Postgraduate Profile

Emma Hamilton

PhD Candidate, School of Humanities and Social Science

Discipline: History
Faculty/Division: Education and Arts
Email: Emma.L.Hamilton@newcastle.edu.au
Campus: Central Coast Campus

Current Research

Thesis Title: Exploring Gender and History in the Western Film Genre.

Supervisors: Dr Josephine May and Dr Michael Ondaatje

Abstract:

This thesis aims to examine the intersections between gender, history and the functioning of historical film. It proposes that in Western films of the 1950s and 1960s masculine gender performance comes to physically embody notions of historical change or continuity between the represented on-screen past and the time of the filmic production. In so doing historical film functions in a complex way that connects the present of the viewing public with their historical past, thereby challenging the ways in which that past has been understood and made relevant to society. Contrary to popular perception it is argued here that Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s put forward a view of "demasculinisation" (the challenging and seeping out of standards of hegemonic masculinity) which exposes the pressures on masculine gender performance posed by changing economic, industrial, and social factors present both in the frontier past and in 50s/60s culture. These films also challenge the viewer to consider how gender construction links with national identity and the ways in which, despite mass change, patriarchy has maintained its structural dominance.

Academic Employment

  • 2010    
    • Tutor: HIST1051 The Australian Experience (Semester 1)
      Course Coordinator: Dr James Bennett
      School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle
    • Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association Postgraduate Representative 2010-2011
    • Research Assistant (casual) in relation to a project aiming to record and map live performances in the Hunter and Maitland region, 1845-1875. Funded by AusStage.
      Supervisor: Dr Gillian Arrighi
      School of Drama and Fine Art, University of Newcastle.
  • 2009
    • Tutor: HIST 1051 The Australian Experience (Semester 1)
      Course Coordinator: Dr Nancy Cushing
      School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle
    • Administrative Assistant (casual) for international conference: "A World of Popular Entertainments."
      Supervisors: Dr Victor Emeljanow and Dr Gillian Arrighi
      School of Drama and Fine Arts, University of Newcastle.
  • 2008 - 2009 
    • Research Assistant (casual) in relation to two projects: an entry into the Australian Dictionary of Biography
      Supervisor: Dr Josephine May
      School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle;
    • Research to support a book proposal on Australian legislation surrounding child performers
      Supervisors: Dr Victor Emeljanow and Gillian Arrighi
      School of Drama and Fine Arts, University of Newcastle.

 Education

  • 2009 - current   
    • Ph.D candidate in history, with Australian Postgraduate Award, University of Newcastle
      Thesis: "Exploring Gender and History in the Western Film Genre."
    • Received offers of Ph.D positions with Australian Postgraduate Award at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University
  • 2005 - 2008   
    • Bachelor of Arts (Honours First Class) University of Newcastle
      Thesis: "'Who Are Those Guys?' Exploring Gender and History in the Western Film, with special focus on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Publications

Forthcoming Chapter: "Children in Limbo: Representing 1950s Childhood and History in Smiley." To appear in the anthology Screening Australian and New Zealand Histories, editors, Dr. James Bennett and Dr. Rebecca Beirne.
2010 Conference Paper: "'Draggin' the Chain': Represent Linking Civil Rights and African American Representation in The Defiant Ones and In the Heat of the Night" [with Troy Saxby].

Awards

University Medal (2009), Faculty Medal (2009), Provisional University of Newcastle Research
Scholarship (2008), The Sarah Wheeler Award and Prize for outstanding achievement in History (for
both 2000 and 3000 Level in 2008; 3000 Level in 2007), and Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship for Academic Excellence, from the University of Newcastle, Australia.