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The Australian National University
Centre for Cross-Cultural Research
ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
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Research Programs

interrogating concepts of the cross-cultural
postcolonialism and cultural history
the cultural impact of transnational migrations and mobilities
visual and new media research across cultures
cross-cultural perspectives of contemporary art and society


Interrogating Concepts of the Cross-Cultural

Through this program, the CCR provides intellectual leadership in the area of cross-cultural research, an area of increasing significance across various disciplines. The term ‘cross-cultural’ has been widely used across the humanities and social sciences for a number of years without ever undergoing rigorous interrogation that would make it an evolved analytical and theoretical concept for interdisciplinary research. By ‘cross-cultural research’ we mean scholarship that is oriented towards tracing patterns of transaction and translation between cultures. Methodologically, such scholarship transcends conventional national and area studies frames of reference by recognising the increasing porousness of cultural boundaries. This program examines both the disciplinary and interdisciplinary ramifications of the term ‘cross-cultural’ in Humanities research. It does so by exploring the theoretical links between the notion of the ‘cross cultural’ as it has emerged in the disciplinary fields of anthropology, history, literary studies and linguistics, and contemporary conceptualisations of ‘cultural difference’ in the transdisciplinary fields of postcolonial, migration and globalisation studies.

Projects

  • Exploring processes of linguistic and cultural translation
  • Examining transnational flows within global intellectual movements
  • Cross-cultural perspectives in musicology
  • Cross-cultural comparative literary studies

Other research initiatives and outreach

  • Visiting Scholars Program, Challenges to Perform Cross-Culturally – focus on performative aspects of cross-cultural research (annual)
  • Six-Pack seminar series on Historicising Cross-Cultural Research (2004)
  • 10-day Visiting Scholars Program, Pigments of the Imagination – focus on conceptualizing and writing mixed-race global cultural histories; examination of vocabularies connoting cross-cultural contact and exchange such as ‘hybridity’ and ‘metissage’ (2004)
  • Fusion – a year of activities exploring the merging of artistic practices, cultural productions, and intellectual currents across disciplines; included symposia, exhibitions and musical performances. In association with ANU National Institute for the Arts and the National Portrait Gallery (2003)
  • Six-Pack seminar series on Translation: Crossing Over, Double Crossing, Witnessing – a series of six public seminars by experts in the field (2003)