Find out about the work of our 2022 Fryer Library Fellows Dr Keyvan Allahyari, Dr Stephen Townsend and honorary Fryer Library Fellow Emeritus Professor Peter Roennfeldt.
About the Fellows and their research
Dr Keyvan Allahyari
Fellowship research
'Peter Carey and UQP: Australian Literature in the global marketplace 1974–2000.'
Dr Allahyari investigates the Peter Carey Papers and the University of Queensland Press Records to recount how UQP promoted Carey as a national author from the 1970s, a period of Australian cultural revivalism, through to the global publishing era of the 1980s and 1990s.
These years proved to be UQP’s golden age; under the general management of Frank Thompson (1961–1983) and Laurie Muller (1983–2003), as well as the editorial and publicity work of Craig Munro (fiction editor 1973–1980, publishing manager 1983–2000), the press grew from a small company focused on academic titles to a leading publisher for disseminating Australian literature in domestic and international markets.
This amounts to a significant case study on the cultural economics of Australian literature during the neoliberal shift in global publishing. Carey’s rise is particularly important as it overlapped with the termination of the Traditional Markets Agreement in 1974, and the developments in the literary industry that ensued in the final decades of the 20th century, including the merging of large multinational publishers, the popularisation of literary festivals and the growing influence of literary agents.
Peter Carey AO has generously supported this project by granting copyright over his unpublished material.
This fellowship will culminate in the publication of the book Peter Carey: The Making of a Global Novelist (Palgrave 2023). By bringing “an archival sensibility” to research, this book holds something of the personality of these collections: the animatedness of these letters, their humour and candour, and the passion of the makers of Australian literature in a cultural environment refreshingly different from ours.
Dr Allahyari plans to present his research at the Fryer Library through an article and a public presentation at the Fryer Library during 2023.
About Keyvan
Dr Keyvan Allahyari is an academic at the University of Melbourne. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the English department and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Global South Studies at the University of Tübingen in Germany, prior to his Fryer Library Fellowship in 2022.
Dr Stephen Townsend
Fellowship research
‘Athletes are not radicals’: Analysing the IOC’s record on Human Rights through the Avery Brundage Collection.’
Dr Townsend has been researching the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) record on human rights, focusing on the time during Avery Brundage’s presidency between 1952–1972.
In his project, he utilised the Fryer Library’s Avery Brundage Collection, which he describes as the only resource of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of only three in the world. The collection consists of 149 microfilm reels and includes Brundage’s personal papers, scrapbooks, photographs, awards, extensive files, minutes, and reports of the IOC and various North American Olympic and Sports Committees.
In September 2022, the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights was approved by the Committee’s Board. Examining the evolution from Brundage’s neutrality approach to the implementation of the new framework in 2022, this project provides a fascinating insight into changing philosophies and approaches to human rights in a major international organisation, and how this reflects changing attitudes within the community at large.
This is particularly timely considering the recent announcement that Brisbane will be hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic games, and is an example of the diverse Olympic and Paralympic-related research being conducted at UQ.
Dr Townsend’s research is also a feature of the revitalised UQ Centre for Olympic Studies, which will be launched in early 2023.
The results of Dr Townsend’s research will be published in a podcast, website, and through published journal articles during 2023.
About Stephen
Dr Stephen Townsend is a Sports Historian and Senior Research Officer in UQ’s School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences.
Emeritus Professor Peter Roennfeldt
Fellowship research
'Mayne Hall at the University of Queensland: A Venue Shared by Many.'
An Honorary Fryer Library Fellowship was awarded to Emeritus Professor Peter Roennfeldt, who is writing a book about the History of Mayne Hall at UQ. The modernist-styled Mayne Hall was designed by iconic Brisbane architect, Robin Gibson AO and opened in 1973.
Mayne Hall holds an important place in the memory of UQ staff, students, and the wider community. It has witnessed students celebrating at both ends of the continuum of their academic study at UQ - from orientation to graduation. Community organisations and the general public have also enjoyed social and musical events in this great hall throughout the years.
Research for the project has involved collecting oral history interviews of people familiar with Mayne Hall over these years and has drawn on various collections in the Fryer Library and the UQ Archives, including books, architectural plans, photographs, and ephemera.
In addition to the book arising from Prof. Roennfeldt’s Fryer Library Fellowship project, in 2023 the 50th anniversary of the opening of Mayne Hall will be celebrated with a series of events.
About Peter
Professor Peter Roennfeldt is a musician, historian, and Professor Emeritus at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
About the Fryer Library Fellowship
The annual Fryer Library Fellowship encourages scholars to visit The University of Queensland and offers an opportunity to explore and highlight collections within the Fryer Library for a research project.
The fellowships may involve the following subject areas for which the Fryer Library has collection strengths: Australian literature, Australian theatre, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Queensland Architecture, art and design, Australian history and political culture, Women’s studies, and Refugee studies.
At the end of the fellowship, the researchers share their findings through presentations and published works.
We thank donors to the Fryer Library for their generosity in helping to fund our Fryer Library Fellowship. Applications for the next round of the Fellowship will open in February 2023.