UQ Postdoctoral Fellowships, 2008 (due 18 May 07)

UQ Postdoctoral Fellowships, 2008

The School of Social Science at The University of Queensland invites applications for a three year UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2008, to be awarded to early career researchers of exceptional calibre wishing to conduct full-time research in the School in any of its four disciplinary areas of anthropology, archaeology, sociology and criminology. The current salary range for the award is on a three-level scale from A$60,391– A$64,827 and the appointment is to be taken up as soon as possible after 1 January 2008.

Full details on eligibility and how to apply are available at
http://www.uq.edu.au/research/orps/uq-postdoctoral-fellowships-2008.

Please note that applicants need to demonstrate how their proposed research fits into the existing research strengths of the School (available athttp://www.socialscience.uq.edu.au) and to nominate a proposed supervisor with whom they will work. Prior to applying, it is imperative that a prospective applicant contacts both the proposed supervisor and the Head of School, Professor Geoffrey Lawrence g.lawrence@uq.edu.au, to ascertain whether the School is prepared to support the candidate’s application. If the supervisor and Head of School indicate that the candidate will receive support, the prescribed application forms should then be completed. The name of the applicant’s proposed supervisor must be indicated on the application form and referee reports.

Applications should be addressed to:
Professor Geoffrey Lawrence
School of Social Science
The University of Queensland
Brisbane Queensland 4072
AUSTRALIA

Initial inquiries should be directed to the prospective supervisor or the Chair of the School Research Committee, Dr Lynda Cheshirel.cheshire@uq.edu.au

Closing Date
Applications must be received by 18 May 2007. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by August 2007.

TOUR - Spring Tour of Canberra organized by the Chinese Australian Historical Society (29-30 September 2007)

You are invited to join a Spring Tour to Canberra on 29 and 30 September 2007, organized by the CAHS with the cooperation of the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia.

See the flyer below for details and booking form.

If you book as an early bird by 1 May 2007, for $200 per person, twin share, you will receive:

• return travel between Sydney and Canberra, and transport between venues within Canberra, by luxury coach,
• twin share accommodation in Canberra with a cooked breakfast on the Sunday morning,
• entry to functions at the National Archives and the National Library as well as the CAHS event on the Saturday afternoon,
• a delicious banquet in one of Canberra's restaurants serving great Chinese food,
• informative talks an Chinese Australian history, resources for Chinese Australian community and family history available in Canberra and how to access and use them
• and above all a lot of fun, good cheer, and companionship.

So come and join us, and take advantage of a great discount as an early bird booking and paying by 1 May 2007. Bring your family and friends to learn about the history of your Chinese Australian family.

>> Download Flyer for Canberra Tour (148KB).

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS - USING LIVES: A POSTGRADUATE WORKSHOP IN BIOGRAPHY (Due 26 May 2007)

Using Lives: A Postgraduate Workshop in Biography

3-7 September 2007, Canberra

Are you using lives in your research, exploring the biographical dimensions of your subject, or drawing on the methods and objectives of life history?

The ANU’s Australian Dictionary of Biography, the History Program, RSSS and the Humanities Research Centre in the Research School of Humanities, are joining with the National Museum of Australia to convene the second ‘Using Lives’ postgraduate workshop, to be held in Canberra on 3-7 September 2007.

Applications should take the form of a summary of your research and the stage your are at in preparing your thesis, and an endorsement from your head of department. These applications should be sent by 26 May 2007 to: Nicholas Brown, History Program, Research School and Social Sciences, Australian National University, ANU, ACT, 0200; or to Nicholas.brown@anu.edu.au.
For further information, contact Nicholas at this email address or on 02 6125 3052.

BOOK LAUNCH - Seri Lao (Liverpool Regional Museum, NSW; 5 May 2007)

Seri Lao collects shared stories from the refugee community that lived through one of he most traumatic periods in Lao history. The book captures their vivid memories of fears, hopes, disappointments of broken hearts and delights of dreams fulfilled in the new country. It also highlights the impact of the historic changes in Australia’s policy towards refugees.

Through its narratives about displacement, Seri Lao offers a celebration of the lives while acknowledging the grief that still remains in many of the hearts of Lao-Australian refugees.

WHERE: Liverpool Regional Museum, Cnr Congressional Drive and Hume Highway, Liverpool
WHEN: On Saturday 5 May
TIME: From 2 – 4 pm
COST: Free event with Lao performance and exquisite snacks.

RSVPs appreciated by Thursday 2 May - Phone: (02) 9824 1121,
email: reception@casulapowerhouse.com

>> Download full Seri Lao invitation PDF (321KB).

Winter Workshop: Writing Self/Representing Other: Migration, Mobility and Travel - (closing date 30 April)

Winter Workshop: Writing Self/Representing Other: Migration, Mobility and Travel

12 – 15 July 2007

University of Wollongong

The Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS), with the support of the Asia-Pacific Futures Research Network (APFRN), is calling for applications from PhD students and Early Career Researchers at Australian universities to participate in the third CAPSTRANS Winter Workshop for Doctoral Students and Early Career Researchers. This year the theme of the workshop is Writing Self/Representing Other: Migration, mobility and travel.

The aim of the Workshop is:

• To explore recent work which critically engages with the question of writing/representing the subjects of research;
• To assist doctoral students and early-career researchers to enhance their academic knowledge and expertise in relation to research methodologies; and
• To provide opportunities for targeted reading and writing exercises that allow participants to explore different writing techniques.

This 3 day workshop will be convened by CAPSTRANS Director, Associate Professor Lenore Lyons. The workshop will provide an opportunity to explore the methodologies, approaches, and negotiations which underpin research relationships, dialogues and exchanges in the ‘field’. By focusing specifically on research which explores migration and other forms of mobility, we seek to critically engage with the issue of power in research relationships which are characterised by a diversity of subject positions (marked by class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality) as well as temporal and spatial shifts (for both researcher and researched).

Applications will be considered on a competitive basis.

The closing date for applications and referee's reports is 5pm, Monday 30 April 2007.

Further information is available at

http://www.capstrans.edu.au/resources/conferences/2007/conferences-2007-winterworkshop.html

Enquiries to Associate Professor Lenore Lyons, Director, CAPSTRANS

(Lenore_Lyons@uow.edu.au), Phone: 61 2 4221 4894

AWARD - The Iremonger Award for Writing on Public Issues (Entries close 31 August 2007)

Entries are now open for The Iremonger Award for Writing on Public Issues.

Do you know anyone who has a great idea for a non-fiction book? One that will contribute to public debate on a contemporary Australian political, social or cultural issue? Then let them know about The Iremonger Award, sponsored by Allen & Unwin, Australia's leading independent publisher.

The winning entry will receive a cash prize of $10 000, guaranteed publication, royalties on book sales and editorial support to develop the proposal into a finished manuscript.

Entries close 31 August 2007.

For more information, including entry form and conditions as well as a list of previous winners, visit Allen & Unwin's website at:

http://www.allenandunwin.com/awards/iremonger_award.asp

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS - University of Queensland (Deadline: 18 May 2007)

Applications must be received by the appropriate School/Centre or Institute by 18 May 2007.

The University of Queensland invites applications for a limited number of Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in 2008, to be awarded to persons wishing to conduct full-time research at the University in any of its disciplines.

For full information, visit the 2008 UQ postdoc fellowships page.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - The State We're In (Deadline: 20 April 2007)

Prison populations are bulging in Western neo-liberal 'democracies'. Welfare reform is said to address the problem of the over-burdened state, and to liberate individuals from state-dependency. The Australian flag is draped across sunburnt backs and hoisted high in suburbs and towns. The anti-terrorism squad arrests people for taking part in a protest. Queer groups demand the state recognises their relationships. What a state we find ourselves in...

Editors Eve Vincent and Mark Pendleton are calling for contributions for an anthology of critical writing: The State We're in: State Power, the Nation State and States of Being.

Sends us ideas for submissions that deal with: police powers, the war on terror, surveillance, citizenship, national identity, sovereignty, everyday life, identities, pleasure, state-centred political discourses, anti-statist politics, and more.

A variety of formats and lengths will be considered. Think: essays, analysis, interviews, profiles, case studies, photo essays. You should write for a non-academic, intelligent general audience.

Final submissions will be between 2,000-5,000 words. No fiction, definitely no poetry.

Get in touch with us with your ideas by 20 April at: thestatewerein@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE - Creation of an Australian Literature Compendium Announced

ABC Radio National and the University of Technology, Sydney have received $150,000 to fund a joint project developing audiences for Australian literature.

The multimedia project - Australian Literature Compendium - will use pod-casts, an e-journal, and DVD teaching guides to encourage the study and appreciation of Australian literature.

>> FULL PRESS RELEASE (PDF; 163KB)

The project will be launched during the Sydney Writers’ Festival. For more information or media contact gallacher.lyn@abc.net.au or catherine.cole@uts.edu.au

Phone: Catherine Cole 61-2-9514 2713

NEW ISSUE - AEN Journal - Information Technology and Ethnic Communities (2.1, April 2007)

AEN Journal: Information Technology and Ethnic Communities
Volume 2, Issue 1-April 2007
Edited by Andy Williamson and Ruth DeSouza
http://journal.aen.org.nz

This issue of AENJ is about potential. It's about the way the internet and mobile telecommunications are changing the way our society thinks, links and functions.

Access to the information and communication channels available through these networks puts us in a new space, where New Zealand's tyranny of distance is both diminished and amplified. The internet makes globalisation a reality but it magnifies the local and it has enormous potential to connect and support communities, particularly those who are otherwise disadvantaged.

In this issue, we've attempted to present a range of perspectives that show the potential for how ICTs can be harnessed by different communities-whether they are communities of place, interest, faith or ethnicity.

We hope that this will energise and inspire, helping ethnic communities generate new collective ideas about the value, function and potential of ICTs. Our hope is that the writing in this issue will inspire and educate, demonstrate some good ideas and help some of us to make fewer mistakes. Above all, we hope it will motivate ethnic communities in Aotearoa to recognise the value of ICTs and seize every opportunity to adopt and use them effectively.

The AEN Journal is an open access online journal, available free at journal.aen.org.nz

JOBS: Sessional academic work available with the Communications and Writing team at Monash's Gippsland Campus. Announced 4 April 2007

Sessional academic and casual marking work available in Communications & PR.

The Communications and Writing team at Monash's Gippsland Campus is seeking sessional academics for tuition and/or marking in any of the following areas:

* first year communications and media studies

* communications and cultural policy

* theories of media, culture and power

* public relations

Expressions of interest are invited from those enrolled in (or who have completed) a higher degree by research in the fields of communication/media/cultural studies, public relations or a related area. Prior experience in marking in the above areas is desirable but not essential.

Detailed subject guides are provided, along with comprehensive marking guides and support from full-time academic staff.

Markers do not need to travel to the campus – assignments can be sent and returned via mail.

Interested? Contact Dr Sue Yell on: sue.yell@arts.monash.edu.au

AASRN EVENT REMINDER - AAI 2 Earlybird registration closes 27 April 2007

The deadline for earlybird registrations for "AAI 2: The 2nd Asian Australian Identities" conference is Friday 27 April 2007.

For registration forms or to pay online, visit our registration page. http://www.asianaustralianstudies.org/AAI2/registration.html

Further information, including speakers and invited guests, can be found at the AAI 2 website: http://www.asianaustralianstudies.org/AAI2

CONVENORS: Jacqueline Lo (ANU) and Tseen Khoo (Monash U)

AASRN EVENT CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - The Asian Australian Occasion (U of Queensland, St Lucia; 18 May 2007)

An Asian Australian Occasion Event at UQ Brisbane will be held during Diversity Week on Friday 18 May 2006 from 11am to 4pm.

Films are in English, Vietnamese and Cantonese languages.

Panelists include Dr Jacqueline Lo, Assoc.Prof. David Ip, Alan Han, Anna Yen, Benjamin Law and Ben Cho.

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: Submissions are now invited for short paragraphs (up to 250 words) for the event booklet on "Your most favourite, desired or loathed Asian Australian screen scene." Deadline 16 April 2007.

For more info visit the event's website or email: i.willing@uq.edu.au

CALL TO REGISTER - The Case of Bollywood (Visiting Scholars' Program, ANU; 24-27 July 2007)

Visual Cultures and Global Vernacularisms: The Case of Bollywood
A four-day Visiting Scholars Program, Research School of Humanities
The Australian National University, Canberra
Tuesday 24 to Friday 27 July 2007

Convened by: Debjani Ganguly, Research School of Humanities, and Rochona Majumdar, University of Chicago

The Visiting Scholars Program (VSP) will explore the impact of non-western visual genres on global popular culture through analyzing the emergence of Bollywood as a global film and culture industry since the 1980s. It will also examine new ways of theorizing the impact of vernacular/non-western visual cultures on film and material culture studies.

This four-day workshop is aimed at graduate students and early career researchers with an interest in global visual cultures with a specific focus on Asian film melodrama. But other scholars who have been exposed to this film form in the Australian public sphere and have an interest in knowing more about it are also welcome to register. A maximum of 25 scholars will be accepted. The program will include lectures, discussions and presentations, with the final day devoted to responses from participants. Several international experts and professional practitioners in the field will give special presentations. All sessions will include clips prepared specially for this workshop that will provide critical visual illustration of the analysis offered. The scholars will be provided with a packet of readings.

To register and for more information go to: http://www.anu.edu.au/culture/events/visualglobalvsp/index.php

Registration fees: Students $200, Other participants $250

Registration enquiries: karen.westmacott@anu.edu.au, T: (02) 6125 2263
Academic enquiries: debjani.ganguly@anu.edu.au, T: (02) 6125 9877

CFP: (Un)Making Queer Worlds: Transformations in Asia-Pacific Queer Cultures at Melbourne University (Due: April 27 2007)

CONFERENCE: (Un)Making Queer Worlds: Transformations in Asia-Pacific Queer Cultures
Roundtable Workshop for Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers.

Graduate Centre, University of Melbourne

Parkville, Victoria, Australia (June 22-23, 2007)

Call for Papers

Proposal deadline: April 27 2007

Since 2000, intellectual interest in Asia-Pacific queer cultures has surged. This surge responds partly to the new visibility of non-normative sexual and gendered subjectivities in the Asia-Pacific and its multiple diasporas. Along with the new thinking around Asian/Pacific sexualities and genders come various contestations: in particular, the fine distinction between understanding A/P sexual cultures as part of an emerging ‘queer globality’, and the tendency to subsume them under a developmental model that places the ‘West’ as the vanguard of, or bad example for, the ‘rest’. Collaborations between queer studies, post-colonial studies, and post-structuralist critiques have shed light on the contemporaneity and historicity of each local queer culture in the Asia-Pacific. But although such effort to carefully describe geographical or local queer particularities is invaluable, locality does not subsist in an insular manner, but is always relational. ‘Glocal’ queer theory marries the specificity of locality with the context of globality. Additionally, the economic processes of globalisation have been accompanied by—indeed, in some cases actively promoted—mass migration, warm body exports and brain drains, particularly from the Asia-Pacific regions, that have temporarily and permanently dislocated individuals and families from their homelands. In such instances the ability to locate ‘local sexualities’ is brought to the fore just as it proposes new difficulties for the analysis of sexuality along national, regional lines, particularly in Australia. And if sexualities and genders are ‘glocal’, then so is capital. Understanding the nexus between glocal capital and sexual subjectivities through their localised and diasporic trajectories is, at bottom, about the political stakes of queer survival in a neoliberal world.

(Un)Making Queer Worlds tackles these important questions directly by bringing together scholars for a two-day roundtable workshop at the University of Melbourne, Australia. The workshop is particularly interested in proposals from postgraduates and Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

Confirmed speakers:

Associate Professor Peter A. Jackson will deliver a keynote address on Friday June 22. Dr Jackson is the Deputy Convenor and Senior Fellow, Division of Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University in Canberra. He is the author and editor of numerous publications on genders and sexualities in Thailand and elsewhere, including Lady Boys, Tom Boys, Rent Boys: Male and Female Homosexualities in Contemporary Thailand (Haworth Press, New York, 1999) and Multicultural Queer: Australian Narratives (Haworth Press, NewYork, 1999).

Submission of abstracts:

What we’re looking for: We seek participants investigating how various Asia-Pacific constituents are (un)making trajectories of queer world and globality. We encourage papers that employ interdisciplinary approaches. We hope that (Un)making Queer Worlds will contribute to the ongoing elucidation of constantly evolving Asia-Pacific queer cultures and their global articulations.

Workshop format:

Featured participants will be asked to circulate their papers a week in advance of the workshop. Participants will be allocated a one-hour session to present a paper (20-30 minutes) and engage in discussion. As this is a postgraduate and ECR event, registration is free of charge.

Please submit abstracts of 450-500 words to

unmaking-worlds@unimelb.edu.au by April 27 2007.

Keep in mind that papers presented will be circulated before the workshop.

Circulated papers should be no more than 6000 words in length.

Important dates:

Proposals due: 27 April 2007

Speakers confirmed: Monday May 7

Deadline for papers to be submitted: Monday June 4

Papers circulated: Monday June 11

Workshop: Fri/Sat June 22-23

For more information, to register or to submit a paper proposal, please email:

unmaking-worlds@unimelb.edu.au or go to

http://www.english.unimelb.edu.au/postgraduate/unmaking_worlds.html

(Un)Making Queer Worlds is a project jointly initiated by the Cultural Studies Program, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, and the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney. We acknowledge the support of the Cultural Research Networkof the ARC and the School of Graduate Studies, University of Melbourne.

CFP - Edited book on Changes in Chinese Families (Deadline: 15 April 2007)

At a recent “Doing Families” workshop at the Hong Kong University, there was a consensus among workshop participants that families in Hong Kong had undergone tremendous changes, in terms of size, composition, relationships among family members, division of housework, intergenerational exchange and support, to name just a few. Similar changes may also be taking place in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Chinese diaspora.

In 2005, Chan Kwok Bun and Odalia M.H. Wong assembled five papers on Hong Kong families for a Special Issue of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues, titled “A Thematic Issue on New Trends of Hong Kong Families.” We think it is time to put out a scholarly monograph on the Chinese families (including those in the Special Issue). By Chinese societies, we refer to mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Macao, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora.

This is an open invitation to anyone interested in having his/her paper considered for publication in our edited book.

Routledge could be an option as a publisher. Please send abstracts/manuscripts to Chan Kwok-bun (ckb@hkbu.edu.hk) or Odalia M.H. Wong (odalia@hkbu.edu.hk) on or before April 15, 2007.

CFP - "Rebel" Issue of Peril (Deadline: 30 April 2007)

=== REMINDER ===
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - "Rebel" Issue of Peril

"Hey! What are you rebelling against?"

"What've you got?"

We at Peril, an online Asian Australian journal, are seeking your submissions for our 3rd issue that's themed as "Rebel."

Feel free to challenge the theme. Oh, and feel free to interpret 'rebel' as noun, verb or both. Been resisting authority lately? Fending off, or embracing, the Model Minority tag? This issue of Peril focuses on the ways we might buck expectations. What does 'rebellious' or 'rebellion' really mean? What does it mean to be 'anti-'? Are there anti-rebels? What are you rebelling against? With or without a cause, show us what you can rally.

You don't have to be Asian Australian to be a Peril contributor, and your submission might not have to reference Asian (Australian) identity either. It's a tricky thing, identity. Surprise us. Make us want to publish you.

We accept:

• Articles, essays, short stories, poetry, diary entries, zine excerpts, reviews, letters and any other type of text that you want to try out.
• (Audio)/Visual art that can be accommodated on our website (please email us for further queries). For example: comics, mp3s, photography, line drawings, flash animations, short-films, etc.
• Links to your online work (e.g. relevant blog posts).
• Anything else you can think of, as long as it's suited to the practicalities of the online medium.

Word limit: We would prefer a maximum of 1000 words per submission. Longer submissions may be serialised over two or more editions.

Publication date: This issue of Peril will be launched in June 2007 to coincide with AAI 2: The 2nd Asian Australian Identities Conference (28-30 June 2007; Melbourne, Vic).

Deadline: We require your submission on or before 30 April 2007.

Format: We prefer plain text submissions by email - peril@asianaustralian.org

Payment: As a start up journal, unfortunately we cannot offer you payment. However, we are working hard to ensure that your work can reach a wide audience and be published alongside pieces from other outstanding writers.

Copyright: All copyright remains with the creator. We do not insist on being the first to publish your work so feel free to submit already published material or stuff submitted elsewhere.

Check us out at http://www.asianaustralian.org

CFP: Conference - Negotiating the Sacred IV: Tolerance, Education and the Curriculum to be held 1-2 Sept 2007 (Deadline for abstracts: 1 June 2007)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Negotiating the Sacred IV: Tolerance, Education and the Curriculum. A two-day conference and edited collection

Education may be considered central to the development of a tolerant society.

A cross-disciplinary conference on the theme of Tolerance, Education and the Curriculum will be held on September 1-2, 2007, at the Research School of the Humanities, Australian National University. A publication associated with the conference, but not limited to papers presented at it, is also planned. Papers addressing the conference themes where the author cannot present are welcomed.

Submission dates:

Deadline for abstracts: 1 June 2007
Deadline for papers: 28 September 2007

Key note speakers:

Professor Susan Mendus, Political Philosophy, University of York, UK Associate Professor Philip Cam, Philosophy, University of New South Wales, President, Asia-Pacific Philosophy Education Network for Democracy.

Conference themes:

In Intolerance, the Ecoli of the Mind, Donald Akenson argues that the education system was one of the main institutional structures that maintained sectarian intolerance within Ireland. According to Akenson, the creation of a secular education system was one of the great social experiments designed to break down these social divisions. One of the elements was administrative, involving non-denominational, or mixed, schools, and the other involved a centralised curriculum that had been approved by major religious groups and promoted civic virtue. Is a secular, non-denominational education system the best means of breaking down intolerance? Does this involve the provision of an environment that is free from all religious symbolism and doctrine? Should state education systems centralise the curriculum? This may be considered a form of justified paternalism in relation to education, but may it be equally considered an imposition of a specific form of materialism?

What is the role of teaching history and comparative religions in promoting tolerance and liberal freedoms? Does the teaching of comparative religion lead to the idea that moral values are relative to culture and religion, and does relativism promote tolerance or undermine it? Is the point of comparative religion an exercise in providing students with a means of comparing and evaluating different value systems, and hence promoting individual choice and autonomy? Alternatively, is the point of teaching comparative religion to dispel prejudices that are the basis of intolerance?

Liberal toleration is not a form of relativism because it requires 'a ranking of ultimate values that supports the authority of peace, freedom, and public reasonableness' (Macedo, 1993: 625). According to Stephen Macedo, 'for a religious toleration and political co-operation to be stable, our shared values and aims must be more important than our disagreements' (626). Similarly, John Dewey considers the expression of common interests as a criterion for evaluating social life, and reliance upon recognition of mutual interests as a factor in social control (Cam,In-Suk Cha ed., 2000). Should the promotion of tolerance as a 'civic virtue' be a minimum requirement for public funding of religious schools? If tolerance is a virtue, can it be taught as a topic within the curriculum or does teaching it involve a kind of modelling or some other educational method for behaviour?

In 2004, France banned students from wearing headscarves and other markers of religious identity in public schools. According to the French authorities, this was justified on the grounds that state institutions should be secular. On one interpretation, freedom of religion and state tolerance merely requires that religious groups are not persecuted. On another interpretation, however, freedom of religion requires that the state provide exemptions for religious groups that enable religious observance (Bou-Habib, 2006). What is the difference between the state using religious symbols, and its citizens using them? Should state schools be rigorously secular? If so, should they provide opportunities for religious education and worship, or is this a private, parental responsibility? Does the failure to provide facilities for religious worship within public schools and universities create unreasonable barriers to equal access to education?

How responsive should schools be to pressure about the curriculum from religious and community groups? The issues that this question raises are highlighted by the debates over creationism within the school curriculum. In 1919, the World Christian Fundamentals Association was founded in the U.S.A. to oppose the teaching of evolution in public schools, and local schools and state boards of education were pressured to reject text books which included the theory. A ban on the teaching of evolutionism was considered in more than 20 state legislatures. It was not until 1968 when the U.S. Supreme Court found that state laws against evolutionism being taught were unconstitutional and that government powers could not be used to advance religious beliefs, that such bans were overturned. Since then, anti-evolutionists have sought for creationism to be taught along side evolutionary theory as an alternative scientific theory. There have also been calls for creationism to be taught in Australian schools. Should local schools be responsive to local pressure groups about what is included in the curriculum, and if so, should local groups be able to ban certain subjects from being taught?

Proposals for conference papers, including an abstract, and a short biographical description of the author should be submitted by 1 June 2007.

Papers of 5-6000 words should be submitted for the edited collection by 28 September. These should include an abstract, the paper, and a short biographical note.

All proposals and papers should be sent to Dr Elizabeth Burns Coleman. email: Elizabeth.Coleman@arts.monash.edu.au.

Conveners: Dr Elizabeth Burns Coleman, Faculty of Arts Postdoctoral Fellow, Monash University Dr Kevin White, Reader in Sociology, The Australian National University

This is the fourth conference in series on the theme 'Negotiating the Sacred'. Previous conferences have included: Blasphemy and Sacrilege in a Multicultural Society (2004); Blasphemy and Sacrilege in the Arts (2005); and Religion, Medicine and the Body (2006). An edited collection based on the first conference can be viewed at:

http://epress.anu.edu.au/nts_citation.html

Postgrad Travel Scholarships: Chinese Studies Association of Australia (Due 6 April 2007)

Postgrad Travel Scholarships: Chinese Studies Association of Australia

Small travel grants for CSAA conference 2007 in Brisbane, apply now!

The ANU Chinese Studies Graduate Summer School is offering three 260AUD travel grants for graduate students enrolled in Australian Universities who wish to travel to the 10th Conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia (Brisbane 27-29 June 2007).

The funding is provided by the ARC Asia Pacific Futures Research Network.

Applicants should be presenting a paper at the conference and not have obtained funding from other sources for the same purpose. The funding will only cover travel expenses, and the successful applicants will be refunded up to a maximum of 260 dollar against their travel documents.

Please address your enquiries and applications in an email to Dr. Luigi Tomba email: luigi.tomba@anu.edu.au tel: 02 61252993

Please indicate your name, address, contact details (email and phone number/s when available), institution where you are conducting research, name and contact of your supervisor, title and short abstract of your CSAA paper, a statement that you do not have access to other funding, and an estimate of your your travel expenses from your destination to Brisbane.

The deadline for applications is Friday 6 April.

PERFORMANCE: William Yang in China at Performance Space, Sydney (20-24 Mar)

William Yang in China at Performance Space @ Carriageworks, Sydney (20-24 Mar)

Preview 20 March, 8pm
Season 21 - 24 March, Wed - Sat 8pm, Sat Matinee 5pm
Bookings 9290 4614

Text & Images William Yang
Musician Nicholas Ng
Producer Performing Lines

For more information, visit: http://www.performancespace.com.au


About William Yang in China
"Yang is the consummate conversationalist, unassuming and congenial, as though talking in the intimacy of his lounge room." (Canberra Times). Photographer-storyteller William Yang returns to a motherland he never knew, the Australian-born Chinese a stranger in his homeland. Yang takes us from the streets of Beijing, where electronics superstores jostle with echoes of the Cultural Revolution and the Ming Dynasty, to the sacred mountain Huang Shan, a must-climb for every Chinese pilgrim-tourist. Part social documentary, part personal observation, China creates a meditative space, a journey of reflection for performer and audience alike. Yang’s wryly sensitive perspective, his eye for detail, and his arresting images come together with Nicholas Ng’s haunting live score for the erhu (Chinese violin), in an unforgettable theatrical experience.

INVITATION - Chinese Australian Historical Society event on Sydney, 31 March 2007

The Chinese Australian Historical Society is holding a luncheon on Saturday 31 March 2007 to celebrate the 85th Birthday of Arthur Gar Lock Chang, and to honour this year's awardees of the NSW Premiers Awards for Chinese Community Service.

You'll need to book in advance if you'd like to attend - RSVPs must be received by 28 March 2007.

>> View invitation and payment form.

AASRN ONLINE EXHIBITION PROJECT - Tracking Echoes of Home

Tracking Echoes of Home
An AASRN online project in association with Echoes of Home.

Tracking Echoes of Home is the online research resource for Echoes of Home: Memory and Mobility in Recent Austral-Asian Art.

An initiative of the Museum of Brisbane and curated by Christine Clark (Independent Curator and Exhibitions Officer, National Portrait Gallery), Echoes of Home features works by 14 Australian and Australian-based artists of Asian descent. The exhibition opened at the Museum of Brisbane in 2005 to critical and audience acclaim; and through Visions of Australia support, it tours nationally to selected metropolitan and regional venues between 2006 and 2008.

Convened by Dean Chan, this AASRN online project tracks the exhibition’s national tour in 2007-8. The project website provides a free access archive for this exhibition by collating curatorial essays, images of the artworks, and other resource materials. "Tracking Echoes of Home" is also a key aspect of the exhibition’s public program in 2007-8. Local responses to the exhibition at each of its touring venues will be invited and published online. These responses, which include contributions by AASRN members, provide a valuable record of the exhibition’s plural meanings and its diverse reception at the different locales.

>> View the Tracking Echoes of Home project website.
>> View Echoes of Home exhibition flyer (gif; 338Kb).

MASTERCLASS - John Urry (ARC Cultural Research Network events; Sydney and Adelaide)

Complexities and Mobilities

a Masterclass with Professor John Urry
Department of Sociology & Centre for Mobilities Research
Lancaster University

Two classes:

Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta, April 24-5, 2007

OR


Flinders University, function room, Adelaide, 1-6pm Monday, May 2, 2007

The ARC Cultural Research Network Identities and Communities Node is seeking applications from postgraduates and early career researchers who wish to take part in one of 2 Masterclasses with Professor John Urry. Each class will be limited to 20 participants who are engaged in research relating to the theme of ‘Complexities and Mobilities’. Participants will be chosen based on a competitive application process. The Masterclass will include a discussion of the work of Professor Urry and presentations from participants.

Theme:

This Masterclass will examine recent developments in two areas where Professor John Urry has been seeking to develop some new ideas for 'rethinking' the nature of social life. First, it will consider the possible strengths of the complexity sciences for examining the nature of 'social-and-material’ systems conceived of as complex, adaptive and co-evolving. This develops from Prof. Urry’s 2003 book on Global Complexity which sought to apply such notions to the ‘global’ and from the Theory, Culture and Society special issue on the complexity turn (2005). Second, we will consider one particular set of such systems, that is ‘mobility systems’. This discussion will draw from and develop his writings on specific systems (see the co-edited Automobilities, 2005, with Mike Featherstone and Nigel Thrift), on social networks (see Mobilities, Geographies, Networks, 2006), and on the more general attempt to ‘mobilise’ the social sciences as in the forthcoming Mobilities, 2007.

Details
Cost:

The masterclasses are free of charge to successful applicants, and include lunch and morning/afternoon teas. Participants travelling from outside the city in which the class is held will be eligible for travel and accommodation subsidies.

Applications are due by Monday 26th March, 2006.



Applications must include a completed application form that includes a 250-word summary of your research topic, highlighting links to the Masterclass theme, and a one-page curriculum vitae. Application forms and further information are available from Greg Noble at g.noble@uws.edu.au


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John Urry is Professor, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster. He was educated at Cambridge, with a BA/MA (double first) in Economics and a PhD in Sociology. He is currently Director of the Centre for Mobilities Research at Lancaster that has extensive links throughout the world relating to the study of physical movement and its interconnections with the ‘virtual’ and the ‘imaginative’ (see www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/sociology/cemore/index.htm, and www.cemore.blogspot.com).

Some recent books include Sociology beyond Societies, Routledge (2000), The Tourist Gaze. Second Edition, Sage (2002), Tourism Mobilities. Places to Play, Places in Play, Routledge (2004), Performing Tourist Places, Ashgate (2004), Automobilities (2005), Mobile Technologies of the City, Routledge (2006), Mobilities, Networks, Geographies (2006), Mobilities, Polity (2007).

EXHIBITION - Owen Leong at the Mori Gallery, Sydney (7-28 March 2007)

Owen Leong recently launched a major solo show of performance videos at Mori Gallery in Sydney.

Exhibition: 7 - 28 March 2007
Venue: Mori Gallery
Address: 168 Day Street Sydney NSW 2000
Hours: Wed - Sat 11 - 6

About Leong's style:
"Owen Leong mobilizes aesthetics of race, liminal states, abjection and transformation in contemporary art. Working with video, sculpture and installation his works harness simple gestures of the performing body with materials such as milk, honey, prosthetic wounds, and sugar antlers."

For more information about his work, visit Owen Leong's website.

CFP: Articles for "Australian Made - A Multicultural Reader (deadline: 25th June 2007)

CALL FOR PUBLICATION:

3500 to 5000 word articles for:

"Australian Made – A Multicultural Reader"

Edited by Sonia Mycak and Amit Sarwal

(Submissions deadline: 25th June 2007).

For more information please email:

amit.sarwal@arts.monash.edu.au