Bruce is an intellectual historian whose work traces the entanglement of European political thought with the experience of empire and colonisation, focussing on the Early Modern and Enlightenment periods. Bruce's research seeks an understanding of concepts by bringing different fields of historical enquiry into productive conversation, most notably colonial history, histories of sound and noise, the history of science and medicine, and the history of ideas and political thought. His previous research on European perceptions of Indigenous government, the conceptual history of asymmetric warfare, and the meanings of civility, savagery and civilisation have appeared in a wide range of journals. Bruce's research has been supported by a competitively awarded Discovery grants and a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. His current research (with Linda Andersson Burnett) focusses on the conceptual prehistory of race in the teaching of medicine and moral philosophy, and in colonial travel during the Scottish Enlightenment.
CONTACT
Work: (07) 3735 5448
Email: b.buchan@griffith.edu.au
QUALIFICATIONS
Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science),
Australian National University, 1999
Master of Arts by research (Political Science),
Flinders University, 1994
Honours (First Class) in Politics,
Flinders University, 1989
Bachelor of Arts, Double Major in History and Politics,
Flinders University, 1988
2017-2018: Griffith University International Workshop Award ($8,000) with Chris Butler and Karen Crawley, entitled: ‘The Insecurities of Sovereignty’. This grant supported the creation of a new research network focussed on the tension between sovereignty and security in the era of neoliberal global governance. A workshop was held in August 2018 at which I presented: ‘Out of Time: The Suffering Subject in the Ruins of Neoliberalism’.
2017: Invited Professor, École des hautes études en sciences sociales. This involved presenting a series of 4 seminars on ‘The Natural History of Security: Conceptual and Colonial Reflections’. The series explored the connections between natural history and ideas of security from the Early Modern period to the early nineteenth century. The seminars were entitled: ‘The Anatomy of Security in Early Modern Europe’; ‘Civilizing War in the Enlightenment’; ‘Race, Colonial Ethnography and the Borders of Humanity’; and ‘The Sound of Spectacle in Colonial Encounters: Australia in 1788-1800’.
2016-18: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Project Grant (1.9 million SEK) with Dr Linda Andersson Burnett (Linnaeus University, Sweden) entitled: ‘The Borders of Humanity: Linnaean Natural Historians and the Colonial Legacies of Enlightenment’. Our project tests the hypothesis that Enlightenment notions of humanity hinged on the emergence of a colonial ethnography originating in the amalgamation of Linnaean natural history with Scottish moral philosophical theories of stadial historical progress. Our project includes a distinguished Advisory Board with members from France, Norway, Sweden, Britain and Australia.
2016: Griffith University International Workshop Award ($8,000) for an international symposium entitled: ‘The Ethics of Troubled Images’ to explore the political, moral and cultural significance of the rapid flow of images of cruelty and violence through social media. Speakers at the symposium were drawn from Australian, British and American universities.
2016: Caird Research Fellowship, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK,February-May (£1,600/month), for a new project entitled: ‘Sounding Civility: Enlightenment Sensibilities at Sea’. My project will investigate the variable sonic range of civility in British maritime soundscapes throughout the eighteenth century. It will be the first to map the meanings of civility conveyed in the enforcement of naval discipline and resistance to, and rebellion against it, as well as in the perception of rival civilities in cross-cultural colonial encounters.
2015-16: Distinguished Visiting Chair in Australian Studies, University of Copenhagen, August 2015-January 2016 ($25,000). While there I taught a new cross-disciplinary MA course entitled: ‘Terra Australis/Terra Nullius: Contact, Conciliation and Colonisation in Australia’ which examined Australia’s early years of colonisation after 1788. The course considers how the relations forged between European ‘newcomers’ and the Indigenous inhabitants were shaped by the ideas, assumptions, and experiences gained in other colonial contexts. In the final weeks, attention was given to the ways in which those early colonial ideas and impressions continue to echo in contemporary Australia including topics on ‘landscapes of terror’, ‘Indigenous sovereignty’ and ‘decolonising security’.
2014: Griffith University International Workshop Award ($8,000) for an international symposium entitled: ‘The Global and Colonial Circulation of Knowledge: c. 1500-1800’, 24 April 2015. Keynote speakers are: Professor Antonella Romano and Assoc-Prof Silvia Sebastiani (both from EHESS, Paris), also attended by Prof Jonathan Israel (IAS, Princeton).
2014: Awarded two Visiting Fellowships at the Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden (February and November).
2013: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Research Initiation Grant (200,000 SEK) with Dr Linda Andersson Burnett investigating the colonial and conceptual history of Scottish Enlightenment stadial theory and Linnaean racial taxonomy.
2013: Two Griffith University Arts, Education and Law Faculty Research Excellence Awards in two categories: Mid/Senior Career Research Excellence and Group Research Excellence (with David Ellison and Peter Denney) ($6,000).
2013-15: Australia Research Council Discovery Grant ($224,000) as lead CI. Project title: Policing Noise: the Sounds of Civility in British Discourse c. 1700-1850.
2012-13: Arts, Education and Law Collaborative Research Grant ($18,439) as lead CI. Project title: Listening to Civility, c. 1700-1900.
2012-13: Visiting Research Fellowship at theInstitute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh. Project title: Civilised Militaries and Savage Warriors: Adam Ferguson and James Macpherson’s Dialogue on War and America. (August-Jan 2012/13).
2009-14: Inaugural winner of an Australia Research Council Future Fellowship ($542,296). Project title: A Colonial and Conceptual History of Asymmetric Warfare. (Fellowship deferred until 2010).
2010: Visiting Research Fellowship at theInstitute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh. Project title: War in the Dialogue of Nations: Adam Ferguson and the Paradox of Enlightenment Civilization. (Oct-Dec 2010).
2010: Faculty Citation for ‘Scholarship in Teaching and Learning’ ($2,000), Griffith University.
2009-11: Griffith University Research Grant ($16,000). Project title: The Subject of War: An Intellectual History of Asymmetric Warfare and Colonization c.1650-1850.
2007-9: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant ($170,000) joint CI with Professors Lisa Hill and Wilfrid Prest. Project title: Corrupting Government: An Intellectual History of Political Corruption.
2005-6: Griffith University Research Grant ($13,000). Project title: Trafficking for Empire: Trade, Treaties and the Expansion of the British Empire in the Pacific 1750-1837.
2005-6 : Academic Studies Program Travel Bursary ($3,000) awarded by the Dean of Arts, Griffith University.
2003-4: Griffith University New Research Grant ($10,000). Project title: Treating With Indigenous Sovereignty: Australia and Canada.
1995-8: Australian National University Scholarship, ANU.
1990-2: Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship, Flinders University.
Books
2019 : (with S. E. Amirell and H. Hagerdal, eds.), Piracies in World History, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, (under contract).
2018 : (with P. Denney, D. Ellison and K. Crawley, eds.) Sound, Space and Civility in the British World, c. 1700-1850, London: Routledge (in press).
2014 : (with Lisa Hill), An Intellectual History of Political Corruption, Palgrave, New York and Basingstoke.
ABC Radio National interview and feature essay on the book: <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/confusing-corruption/6431088>
2008 : The Empire of Political Thought: Indigenous Australians and the Language of Colonial Government, Pickering and Chatto, London.
Book review: <https://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/ras/article/viewFile/1875/2261>
Guest Editorships of journal special issues
2019 : History of the Human Sciences, ‘Knowing Savagery: Ethnographies in Circulation’ (with L. Andersson Burnett).
2018 : Cultural Studies Review, ‘The Ethics of Troubled Images’ (with M. Gibson and A. Howell).
2018 : Republics of Letters, ‘On Noise’ (with D. Ellison).
2012 : Cultural Studies Review, ‘On Noise’, 18 (3) (with D. Ellison).
Available online at: http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/issue/current/showToc
2011 : Cultural Studies Review, ‘The Death Scene: Reflections on Mortality’, 17 (1) (with M. Gibson and D. Ellison).
Available online at: http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/issue/view/132/showToc.
Chapters in Edited Collections
2019 : ‘All at Sea: Subjects, Sovereigns and the Piracy of Political Thought’ in S. E. Amirell, B. Buchan, and H. Hagerdal (eds.), Piracies in World History, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, (under contract).
2018 : ‘The Civil Noise of Empire’ in B. Buchan, D. Ellison, P. Denney and K. Crawley (eds.), Sound, Space and Civility in the British World, c. 1700-1850, London: Routledge, (in press).
2017 : (with L. Andersson Burnett) ‘ The Edinburgh Connection: Linnaean Natural History, Scottish Moral Philosophy and the Colonial Implications of Enlightenment Thought’ in K. Nyberg, H. Hodacs, and S. van Damme (eds.), Linnaeus, Natural History and the Circulation of Knowledge, Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 161-186.
2017 : ‘Between Anarchy and Security: John Locke on Piracy and Lacedaemonian Liberty’, in N. Jun (ed.), A Companion to Anarchist Philosophy, Leiden: Brill.
2014 : ‘Enlightenment Perspectives on War and Peace’ in T. Shogimen and V. Spencer (eds.), Visions of Peace: Asia and the West, Ashgate, London, 2014, 119-138.
2014 : ‘Subjects and Sovereigns: Hobbes and Hume on the History of Security’, in Olaf Asbach (ed.), Der moderne Staat und „le doux commerce“ – Politik, Ökonomie und internationale Beziehungen im politischen Denken der Aufklärung, Nomos, Baden-Baden, pp. 91-116.
2012 : ‘Changing Contours of Corruption in Western Political Thought, c. 1200-1700’ in B. Hindess and P. Larmour (eds.), Corruption: Expanding the Focus, ANU E-Press, Canberra, pp. 73-96.
2009 : ‘Adam Ferguson, the 43rd and the Fictions of Fontenoy’ in E. Heath and V. Merolle (eds.), Adam Ferguson: Philosophy, Politics and Society, Pickering and Chatto, London, pp. 25-44.
2008 : ‘Images of Asia in European Enlightenment Political Thought, c.1600-1800.’ C.J. Nederman and T. Shogimen (eds.), Western Political Thought in Dialogue With Asia. Lexington Books. pp. 65-86.
2007 : ‘Civilization in a Savage Land: Australian Colonisation and Enlightenment Thought.’ D. Gare and D. Ritter (eds.), Making Australian History: Perspectives on the Past Since 1788, Thomson, Melbourne, pp. 17-24.
Refereed Articles
2019 : (with Linda Andersson Burnett) ‘Knowing Savagery: Australia and the Anatomy of Race’, History of the Human Sciences, (forthcoming).
2019 : ‘God damn ye gentlemen, I am as good a man as the best of you...’: Pirate Oaths, Mutinous Murmurings and British Counter-Civilities at Sea in the Eighteenth Century’, Cultural History (forthcoming).
2018 : ‘Sight Unseen: Our Neoliberal Vision of Insecurity’, Cultural Studies Review, 24 (2): 130-149.
2018 : ‘Civility at Sea: From Murmuring to Mutiny’, Republics of Letters – special issue 2018. http://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl_issue/volume-5-issue-2
2017 : ‘Terrible Security: Bi-focal Visions of Horror’, Arena Journal, 47/48, pp. 10-32.
2013 : ‘Pandours, Partisans and Petite Guerre: Two Dimensions of Enlightenment Discourse on War’, Intellectual History Review, 23 (3): 329-347.
2012 :‘Listening for Noise in Political Thought’, Cultural Studies Review, 18 (3): 36-66.
2012 : (with David Ellison), ‘Speaking to the Eye’, Cultural Studies Review, 18 (3): 4-12.
2011 : “Duo pezzi in su la piazza…’: The Death of the Body Politic in Western Political Thought’, South Atlantic Quarterly, 110 (4): 901-915.
2011 : (with Margaret Gibson and David Ellison) ‘Reflections on the Death Scene’, Cultural Studies Review, 17 (1): 3-14.
2011 : ‘Dying for Security’, Cultural Studies Review, 17 (1): 188-210.
2011 : ‘Civilized Fictions: Warfare and Civilization in Enlightenment Thought’, Alternatives, 36 (1): 64-71.
2009 : ‘The Subject of War: From Salamanca to Sydney Cove’, Global Change, Peace and Security, 21 (1): 53-68.
2007 : ‘Traffick of Empire: Trade, Treaty and Terra Nullius in Australia and North America.’ History Compass, 5 (2): 1-20.
2006 : ‘Civilization, State Sovereignty and War: the Scottish Enlightenment and International Relations’, International Relations, 20 (2): 175-92.
2006 : with Dr. Mary Heath, ‘Savagery and Civilization: From Terra Nullius to ‘Tides of History”, Ethnicities, 6 (1): 5-26.
2006 : ‘Subjects of Benevolence: Concepts of Society and Civilization in Early Colonial Indigenous Administration’, Journal of Australian Studies, 86, 37-48, 198-202.
2005 : ‘The Empire of Political Thought: The Language of Civilization and Perceptions of Indigenous Government’, History of the Human Sciences, 18 (2): 1-22.
2005 : ‘Enlightened Histories: Civilization, War and the Scottish Enlightenment’. The European Legacy, 10 (2): 177-192.
2004 : ‘The ‘Tides of History’: The Yorta Yorta, Native Title, and Colonial Attitudes to Indigenous Sovereignty’, Journal of Indigenous Policy, 7 (2): 3-23.
2002/3: ‘Aboriginal Welfare and the Denial of Indigenous Sovereignty in Australia’. Arena Journal, 20, pp. 97-121.
2002 : ‘Zero Tolerance, Mandatory Sentencing and Early Liberal Arguments for Penal Reform’. International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 201-218.
2002 : ‘Explaining War and Peace: Kant and Liberal International Relations Theory’. Alternatives, 27 (4): 407-428.
2002 : ‘Withstanding the Tide of History: The Yorta Yorta Case and Indigenous Sovereignty’. Borderlands – Special Indigenous Sovereignty Edition, 1 (2).
2001/2: ‘The Forge of Peace: Civil Society and the Problem of Violence’. Flinders Journal of History and Politics, 22: 73-92.
2001 : ‘Of “social ties” and “savage hordes”: the denial of indigenous sovereignty in Australia’, Technical Report, Political Science Program, RSSS, Australian National University, pp. 1-37. EPrints Repository: <http://eprints.anu.edu.au/archive/00001411/>
2001 : ‘Subjecting the Natives: Aborigines, Property and Possession Under Early Colonial Rule’. Social Analysis, 45 (2): 143-162.
2001 : ‘Liberalism and Fear of Violence’. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 4 (3), 2001, pp. 27-48.
1996 : ‘Situated Consciousness or Consciousness of Situation? Autonomy and Antagonism in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness’. History of European Ideas, 22 (3): 193-215.
Encyclopaedia Entries
2009 : ‘Standing Armies’, in M. Bevir (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Political Theory, Sage, London, 1319-1320.
2005 : ‘Corruption’, in M. Griffiths (ed), Encyclopaedia of International Relations and Global Politics, Routledge, London, 129-37.
2005 : ‘Empire’, M. Griffiths (ed), Encyclopaedia of International Relations and Global Politics, Routledge, London, 207-15 .
Papers in Refereed Conference Proceedings
2010 : ‘The Dirtiest… Most Insignificant and Unpleasant Branch of Military Operations’: Warfare and Civilization in the Political Thought of Adam Ferguson (1723-1814)’, in E. Smith (ed.), Europe’s Expansions and Contractions, Australian Humanities Press, Adelaide.
2008 : ‘The Subject of War: From Salamanca to Sydney Cove’, Oceanic Conference on International Studies, University of Queensland, July 2-4.
2008 : ‘An Interest in Corruption?’ Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Queensland, July 6-9.
2007 : with Dr Lisa Hill, ‘From Republican to Liberalism: Corruption and Empire in Enlightenment Political Thought’, Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, Monash University, September 24-26. <http://arts.monash.edu.au/psi/news-and-events/apsa/refereed-papers/index.php>
2007 : ‘Europe’s Asia: Empire, Difference and the Moral Geography of European Political Thought, c.1500-1800’, Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, Monash University, September 24-26.
2005 : ‘Society: A Colonial History of the Concept’. Proceedings of the Australian Sociological Association Conference, Hobart, December 5-8 (CD-Rom).
2004 : ‘The Moral Physics of the Body Politic: Changing Contours of Corruption in Western Political Thought’. Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Adelaide, September – October. <http://www.adelaide.edu.au/apsa/papers/>
2003 : ‘Hume's History, Smith's Sentiments and Ferguson's Essay: Civilization, War and the Scottish Enlightenment.’ Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Tasmania, September 29 - October 1. http://www.utas.edu.au/government/APSA/Bbuchanfinal.pdf
2002 : ‘The Empire of Political Thought: Perceptions of Indigenous Government in Australia’. Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, Australian National University, October 2-4, http://www.arts.anu.edu.au/sss/apsa
2001 : ‘Punishing the Poor: Early “Liberal” Arguments for Penal and Police Reform’. Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, Griffith University, September 24-26, http://www.gu.edu.au/school/ppp/APSA2001/
1997 : ‘Civil and State Violence: On Fear In Liberal Political Thought’. Proceedings of the 1997 Australasian Political Studies Association Conference, (ed) G. Crowder, et.al. (eds.), Flinders University of South Australia, Volume I: 99-118.
Review Essays, interviews and Opinion Pieces
2018 : “Look on My Works, ye Mighty, and Despair”: On the Ruins of Western Civilisation’, Arena Magazine, No. 155, pp. 33-37.
2018 : ‘Cooking the Books’, Inside Story. https://insidestory.org.au/cooking-the-books/
2017 : Radio interview for The Scholars Circle – Political Corruption: its History, Causes, Effects and Remedies, http://www.armoudian.com/scholars-circle-political-corruptions-its-history-causes-effects-and-remedies-june-11-2017/
2017 : ‘Australia: What’s in a Name?’, Arena Magazine, No. 149, pp. 5-7.
2016 : ‘Our Golden Age of Corruption’, Arena Magazine, No. 141, pp. 24-26.
2016 : ‘Delusions of Security’, Arena Magazine, No. 140, pp. 20-22.
2015 : ‘What’s ‘Ordinary’ about Corruption’, ABC Radio National, Rear Vision Program: http://www.abc.net.au/cm/lb/6470622/data/what27s-ordinary-about-corruption-data.pdf
2010 ‘In Search of Intellectual History: Reflections on law, Empire, Pirates, and Revolutions’, Australian Review of Public Affairs, http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/
(This essay has been cited on two legal history blogs: Rechtsgeschiedenis Blog <rechtsgeschiedenis.wordpress.com/tag/piracy/> and the Legal History Blog <legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2011/weekend-roundup_15.html> )
2006 : ‘Whose Civilization? Which Enlightenment?’, Australian Review of Public Affairs, online http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/0402/buchan.html
2005 : ‘The Man Who Would Try the King’, The Australian Financial Review, Friday, December 2nd, pp. 4-5 (Review Section).
2005 : ‘Trying Times: The Life and Times of Tyrannicide’, The Drawing Board: Australian Review of Public Affairs, online http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/0402/buchan.html
2005 : ‘Perils of Empire’, The Drawing Board: Australian Review of Public Affairs, online http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/0402/buchan.html
2004 : ‘Moral Myopia and the Historical and International Dimensions of Justice’, The Drawing Board: Australian Review of Public Affairs, online http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/0402/buchan.html
2004 : ‘Freedom’s Empire?’, radio broadcast, Perspective program, ABC Radio National (October 20), online http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/stories/s1224244.htm.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS, INVITATIONS TO CONFERENCES and SYMPOSIA:
2019 (with Silvia Sebastiani) ‘Racing Humanity: Adam Ferguson’s Lectures on Moral Philosophy’, International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Conference, Edinburgh, July (panel proposal).
2019 (with Annemarie McLaren) ‘Trading Places: Alexander Berry’s Navigation of Humanity as Physician, Merchant, Landowner and Historian’, International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Conference, Edinburgh, July (panel proposal).
2019 ‘The Colonial Limits of Universal History in the Scottish Enlightenment: A History in Fragments’, International Society for Intellectual History Conference, Brisbane, June (paper proposal).
2019 (with Annemarie McLaren) ‘Trading Places: Alexander Berry’s Navigation of Humanity as Physician, Merchant, Landowner and Historian’, International Society for Intellectual History Conference, Brisbane, June (paper proposal).
2018 ‘The Scottish Enlightenment’s Failed History of Colonial America’, invited speaker at Thinking the Empire Whole, Macquarie University, August 9th.
2018 ‘The Anatomy of Security: Dissecting the Body Politic’, invited presenter to The Body Politic and Social Harmony from the Medieval Period to the Present Day, Radboud University, Holland, 28-29 May.
2018 ‘The Civil Noise of Empire: Sounds of British Colonial Encounters in the Pacific, c. 1690-1800’, invited seminar to Scottish Centre for Global History and the Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Dundee, Scotland, 9th May.
2018 ‘Research at the Borders’, invited masterclass, University of Dundee, Scotland, 8th May.
2018 ‘All at Sea: Subjects, Sovereigns and the Piracy of Political Thought’, paper presented at workshop I co-convened (with S.E. Amirell) Concurrent Concepts of Piracy: European and Global Historical Perspectives c. 1500-1900, Linnaeus University, Sweden, 1st-2nd March.
2018 : What’s in a Name: Race and the Science of Colonisation in Australia in 1800’, invited seminar presentation to the Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, 22nd March.
2017 : ‘Scottish Medical Ethnography: Colonial Travel and the Natural history of Race, c. 1770-1805’, invited speaker at Global Natural History Around 1800: Collections, Media, Actors, University of Goettingen.
2017 : ‘Trauma, Terror and Time: the Trinity of Neoliberal Security’, invited speaker at the Invention of Collateral Damage Symposium, University of Western Sydney.
2017 : ‘Neoliberalism and the Vision of Absent Security’, invited seminar present to the Visual Politics research stream, University of Queensland.
2016 : ‘Natural History of Empire: Edinburgh and Enlightenment Ethnography’ (with Linda Andersson Burnett), invited seminar presentation to the Department of History, University of Edinburgh, April.
2016 : ‘Imperious Noise: Listening to Civility in Australian and Pacific Colonial Encounters, 1690-1790’, invited seminar presentation to the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London, 6th April.
2016 : ‘Civility at Sea: From Murmuring to Mutiny’, invited seminar presentation to Institute for Historical Research, University of London, March 14th.
2015 : ‘Hints’, Howls, and Hakas: Hearing Britain’s Empire in Australia and the Pacific, c.1690-1790’, invited seminar presentation to the Centre for Australian Studies, University of Copenhagen December 9th.
2015 : Convenor of ‘The Global and Colonial Circulation of Knowledge, 1500-1800’, Griffith University, 24 April. Participants attended from EHESS (Paris), Princeton, Linnaeus (Sweden), UNSW, UQ, Adelaide, and UWS.
2014 : Invited to present a joint paper (with Dr. Andersson-Burnett) to ‘Linnaean Natural History in Global Context’ workshop, November 14, European University Institute, Florence.
2014 : Castellano Memorial Lecture for the Dante Alighieri Society, Brisbane, 17 October 2014. Lecture Title: ‘The Italian Job: Inventing Political Corruption.’
2014 : Co-convenor and speaker at ‘Sound and the Senses Symposium’, Griffith University, July 17-18. My paper: ‘Civility at Sea: from Murmuring to Mutiny’. Participants drawn from York, St Mary’s (London), ADFA, UQ, UNSW, and Sydney.
2014 : presented a seminar to Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Post Colonial Thought, Linnaeus University, Sweden. Title: ‘Listening for Empire in the Pacific, c. 1690-1790’.
2014 : Co-convenor and joint lead speaker (with Dr. Andersson-Burnett) at the Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Post Colonial Thought symposium ‘The Empire of Enlightenment’, Linnaeus University, Sweden.
2013 : Initiator and panellist for ‘Historical Approaches to Criminology’ at the ANZSOC Conference, Brisbane. My paper: ‘The Hidden History of Corruption and Security’.
2013 : Invited panellist at Modern Soundscapes: Conference of the Australasian Association of Literature, Sydney. My paper: ‘Listening for Empire’.
2013 : Co-convenor and speaker at ‘Listening to Civility, c. 1700-1850’ symposium, July 26-27, Brisbane. My paper: ‘The Civil Noise of Empire’. Participants from St Mary’s (London), ANU, South Carolina, Sydney, UNSW, UQ, and Melbourne.
2012 : Invited lead speaker at an IASH symposium, University of Edinburgh. My paper: ‘The Savagery of Enlightenment: Adam Ferguson’s Footnote and the Heroism of War’.
2012 : Invited seminar presentation at the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, York University, UK. (November). Paper: ‘The Warrior's Sentiments: Savagery and Civilisation in Scottish Enlightenment Discourse on War’.
2011 : Invited speaker at War’s Effects, Humanities Research Centre, Symposium, Australian National University (October). Paper: ‘Savage Warriors and Civilised Soldiers: Ossian’s Footnote in the History of Enlightenment Political Thought’.
2011 : Co-Convenor and speaker at On Noise, School of Humanities Research Symposium, Griffith University (June 24). Paper: ‘What Noise Does Political Philosophy Make?’
2010 : speaker at Thinking the Human in the Era of Enlightenment, ANU. Paper: ‘Pandours, Partisans and Petite Guerre’.
2009 : Invited speaker at Interrogating Death and Dying: Legal, Biomedical and Social Perspectives, University of Sydney Law School, November 6. Paper: ‘Dying for Security’.
2009 : Co-convenor and speaker at The Death Scene: Perspectives on Mortality, Griffith University (July). Paper: ‘Duo pezzi in su la piazza’: on the Death of the Body Politic in Western Political Thought’.
2009 : Invited speaker at Symposium on the work of Barry Hindess, Melbourne, July. Paper: ‘Civilized Fictions: Warfare and Civilization in Enlightenment Thought’.
2009 : Keynote Speaker for the Queensland History Teachers Association State Conference, Brisbane, 27 June. Paper: ‘From ‘Consent’ to ‘Conciliation’: Trade, Treaty and Terra Nullius in Colonial Australia and America’.
2008 : Invited chair at British International Theory Workshop, Adelaide University, July.
2006 : Invited speaker at Western Political Thought in Dialogue With Asia, University of Otago, December 13-15. Paper: ‘Images of Asia in European Enlightenment Political Thought’.
2005 : Invited panel member and discussant at International Studies Association Conference, Hawaii, March. Paper: ‘Kant on Race and International Relations’.
2004 : Invited speaker at Corruption: Expanding the Focus, ANU, July 30-31. Paper: ‘The Moral Physics of the Body Politic: Changing Contours of Corruption in Western Political Thought’.
2004 : Invited speaker at Islamic/Western Dialogues on Governance Values, Kuala Lumpur. Paper: ‘Democracy and Empire in Western Thought’.
As Principal Supervisor of PhD
2018 : Dr. Jillian Beard, “Conciliate their Affections”: an Intellectual History of Conciliation in British Colonial Governance in the Eighteenth Century (awarded with minor changes).
2017 : Dr Andreas Berg, The Formation of Mystical Enlightenment in Late Eighteenth Century Russia (awarded with minor changes).
2017 : Dr Karen Laughton, Institutionalisation of Children in Britain and Australia 1750-1850 (awarded with minimal changes).
2009 : Dr. Alex Naraniecki, Popper Re-appraised: New Perspectives on Karl Popper’s Political and Ethical Thought. (awarded with minor changes; thesis subsequently published).
2009 : Dr. Malcolm Allbrook, ‘Imperial Family’: The Prinseps, Empire and Colonial Government in India and Australia. (Shortlisted for Searle award 2009/10).
2006 : Dr. Claire Kennedy, The Transformation of the Democratic Left Party in Italy 1989-2000: A Case Study in Venice.
As Associate Supervisor of PhD
2006 : Dr Daniela di Piramo, Gift of Grace-Revolutionising Charismatic Authority in Latin America.
As Honours Supervisor
2014 : Ms. Karen Bird, thesis title: Oriental Despotism and the European Enlightenment (awarded first class and the University Medal).
2013 : Mr. Kieran Proctor, thesis title: Hegel and War (awarded first class).
2012 : Mr Lachlan Dudley, thesis title: Hearing the Past: The Role of Sound, Noise and Silence in British Imperialism and Colonialism in the Pacific c. 1769-1792 (awarded first class).
2011 : Ms. Robyn Boyer, thesis title: The Disordered Body Politic in Medieval Political Thought.
2009 : Ms Jillian Beard, thesis title: “Conciliate their affections’: Governor Phillip’s Instructions and Early Colonial Government in Australia 1788-1814’ (awarded first class and University Medal).
2009 : Ms Karen Laughton, Rethinking Racial Hierarchies in Early Colonial New South Wales (awarded first class honours).
Current PhD Supervisions
2018 : Mr Thomas Combe, Technology, Enlightenment and Colonisation in Australia, (Combe won an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship (APA).
2018 : Ms Karen Bird, British Enlightenment Perceptions of Islam: Travellers, Translations and Tolerance (Bird won an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship (APA).
As Undergraduate Course Convenor
2016- : War, Peace and Security: Humanity in History (third year undergraduate course employing techniques of cultural and intellectual history to investigate the history of war and humanity).
2015 : Interdisciplinary Research Workshop 6107HUM (a new Honours level seminar I have designed as an introduction to cross-disciplinary research techniques organised around a central theme – the city).
2009 : Graduate Certificate in World Historical Studies; (I designed this postgraduate program offered through Open Universities Australia from 2011).
2009 : Moral Philosophy 2025HUM, upper year undergraduate ethics, 57 students, online-only.
2008-9 : Advising the Prince: Ethics, Politics and Power PHIL520, philosophy postgraduate coursework, online-only.
2008-9 : Introducing Ethics 2025ART, upper year undergraduate ethics, 59 students on two campuses and online.
2007-9 : World History 1017HUM, first year undergraduate history, 300 students on two campuses.
Thesis examined
2018 : British Conceptions of Wealth and Property in the East Indies and their Influence on Governance and Society: 1807-1824, PhD thesis, Australian National University.
2015 : Corporate Influence on US Legislative, Regulatory and Judicial Decision Making, PhD thesis, Flinders University.
2015 : “Maore Farantsa’: The Self-Determination of Mayotte to Become a Département of France, PhD thesis, Adelaide University.
2011 : Neoliberal Indigenous Policy in Australia: Government, Sovereignty and Colonialism, PhD thesis, University of Queensland.
2011 : The Dialectic of Might and Right, MA thesis, Massey University.
2009 : Unqualified Freedom: A Hollow Promise; Transformations of Slavery, Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland
2009 : Alienation and the Debate Between Karl Marx and Max Stirner, MA thesis, University of Otago.
2009 : The Story Behind the Book: William Mariner in Tonga 1806-1810, Honours thesis, Griffith University
2009 : The Northern Territory Emergency Response Legislation: An Instrument of Government, Master of Criminology thesis, Griffith University.
2006 : The Dilemma of Praxis. Anarchism and Education: A Comparative Approach to Theory and Practice, MA thesis, University of Adelaide.
RESEARCH CENTRE MEMBERSHIPS
2017- : Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research
2015 -17 : Griffith Criminology Institute (founder member)
2014 - : Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and postcolonial Studies (Sweden)
2009-14 : ARC Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security (research associate and founder member 2009-14)
SERVICE EXPERIENCE
2019 : Advisory Board member for ‘Voicing Arctic Others’ research network, University of Tromsø, Norway.
2018 : MA (research) Program Convenor, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences.
2017 : MA (coursework) Program Convenor, School of Humanities Languages and Social Sciences.
2018- : Editorial Board member of Journal of Australian Historical Studies.
2013-15 : Head of History within the School of Humanities (tasks include managing workloads; restructuring and redescribing history major; renewal of course offerings; initiating Indigenous Studies major; member of School Research and Learning and Teaching Committees; Redesigning OUA offerings; initiating new history seminar series ‘Discovering the Archive’; establishing Academia.edu webpage for history at Griffith: https://griffith.academia.edu/GriffithHistory). I have also organised and found funding for a History postgraduate symposium, and also negotiated for a special issue of Limina (refereed journal) to be produced from the symposium.
2013-15 : Convened ‘Thesis to Postdoc’ seminars for Griffith RHD students featuring visiting scholars I had brought from Sweden and France to facilitate research collaborations.
2014-16 : Program Convenor of the Graduate Certificate in World Historical Studies through Open Universities Australia (an online consortium of Australian tertiary institutions).
2015 : Interviewed about the intellectual history of political Corruption for ABC Radio National ‘Rear Vision’ program, 10 May 2015. <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/confusing-corruption/6431088>
2009-15 : Convened a series of international symposia at Griffith featuring scholars from the UK, USA, France, Sweden and across Australia. Topics include: ‘The Death Scene: Perspectives on Mortality’ (2009), ‘On Noise’ (2011), ‘Listening for Civility 1700-1800’ (2013), ‘Sound, Space and Civility, 1700-1850’ (2014), and ‘The Global and Colonial Circulation of Knowledge, 1500-1800’ (2015).
2010- : Referee for ARC Discovery, Future Fellowships and Early Career Researcher grant applications (continuing).
2011-15: International assessor for grant applications to the Israel Science Foundation (2015) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2011).
2005- : International Assessor for grant applications to the Marsden Fund, NZ.
Referee for manuscripts and book series proposals on corruption (Palgrave 2011), on tyrannicide (Manchester University Press 2011), and colonial frontier violence in Australia (University of Queensland Press 2009). Since 2003, I have refereed scholarly papers submitted to History of Political Thought, Millennium, The European Legacy, Journal of International Political Theory, Australian Historical Studies, Colonialism and Colonial History, The Australian Journal of Political Science, Law, Text and Culture, Political Science, Critical Studies on Terrorism, History of the Human Sciences, Review of International Studies, Australian Journal of Politics and History, American Philosophical Quarterly, and Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference.