscape of Box Hill( 2016)With the ongoing trend of globalisation, more attention has been paid to multilingual and multicultural communication in the urban area. Such growing interests have made linguistic landscape (LL) studies, which address languages on public signage, a popular approach to sociolinguistics and social semiotics in the past few years. Previous LL literature has been preoccupied with the spread of English in multilingual cities around the world with little attention to the role of Chinese in the Australian urban context. As such, the current study aims to conduct a LL study concerning the use of Chinese in Box Hill. To achieve this aim, I used photographs of signs, such as street signs, shop names and promotional signs, as the source of data. A multi-layered approach combining quantitative and qualitative analyses are employed to firstly give an overview of the language combinations in Box Hill and secondly dive deeper into the intentions and ideologies underlying linguistic and semiotic choices. Findings of this study show that different signs have their respective language choices and semiotic preferences, and these can be understood in relation to the social context and cultural knowledge. This study revealed the status of Chinese language in an English-dominant environment. It contributed to the field of LL by promoting a multimodal perspective of photographic data, and made an effort to extend multimodal theories to accounting for signs with a Chinese origin. The study has important implications for linguistic and visual literacy. It suggests that language learning should not be based solely on linguistic knowledge, but also include cultural understandings. In addition, visual literacy is as important as linguistic literacy and are key in deciphering the meaning of signs in the modern world.
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ItemUne étude comparative de l’adoption d’un nouveau remède antiscorbutique en Angleterre et en France au temps des voyages de découvertes aux Terres Australes( 2018)The navies of France and England explored Indo-Pacific regions in the 18th and 19th centuries, seeking new scientific knowledge and territories. Although equal in technical and navigational skills, the health of their crews was very different. When French explorer Nicolas Baudin encountered English explorer Matthew Flinders off the south coast of Nouvelle Hollande in 1802, the English crew was healthy while the French was scorbutic. From 1795, British crews were protected from scurvy by a daily ration of lemon juice preserved in alcohol. While adoption of this innovation was judged late by sociologist Everett Rogers, according to his theory Diffusion of Innovations, its adoption almost a century later by the French was even more so. This work explores reasons for late adoption by both navies, referring to Rogers’ theory. Scurvy was inevitable during prolonged sea journeys, appearing after 2-3 months. Landfall was the only remedy, but for reasons unknown. The real cause, lack of dietary vitamin C (ascorbic acid), causing fatal haemorrhages, was discovered in 1932. However, 17th century British and French explorers had discovered that citrus fruits cured and prevented scurvy, believing erroneously that their acid content was antiscorbutic. Their discoveries were ignored. Putative causes and remedies for scurvy were proposed, in the context of prevailing medical ideologies such as Galenism or iatromechanics. In 1747 James Lind experimented and showed that only oranges and lemons cured scorbutic sailors. Lind also prepared a “rob” (heat-distilled preparation of juice) which was not tested. Half a century passed before Gilbert Blane, knowing that heat destroyed antiscorbutic property, persuaded the British Navy to adopt alcohol-preserved lemon juice. In England, debate over spurious remedies, including malt used by James Cook, delayed adoption of lemon juice. In reality, consumption of fruit and vegetables on frequent landfall during expeditions explains why Cook’s crews remained healthy. Likewise, in France, debate over spurious causes such as consumption of meat, delayed adoption of lemon juice. A vegetarian diet, which did not contain fresh produce, remained in force for over a decade. An important hindrance was, ironically, the invention of a process by Nicolas Appert in 1802 to preserve heat-sterilised food in glass jars which enabled consumption of food, otherwise available only on shore, during long sea journeys. The process prevented putrefaction of food and preserved its taste, but unknown to Appert and French authorities, also destroyed its antiscorbutic property. Not until the Crimean war in the 1850s, did French authorities realise that preserved food did not prevent scurvy in contrast to lime juice which maintained health of their British ally. A Commission was established in 1856 to investigate preparations of citrus fruit but erroneously recommended a heated preparation based on acidity and taste, not on antiscorbutic property. A decree of 1860 ordered consumption of lemon juice but could not be fulfilled. Additional decrees of 1874 and 1894 encouraged delivery and consumption of lemon juice but its need dissipated with the introduction of steamships which shortened sea journeys. Citrus juice was never effectively adopted by the French Navy, compromising voyages of discovery.
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ItemScreening Germany in Australia: analyzing the Australian Festival of German Films as cultural diplomacy( 2018)Cultural diplomacy increased in importance in German foreign policy following World War II (WWII) and reunification in 1989. The German model of cultural diplomacy emerged out of the need for a separation of powers between state and cultural politics, and resulted in a unique approach in which the Goethe-Institut (Goethe Institute – GI) became and remains the principal actor representing German culture and language abroad. The GI was re-established after WWII and now operates in 191 countries. As distinct from propaganda, contemporary German diplomacy aims to portray a realistic and multi-faceted image of Germany; it utilises public engagements, various media and – in particular – film. Other nations are adopting this strategy, as the growing number of nationality-based film festivals worldwide shows. Researchers in the emerging field of film festival studies have hitherto scrutinised the role of film festivals in the circulation of film, global cinephilia, as public spheres, as transnational spaces and time events, but not yet as part of cultural and contemporary cinematic diplomacy. My research adds to extant research on contemporary cinematic and cultural diplomacy through analysis of the Festival of German Films in Australia’s (AFGF) role in German cultural diplomacy. The AFGF was the largest festival of German films outside of Germany and was organised by the GI in collaboration with the German Films Service and Marketing GmbH. The AFGF was established in Sydney and Melbourne in 2002, and ran until 2016; it was a platform for Germany and German culture, as well as a marketplace for presenting German films to Australian audiences and distributors. I analyse developments in AFGF programming, choice of films and time-events, with particular focus on the period 2013–15. My research employs a mixed-method approach comprised of audience surveys, audience focus groups, and stakeholder interviews complemented by event and film analysis. My analysis focuses on the three most prominent themes in films and curation of the AFGF from 2002–15: the two world wars, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic), and multicultural Germany. In understanding film festivals as socially constructed, I analyse each category in accordance with Lefebvre’s tripartite concept of physical, curated and lived space. I emphasise an understanding of the AFGF as a time-event and of the roles of its component time-events. These time-events are curated occasions; the GI highlights particular films and themes by screening them on either opening or closing nights, or as part of special events, such as a question-and-answer session or an associated culinary or musical experience. I conclude the thesis by emphasising the potential and the challenges of cinematic diplomacy with a particular focus on contemporary German cinematic diplomacy. Further, I highlight increasingly transnational aspects of the AFGF and their relationship to the cultural diplomatic role Germany holds as an advocate for human rights as a consequence of WWII and the following processes of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (dealing with the past).
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ItemCrafting the image and telling the story: a cross-cultural analysis of winery identity in France and Australia( 2017)This research explores the construction of winery identity in France and Australia. Focusing on wine producers’ perspectives, it is based on case studies of four wineries in Bordeaux (France) and The Grampians (Australia). The research concerns premium, boutique wine producers in both regions. To situate the study in context, the thesis begins with an historical account of the global wine industry, and of each of the two regions. An ethnographical grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse data from the four case study wineries. Data was collected in the form of interviews, observations and published material, and was analysed using a coding process to organise the data into thematic categories. A detailed ethnographical account of each winery was drawn, revealing producers’ motivations, aspirations, philosophies and values. Relationships and change emerged from the data as the two most significant concerns for the wineries as a group. In a rapidly changing market, increased competition and changing consumption habits have augmented the importance of relationships in the wine world and forced producers to rethink how they operate. The research revealed that their principal question is how to continue producing authentic, quality wine while adapting to globalisation, fierce competition, new modes of communication and changing consumer desires. Through exploring the significance of relationships and change, the analysis produced a theory of the way wineries define their identity, craft their image and tell their story in response to the changing market and as a means of ensuring future success. Thus, via the case studies, the research explores the development of winery identity in France and Australia in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in a global context. As a cross-cultural study that considers the many factors that constitute and influence how wineries craft their image and tell their story, it aims to elucidate the interaction between production, consumption, commercialisation and culture in a global marketplace.