NZSA News and Events Archive 2007

Australasian Currents
1-3 November 2007
Memphis, Tennessee, USA


In keeping with the 2007 conference theme, "Currents", the 2007 Regular Session on Australasian Literatures at SCMLA will focus on "Australasian Currents." Our panel seeks to explore the current conversation occurring between people from the Australian, New Zealand, and South Pacific regions.

Of particular interest is how people from the Australasian region are using one or more form/s of creative expression (such as poetry, fiction, narrative, film, music, art, etc) as a vehicle to represent themselves and/ or others.

Topics include, but are not limited to how these creative endeavors have influenced and/ or critiqued religion, race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, minority histories, and cross-cultural relations. Papers discussing migrant and/ or expatriate writers of the region are also welcome.

Abstracts of no more than 500 words (including title) should be sent to Nicholas Birns AND Belinda Wheeler by 16 March, 2007. Please include institutional affiliation and contact information, including preferred email.

Missions & Colonialism Conference
Friday, 28 September 2007, 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Venue: University of Melbourne, Arts Faculty Function Room
5th Floor, John Medley Bldg

You are invited to join a one-day conference on the broad theme of
missions and colonialism. In recent years, there has been a renewed
interest in the role missionaries have played in colonising projects
throughout the world, informing new concerns about gender, race and
colonial governance. At this conference, papers will canvas a wide variety
of new research and emerging scholarship on topics including: the
civilising mission, gender and missions, cultural exchange between
missionaries and Indigenous communities, and the relationship between
missionaries and colonial regimes. Presenters will include postgraduates
and early career researchers as well as established scholars.

Registration is $15 a head and includes morning and afternoon tea and a
delicious lunch.

http://www.gradstudies.unimelb.edu.au/gradflash/current/section1.html

More information is available from Joanna Cruickshank, email:
joannarc@unimelb.edu.au, website: http://www.history.unimelb.edu.au

European Association for Studies of Australia
9th Biennial EASA Conference
26-30 September 2007
University of Roskilde and University of Copenhagen
Denmark


Translating Cultures: Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

The 2007 EASA conference represents a new point of departure in calling for submissions that consider New Zealand and Pacific as well as Australian topics. The conference theme echoes the Œtranslation turn¹ in cultural
studies. To translate is usually understood as the linguistic activity of turning from one language to another¹, but it also conveys the more deep-rooted etymological sense of to take over¹, or conquer¹. Translation is never simple or straightforward but raises complex questions about the nature of culture, knowledge and meaning. It also involves processes which have been instrumental in creating the literary, historical, political and social landscapes of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific across a broad spectrum. We particularly welcome submissions that are concerned with multiculturalism, migration, refugee issues, and indigenous studies. Equally, however, the theme can be brought to bear on disciplines as diverse as literature, theatre, the visual arts, history, the social sciences, language studies, law and media studies, and we therefore encourage a liberal and creative approach to Œtranslating cultures¹, ranging from the obvious to the off-beat.

The conference venue is to be shared between the University of Roskilde and the University of Copenhagen. Copenhagen will be staging a series of papers and lectures on the theme: Australia: What¹s Left? The purpose of this event is to offer a critical reflection on the shifting foundations of Australian political culture in the light of more than a decade of conservative Government. A number of prominent Australian intellectuals, artists and writers have been invited to consider Œwhat¹s left¹ of Aboriginal reconciliation, Œmulticulturalism¹, Asian engagement, Australian history and the Australian environment. It is not intended as an occasion for promoting a partisan cause, but rather an opportunity to come to grips with the very real political and social pressures that have transformed the temper of Australian life in recent years.

Accompanying event:
One day immediately after the conference will be devoted to the third EASA Postgraduate Seminar, where advanced students can discuss their work with experts in their field in a lecture cum workshop-format.

Organisers:

Mads Clausen, Centre for Australian Studies, Copenhagen University
Lars Jensen, Cultural Encounters, Roskilde University
Eva Rask Knudsen, Centre for Australian Studies, Copenhagen University
Kirsten Holst Petersen, Depts. of Cultural Encounters and English, Roskilde University
Ulla Rahbek, Centre for Australian Studies, Copenhagen University
Stuart Ward, Centre for Australian Studies, Copenhagen University
PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS
QUEEN’S POSTCOLONIAL RESEARCH FORUM
1ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
“Postcolonial Islands: Geographic, Theoretical and Human”


Queen’s Postcolonial Research Forum is hosting its first international conference at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd September 2007. Confirmed Plenary Speakers: Professor C.L. Innes (University of Kent) and Professor Paulo de Medeiros (University of Utrecht).

The theme of the conference, “Postcolonial Islands: Geographic, Theoretical and Human”, seeks to bring critical focus to three areas: the current realities of formerly colonized island nations; the existence of theoretical perspectives that are critical of or run counter to prevailing theories of the postcolonial; and the phenomenon of ‘foreign’ communities living within a dominant host community, whether of migrants, refugees or others who have left their countries of origin.

By analysing these areas it is expected that papers will highlight the problematic of specific entities (geographical islands or communities) and theoretical lines of thought that attempt to engage with ‘hegemonic’ geo-political realities without losing their own specificities, or that point to the omission of their own realities from dominant narratives that seek to explain (and export) the ‘globalized’ world.

Reflecting the multidisciplinarity of Queen’s Postcolonial Research Forum, and the multifaceted nature of the conference’s theme, we invite the participation of colleagues from any academic discipline who wish to participate in an exploration of the concept(s) of “Postcolonial Islands: Geographic, Theoretical and Human”. Furthermore, and in accordance with a genuine desire to learn from other colleagues’ research, we encourage not only presentations arising from ‘mature’ projects, but also ‘work in progress’ or more ‘exploratory’ work.

Queen’s Postcolonial Research Forum therefore welcomes abstracts of approximately 250 words in length for twenty-minute papers in English dealing with the themes outlined above. We would also welcome the organization of panels (consisting of three speakers and a moderator) dealing with specific issues related to the overall themes of the conference. Queen’s Postcolonial Research Forum foresees the publication of papers (expanded, revised and submitted to a peer-review process) in one or more volumes, according to principles of intellectual and theoretical coherence that will give such publications editorial consistency.

Please send your abstracts as a Word attachment by email to Dr Anthony Soares by Friday 16 March 2007. For further details please contact Dr Anthony Soares, or visit our website: www.qub.ac.uk/qprf.

The ORIGINS 2007 Symposium at Australia House
Friday 7th September 2007, 10am-5pm

10am-12.30 pm - Making indigenous theatre
Speakers list: Trevor Jamieson, David Milroy, Harriet Nordlund, Rosanna
Raymond, David Velarde, Michael Walling, William Yellow Robe
Moderator Ian Henderson (Director, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies,
University of London)

12.30pm - Indigenous film from New Zealand - Ian Conrich (Director of the
Centre for New Zealand Studies, University of London) will introduce and
show short films from Maori and Pacific Islands film-makers.

2.30pm - Indigenous voices: First Nations culture today
Speakers list: Trevor Jamieson, David Milroy, Harriet Nordlund, Rosanna
Raymond, David Velarde, Benny Wenda, William Yellow Robe
Moderator Jay Griffiths (Author: Wild: An Elemental Journey)

4.45pm - Film: Sunset to Sunrise (director Allan Collins)introduced by
Michael Walling

6pm-8pm - ORIGINS launch reception (invitation only)

The ORIGINS 2007 Symposium is a free event, hosted by Australia House.
Places must be reserved in advance: please email
workshops@bordercrossings.org.uk to reserve a place, or phone 020 8829 8928.

Colonial and Postcolonial Spaces: an Interdisciplinary Conference
6-7 September 2007
Kingston University, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, England
Call for Papers


The issue of space, both as located place and abstract notion, is central to the concerns of both colonial and postcolonial study. 'Colonial and Postcolonial Spaces' aims to investigate the diverse ways in which colonial and postcolonial cultures have engaged with and/or can be explored via the concept of 'space'. This is an interdisciplinary conference, and the organisers welcome papers that deal with colonial and/or postcolonial spaces from any theoretical approach or discipline or from any historical period. Themes and issues might include, but are not limited to:

- representations of boundaries/borders/crossings
- the connections between colonial and postcolonial spaces, abstract or
physical
- colonial and/or postcolonial geographies
- aesthetics and artistic space
- the relevance of theoretical spatial models to colonial and/or
postcolonial study
- individual 'spaces' such as journeys, nations, bodies, landscapes, built
spaces, and their re-imagining in colonial and/or postcolonial contexts

Proposals of 300 words, along with a short biography, should be submitted by sending an email attachment (MS Word) to fass-conferences@kingston.ac.uk

The deadline for proposals is June 31st 2007

The conference is organised by Dr Brycchan Carey, Dr Andrew Teverson, and Dr Sara Upstone from the department of English at Kingston University. Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Carey at the following address:

Dr Brycchan Carey,
Reader in English Literature
School of Humanities, Kingston University
Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)20 8547 7908
E-Mail: b.carey@kingston.ac.uk
Homepage:
http://www.brycchancarey.com/
Tolkien Down Under: The Art and Science of Magic in Middle-earth
The Tolkien Society & Tol Harndor
Saturday, 25th August 2007
Sydney, Australia
Call for Papers


This significant annual event in the Tolkien calendar is being held overseas for the first time in Sydney, Australia. With attendees travelling from around the world this will have an international festive feel.

The magic of Middle-earth is wide-ranging in scope and can cover not only all aspects of magic in the works of Tolkien but also the enchantment that Tolkien's writings have instilled in Tolkien fans far and wide.

Some potential topics for consideration might be:

. The limitations or laws of magic in Middle-earth
. The various forms of magic
. The supernatural
. Tolkien's magic compared to other authors of 'modern' fantasy
. Is Tolkien's magic mystical and without explanation or is there evidence
of science? How did the Inkling's view magic / science?
. The magic of words, spells, music and language
. The presence of magic in the classics such as Beowulf, The Kalavala, and
Edda.
. The effects of magic on events during the Ages. Was it pivotal?
. The differences in how magic was used and viewed by the various races
. The enchantment of Tolkien's writings
. The dark arts of Middle-earth and the corruption of magic
. Magic in a religious context

Papers should be either 20 or 45 minutes long to fit into half-hour or hour slots with time for questions/discussion. There may also be scope to accommodate a number of short 10 minute presentations. Please send the title, a short summary/abstract and the intended length to the Seminar organiser: Michael Kennedy, 27 Hennessy Lane, Figtree, NSW, 2525 or by e-mail to pacific@tolkiensociety.org.

 
5th GALWAY CONFERENCE ON COLONIALISM: SETTLER COLONIALISM
Centre for Irish Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway
27-30 June 2007


Settler colonisers come to stay. They seek to replace native peoples on - or, at least, displace them from - their land. Characteristically, the outcome is a conflictual coexistence through which indigenous and invasive societies historically transform one another. In addition to the classic sites of European settler colonialism (Ireland, the Americas, Africa, Australasia), settler colonialism structures relationships as historically and culturally diverse as those between Israelis and Palestinians, Japanese and Ainu, Chinese and Tibetans, Indonesians and Papuans, 'Americans' and Hawaiians, Tswana and Khoi-san.

We invite conceptual, comparative, transnational, or locally focused contributions to a wide-ranging interdisciplinary discussion of settler colonialism and indigenous alternatives, past and present. Thematically, papers might address issues such as: native resistance and survival; cultural adaptation and renaissance; invasions and frontiers; sovereignties (titles, treaties, terra nullius, etc.); middle grounds, interludes, spaces of mutuality; internal colonisation; assimilation; race and place (the Pale, reservations, urban zoning, segregation, etc.); settler colonialism and the question of genocide; reparation and reconciliation; diaspora/exile; indigenous people and multiculturalism; settler and indigenous literature; gender; social class; religion; political economy, economics, and colonisation.

A central part of the Conference will be devoted to Ireland which was unusually both a site and a source of settler colonialism. Issues addressed might include: Ireland as settler colony; the 'Plantations'; Ireland as 'mother country'; the Irish as random emigrants or systematic colonisers; missions and Ireland's 'spiritual empire'.

Papers should be no longer than 20 minutes. Please send an abstract, of not more than 300 words (electronic submissions preferred), to irishstudies@nuigalway.ie before 1 February 2006.
Antipodean Childhoods: Growing up in Australia and New Zealand
Seminar at Innsbruck University, Austria
Friday 22 \AD Saturday 23 June 2007


The idea of childhood is necessarily dependent on some notion of 'otherness,¹ which, in turn, is subject to special inflections in (post)colonial contexts. Whether in settler, migrant or indigenous communities, children tend to be ascribed a space of their own, mostly outside but never independent of that of adults. How do adults administer
this space imaginatively and practically? How does this administration express itself in literature, the arts, film, education, legislation, politics, Š? Which concepts of childhood underlie these expressions? What developments do they reflect? Which have they caused? How has the particular demographic composition and history of Australia and New Zealand affected such developments?

We encourage contributors to toy with a variety of angles as they place the antipodean child at the centre of their investigations.

Please send a title, an abstract of 150 \AD 250 words and a brief autobiographical note to either Ulla Ratheiser or Helga Ramsey-Kurz.

Submission of abstracts by 31 March 2007.
(LAND)SCAPES & REFLECTIONS IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
An International Conference to be held at the University of Caen
Basse-Normandie - France
14 & 15 June 2007

A (land)scape does not just spring up into existence, and is no absolute either. In it, through it, a certain culture, and desires express themselves, a subject is speaking, discourses are interwoven and disseminated. Our conference will endeavour to sketch the many crisscrossings which happen in a landscape.

One of the objectives of this conference will be to avoid descriptions ‹ apart from what concerns their functions. We will not piece together a landscape-patchwork. Rather, we will question the forms given to such or
such (land)scape, going beyond first sights. What has set, exactly, in that form? What reflections does it set into play? We will work on the heterogeneity, the crossings and transports which are at play in all (land)scapes.
- Thus may be pondered the question of the paradigm: is there an
original (land)scape? What models and combinations are at work ?
- Thus may also be pondered the question of the stuff a landscape is
made of.
- The question of the \AB present \BB of a (land)scape will also be raised.
- The question of its reasons, too.
- And many many more.

This conference can be imagined as the putting together of a practical and theoretical tool-box. Every speaker, examining one or a few expressed (land)scapes, will focus on the forms and modes of reflections which manifest themselves there. The wider the historical, geographical and critical fields represented in this conference, the richer the tool-box.

Please send your abstracts to Pascale Guibert before 20 November 2006. Notification of accepted panelists before the end of December.
"Representing Asia, Remaking New Zealand in Contemporary New Zealand Culture"
Asia New Zealand Research Cluster
University of Otago, New Zealand
2 June 2007


This special one-day symposium on Saturday 2 June 2007 explores the ways in which the concepts Asia and New Zealand, Asian and New Zealander are being challenged and modified in contemporary art, music, literature, theatre, television and film. The seminar addresses both the role that Asian New Zealanders are playing in contemporary New Zealand culture and the increasing importance of Asian culture and representations of Asia in New Zealand arts and literature as a whole.

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. A short biography of no more than 200 words should also be included. Abstracts will be peer reviewed.

A Special Edition of the New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies in June 2008 will be devoted to selected papers from the symposium, as well as those by invited contributors.

Due date for submission of abstracts is: Friday, 16 March Please e-mail this information as an attachment in a Word Document to jacob.edmond@otago.ac.nz. Accepted abstracts will be posted on the Asia New Zealand website.

Details of the Conference
When: Saturday, 2 June 2007
Where: Arts Building, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Deadline for submission of articles (max. 8000 words)
1 September 2007
Style guide available upon request.

For further information, contact:
Dr. Jacob Edmond
Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Poetry
Department of English, University of Otago
Postal address: Dept. of English, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin
9054, New Zealand
Office location and address for FedEx/courier: 1S3, 1st Floor, Arts
Building, Albany St, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 479 7969
Fax: +64 3 479 8558
jacob.edmond@otago.ac.nz
http://www.otago.ac.nz/english/staff/edmond.html
Oceanic Popular Culture Association Conference
"Work and Play"
Honolulu, HI
May 25-27, 2007
Chaminade University of Honolulu


Panel and individual paper proposals are now being accepted for the inaugural Oceanic Popular Association Conference. While all topics and proposals will be considered, those treating the conference theme of "Work and Play" are particularly welcome.

Abstracts/Proposals due Feb. 28, 2007

Theorists as diverse as Michael Oakeshott and Erich Fromm have emphasized the transformative power of play and warned of the dangerous consequences of misconstruing the relationship between leisure and labor activities. With accelerations in communications technology such as email, cell-phones, and text-messaging, our workday has become unbounded, suffusing leisure time along with all other aspects of life. While many contemporary commercials extol the virtue of devices that allow us to work at home or on vacation, others exploit the fantasy of literally throwing one’s pager into the sea. Have these technologies granted us more leisure or accomplished an even more thorough subordination of play to work? Such concerns are particularly appropriate for an academic conference hosted in Hawai‘i, where our primary industry is for better or worse the labor of leisure. The conference theme of “Work and Play” invites discussions of labor and leisure as both discreet and entangled categories.
Prospective presenters may treat images of work and/or play in literature, film, television, music, and other media. The conference theme also accommodates interpretations of the various forms of “cultural work” performed by the text(s) at hand. In addition to offering textual analyses, presenters are welcome to discuss cultural practices and traditions that broadly intersect with the conference theme.

Please send 150-200 word proposals (email submissions only) by February 28, 2007 to conference organizers Cheryl Edelson and/or Stanley Orr
.
The Fourth Annual Tolkien Conference
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT
April 13-15, 2007

We are inviting submissions for papers relating to any aspect of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. We are particularly interested in papers on The Silmarillion (to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of its publication) and on Smith of Wootton Major (to honor Verlyn Flieger's recent annotated edition), though twenty-minute papers on any Tolkien-related topic are certainly welcome. The keynote speaker this year will be esteemed Tolkien scholar Douglas Anderson, editor of The Annotated Hobbit and of Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy.

Please send one-page abstracts by 2/5/2007 to Dr. Chris Vaccaro or to Dr. Michael Faletra.

Call for Papers and Expressions of Interest
for an Upcoming Symposium on "Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Representation, and Power in Colonial and Post-Colonial Cultures"
University of Queensland, Thursday 12 April 2007

Colonialism produces its fair share of celebrities, yet the meanings, forms, and functions of celebrities within colonial and post-colonial cultures have received little scholarly attention.

The Postcolonial Research Group of the University of Queensland invites expressions of interest in, and proposals for papers for, a symposium on Celebrity Colonialism to be held at the University of Queensland in April
2007.

This single-day symposium will explore the various and ambivalent relationships between the cultures of celebrity and colonialism. Who are the celebrities of colonialism and anti-colonialism? How do celebrities function within colonial and post-colonial cultures? In what way have various famous figures made their name through their celebration of or antagonism towards colonial and neo-colonial imperialism? How does the popular appeal of celebrity inflect the way (post-)colonial matters can be brought before and received by the public?

Proposals are invited for 20 minute papers that address this theme and may
include such topics as:

* Literary celebrity and the cultures of colonialism.
* Celebrity travellers and travel writers in colonized and
post-colonized spaces.
* Celebrity, the media, and (neo)colonialism.
* Celebrity and the discourses of benevolence in the colonial and
post-colonial world.
* Celebrity and resistance.
* Celebrity frauds and the representation of Others.

If you wish to present a paper, please send a 250 word abstract including the title of your paper to Dr Robert Clarke (School of English, Media Studies and Art History, University of Queensland), by Friday 20 October 2006.