About the Centre

Emotions shape individual, community and national identities. The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions uses historical knowledge from Europe, initially from the period 1100–1800, to understand the long history of emotional behaviours. The Centre was established in 2011 with a seven-year grant under the ARC Centres of Excellence program, and continued from 2018–2022 with funding from its node universities.

Fundamental Research Questions

“How do understandings, expression and performance of individual and mass emotions change over time?”
“How do we best understand the roles of nature and culture in the formation of emotions, both individual and communal?”
“How does the legacy of past emotional understandings and practices continue to influence politics, society and culture in today's Australia?”
“How have communal emotions and expectations shaped, and continued to shape, our individual and social lives, and our very conception of what it is to be human?”