18 March 2009

NEWS-BLOG RETIRED!

This news-blog is now retired.
The revamped AASRN website (aasrn.wordpress.com) now has its own "News" functionality and all Asian Australian Studies news + announcements will be updated there.

This news-blog remains as an archival resource, but will no longer be updated.

4 March 2009

NEW BOOK - The Dragon and the Taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand (Manying Ip)

The Dragon and the Taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand
Ed. Manying Ip

Auckland University Press

ISBN: 9781869404369

Analyzing for the first time the relationship between the tangata whenua and the country’s earliest non-European immigrant group, this study investigates how two different marginalized groups in New Zealand society—the Maori and the Chinese—have interacted over the last 150 years. Various aspects are explored, such as how Maori newspapers have portrayed Chinese publications and vice versa, the changing demography of Chinese and Maori populations, Maori-Chinese marriages, and the ancient migration of both groups. The ethnically diverse contributors—from Maori to Chinese to European scholars—tackle numerous questions from many angles as well, such as Do the Maori resent Chinese immigrants? Do Chinese New Zealanders understand the role of the tangata whenua? and Have Maori and Chinese formed alliances based on common values and history? The result is an engaging portrait of the past and present relationships between two important peoples. Since race relations in New Zealand have usually been examined in terms of Maori and Pakeha, this unique exploration of Maori–Chinese relations portrays a much richer and more complex social fabric.
==================
About the Editor:
Manying Ip came to New Zealand in 1974 from Hong Kong where her family lived for five generations. Her interest in Maori-Chinese interactions started from the mid 1980s when she conducted extensive qualitative interviews among the pioneering Chinese families, which grew ever stronger with the immigration and ethnic identity debates of the recent decade.
She is Associate Professor in Asian Studies at The University of Auckland and the author of several critically acclaimed books on Chinese in New Zealand. These include: Aliens At My Table: Asians as New Zealanders See Them (2005), Unfolding Identity, Evolving Identity: The Chinese in New Zealand (2003) as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters on issues pertaining to recent Asian immigrants. She is a respected advocate for Chinese communities living in New Zealand.

FESTIVAL - Indonesian Festa (15 March 2009; Immigration Museum, Melbourne)

Indonesian Festa
Sunday 15 Mar 2009
Immigration Museum, Flinders St, Melbourne


A festival celebrating the diversity of Victoria’s Indonesian community. Join in this one-day festival celebrating the diversity of Victoria’s Indonesian community, through performances, activities and food. From north to south and east to west – or, as the Indonesians say, “from Sabang to Merauke” – each of the more than 13,500 islands of the Indonesian archipelago has its own character and traditions.

Experience the breadth of Indonesian local cultures and customs, and see how the community continues to practise these in Melbourne and Victoria – the sounds of the gamelan orchestra, the taste of Indonesian food, shadow puppetry, as well as dances and crafts from various parts of the country.

You can learn some moves in a dance workshop, or have a go at pencak silat (a form of martial arts).

Sunday 15 Mar 2009
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Immigration Museum

** Free with Museum admission **

NEW POETRY COLLECTION - _Eighth Habitation_ by Adam Aitken (Giramondo Press)

ADAM AITKEN's new collection of poems, Eighth Habitation, is published this week by Giramondo Press.

The launch will be held at Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, on Sunday, 5 April 2009, 3.30 for 4pm. Marcelle Freiman will be launching the new publication.

The following is taken from the Giramondo site:

"Eighth Habitation takes its name from the Buddhist notion of purgatory, a mystic realm where the meaning of human lives are judged. The poems inhabit a range of landscapes and perspectives, in Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and China, with an empathy and understanding that suggests a consciousness imbued with an Asian sensibility. Blending the cosmopolitan, the traditional and the unexpected, in their accumulation of detail they register the dignity and resilience of a world recovering from personal tragedy and the trauma of history.

‘a lucid and finally lyrical voice… wholly original on the Australian scene’ - michael brennan

Adam Aitken grew up in London, Thailand and Malaysia, before coming to Australia in 1968. His collection Romeo and Juliet in Subtitles, was shortlisted for the South Australian Festival Award for poetry and the Age Book of the Year Award. Eighth Habitation is his fourth collection."

Poetry, Paperback, 160 pp, $24.95
9781920882464
Publication: March 2009

CFP - "2009 Australian Chinese Political Participation conference" (Deakin U, Melbourne; deadline: 29 March 2009)

Deakin University will be holding the 2009 Australian Chinese Political Participation Conference on 15-16 August 2009.

Venue: Burwood Campus, Deakin University

You can download an invitation and conference information sheet (both in English and Chinese) HERE [PDF; 220Kb].

It would be much appreciated if you could distribute this flyer to your colleagues or friends who might be interested in getting involved.

We hope to bring together people from various areas (including politicians, community leaders, and scholars ) to present and exchange their opinions on the relevant topics.

Their opinions, achievements and experiences are valued and important not only to academic study but also to political practice, especially the future practice of Chinese political practice.

Deadline for abstracts is 29 March 2009. Final versions of conference papers should be submitted by 26 July 2009. Please be advised that all preferred topics and brief abstracts of presentation can be emailed to me at shupin @ deakin.edu.au

We look forward to your participation in this great event of 2009 which may be one of the milestones in the history of Chinese political participation.

NEW NETWORK - Launch of the Indian Ocean and South Asia Research network at UTS

The UTS Indian Ocean and South Asia Research Network will be launched by Sujatha Singh, High Commissioner of India, as part of the "Intercolonial Networks; Oceanic Circulations: Rethinking the Indian Ocean" conference on Wednesday, 11th March, 5 pm. See conference documents below.

RSVP is required: cornelia.betzler@uts.edu.au

Directions to UTS Blackfriars: http://www.uts.edu.au/about/mapsdirections/citymap.html

Other events associated to the conference:

Monday, 9th March
Film Screening: NAATA (The Bond)
Anjali Monteiro & K.P. Jayasankar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, 45 min5 pm, TfC Bagel (Bldg. 3, Level 4, Room 4.02)

Tuesday, 10th March
TfC Lunchtime Talk: "Protean Constructions of Self and Nation: the Sea as Archive and Trope in Post-Apartheid South African Literature and Culture", Meg Samuelson, Stellenbosch University, SA12.30 pm, TfC Bagel (Bldg. 3, Level 4, Room 4.02)

==> D'load conference flyer HERE (275Kb; Word doc).
==> D'load conference program HERE (274Kb; Word doc).

18 February 2009

NEW BOOKS - Creative Nation, and Reading Down Under (New Delhi, SSS Publications)

1. Creative Nation: Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader

Edited by Amit Sarwal and Reema Sarwal

Preface by John Ramsland
New Delhi: SSS Publications, 2009

ISBN No. 81-902282-0-X

Pages: XLIX + 600; Dimension: 5.5" X 8.5" (Hardbound)

Price: US$ 45.00 (payment by redit card via PayPal (if buying one copy only):

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3147704)

(plus US$10 postage and handling charges per book)


==================


Reading Down Under: Australian Literary Studies Reader

Edited by Amit Sarwal and Reema Sarwal

Preface by Bill Ashcroft
New Delhi: SSS Publications, 2009

ISBN No. 81-902282-1-8

Pages: lxxvi + 634; Dimension: 7" X 9" (Hardbound)

Price: US$ 55.00 (payment by credit card via PayPal (if buying one copy only):

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3148251)

(plus US$15 postage and handling charges per book)


>> Visit the publisher's website: SSS Publications.

CALL FOR CHAPTERS - National Narrative and Country Branding: the US and China from a Comparative Perspective

Call for Book Chapters: National Narrative and Country Branding: the US and China from a Comparative Perspective

We are planning a book of essays that present fresh perspectives on the production of narratives about China in the United States (or about China-US relations) and about the United States in China. Obviously, this book would contribute to an already extensive literature, but there are always extraordinary episodes that change the process. We are in a post-Olympic, economic meltdown moment, and in a context with seemingly large scale political change. Who are the dominant actors and players, such as public intellectuals, media professionals, NGOs, the governments, business sectors, tourists and educators that tell such narratives and shape such perceptions and opinions? What are some of the most important processes in shaping stories and perceptions? What are the differences and similarities in terms of how actors shape perceptions and tell stories in both countries about each others?

We are calling for contributors to write book chapters that are historical, theoretical or include specific case studies. These could be about specific governmental efforts to alter public consciousness at home or in its counterpart on these questions. Ultimately, we seek varied voices on how national narrative toward the US in China and that toward China in the US are produced and reproduced by different players in social, political, economic, and cultural arenas in the context of increasing global information flows. The book should be about how the US and China produce and reproduce each other through various societal segments, including but not limited to educational programs, cultural exchange, economic sectors, the governments, non-governmental organizations, tourism and the media.

Now is an important moment to examine national narratives about the US in China and about China in the US. There are two overarching forces that motivate and shape this volume. The first is the continued rise of China as a global superpower, especially in the wake of the Olympics and in the context of the current, global financial crisis. The second is the Obama administration and its plans to re-engineer the image of the US abroad.

The book not only examines various narratives in flux, but also the processes and actors shaping the narratives. The three-part book volume will contain larger conceptual essays and detailed case studies. Part I deals with broader theoretical concepts regarding national narratives of the US in China and of China in the US by Chinese and American authors. In addition to general images, issues such as nationalism, patriotism, exceptionalism and universalism can also be addressed in this section. Part II discusses actors and processes in shaping national images and narratives and Part II are cases studies that are geared frameworks and concepts in Part I and Part II.

If you are interested, please send a 1000-word proposal to Hongmei Li and Monroe Price by March 5, 2009. We will make the final decisions by March 15. The book is planned for publication by the end of 2009.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival

The Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival is NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS!

The largest west coast Loving Day celebration kicks off the 2nd Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival on June 12 through 13, 2009. The Festival celebrates storytelling of the Mixed racial and cultural experience and brings together innovative artists, film and book lovers, and families for two days of writing and film workshops, readings, film screenings, a special family event and live performance by talented comedians, musicians and actors. All events are free and open to the public.

WE ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING FILM, LITERARY, LIVE PERFORMANCE, WORKSHOP AND EVENT SUBMISSIONS.

For submission requirements and more information, visit: http://www.mxroots.org

FELLOWSHIPS - Harold White Fellowships (National Library of Australia) Closing date: 30 April 2009

Applications for 2010 Harold White Fellowships at the National Library of Australia are now open, and close on 30 April 2009.

Each year several Harold White Fellowships are awarded to enable established scholars and writers to undertake research at the National Library for periods of between three and six months. The Fellowships provide a return economy fare to Canberra, a living allowance, a fully equipped office and special access to Library collections and services. Honorary Fellowships are also awarded to scholars and writers who do not require financial assistance but would benefit from other privileges associated with the Fellowship.

Research projects supported by Harold White Fellowships can be in any discipline or area in which the Library has strong collections. Past Harold White Fellows have undertaken research in fields including Asian studies, history of science, biography, media history, Australian history, musicology, religious history, anthropology, children’s literature, art history, politics, Indigenous history, Australian literature, Pacific studies, eighteenth century studies, geography, international relations and folklore.

Past Fellows have included leading Australian creative writers including Frank Moorhouse, Sara Dowse and David Foster.

Fellowships have been awarded to researchers working across Australia, in the USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Germany and South Africa.

More information, a link to the online application form, and contact details are available at www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - Lemuria (Deadline: 30 July 2009)

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: LEMURIA

Editor: Anurag Sharma
Co-editor: Pradeep Trikha

It gives us immense pleasure to inform you that the Department of English, Dayanand College, Ajmer proposes to bring out the next issue of Lemuria- A Half yearly Journal of Indo-Australian Studies in October 2009. We would welcome your scholarly self to kindly contribute an article/ book review/ write-up or creative piece for the issue.

THE DEADLINE FOR THE CONTRIBUTIONS IS 30th July, 2009.

For further information and details the following may be contacted:

Anuraag Sharma (sharma_anuraag@yahoo.com)
Pradeep Trikha (pradeeptrikha@gmail.com)

EOI - Research partnerships with the Australia Council for the Arts (Deadline: 20 March 2009)

AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS - Expressions of interest: Research Partnerships.

The Australia Council for the Arts is seeking expressions of interest from tertiary researchers looking to build industry partnerships to support applications for Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research projects.

The Australia Council has recently reviewed its research priorities as part of a new three year research plan. Projects should align with the research priorities that Australia Council has identified and these include:
  • the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on the economic performance of the arts in Australia, as an essential part of the evidence base for the development of arts and cultural policy;
  • public consumption and participation in the arts;
  • private sector support for the arts;
  • the effect and impact of digital technologies on the production and consumption of the arts in Australia and internationally. As an industry partner, the Australia Council may offer support in the form of cash or in-kind assistance.
There are two phases to partnership development with the Australia Council:
  • Phase 1 - an expression of interest outlining the proposed project and the nature of the partnership.
  • Phase 2 - researchers whose initial expression of interest is selected will be invited to submit a full length proposal in the form of an application for ARC funding developed in consultation with the Australia Council and other industry partners where applicable.
Phase 1 expressions of Interest should include a proposal of no more than three pages including:
  • research question;
  • project summary including a description of the project (summarising aims and expected outcomes);
  • contribution of the project to the Australia council's research priorities and any other benefits potential benefits of the project to the Australia Council;
  • name of participating eligible higher education institution;
  • details of project team including name, job title and brief description of role and experience;
  • other proposed industry partners;
  • start and end dates of proposed partnership;
  • budget outline for the project;
  • proposed role and contribution of the Australia Council.
The Australia Council will not support proposals seeking funding for:
  • in excess of five years continuous support;
  • publications, conferences or travel in isolation from a research project;
  • capital works or general infrastructure;
  • core organisational operating costs.
Phase 1 expressions of interest close on Friday, 20 March 2009.

Please contact Lisa Cahill by email at l.cahill@australiacouncil.gov.au for more informatio.

EVENT - Near and Far - and Mainly Macao (Carol Archer and Christopher Kelen)

You are warmly invited this coming Friday to the exhibition opening of:

Near and Far – and Mainly Macao

Joint exhibition of pictures by Carol Archer and Christopher Kelen to coincide with the launch of two volumes published by the University of Macau:

Carol Archer's exhibition catalogue, Work of Macao Hands
and
Christopher Kelen's trilingual poem and sketches, The River Considered as Sea

Opening 4 p.m. Friday 20th February, 2009 and continuing until the 6th of March Anthony S.W. Lau Exhibition Hall, University of Macau Library.

The books will be launched by Professor Robert Antony of the university's History Department. The launch will be followed by readings from The River Considered as Sea in English, Chinese and Portuguese by Professor Kelen and by Professors Espandinha and Yao Jing Ming, and also by Ms Hilda Tam - all of whom worked as translators on this project.

Near and Far – and Mainly Macao is a joint retrospective exhibition presenting solo and collaborative works by Carol Archer and Christopher Kelen. The works were created over the last ten years and most of them were previously shown at various exhibitions at the Fringe Club in Hong Kong, at Macao's CCI Gallery, at the Albergue Gallery in Macao and here at the University of Macau.

Carol Archer's book Work of Macao Hands presents a collection of watercolours offering close-up views of Macao, while Kit Kelen's The River Considered as Sea, a ten-part poem with ink and watercolour pictures, renders Macao at a distance.

6 February 2009

AWARDS - State Library of Queensland 2009 (Closing date: 20 March 2009)

The State Library of Queensland has recently advertised its awards program for 2009.

Awards and competitions

The State Library of Queensland is calling for nominations for it's three prestigious annual awards:


Further information, nominations and application forms can be found by following the links above.

Nominations open Monday 26 January 2009 and close at 5pm, Friday 20 March 2009.

More information
  • Telephone: +61 7 3842 9442
  • Fax: +61 7 3840 7873
  • Email: kate.hall@slq.qld.gov.au

4 February 2009

CFP - Dragon Tails: Re-interpreting Chinese-Australian Heritage (9-11 Oct 2009; Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, Vic) Deadline: 18 May 2009

CALL FOR PAPERS

Dragon Tails: Re-interpreting Chinese-Australian Heritage
9-11 October 2009
Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, Victoria

VENUE: Sovereign Hill Museums Association, Ballarat, Victoria (www.sovereignhill.com.au)

CONFERENCE OUTLINE
In 1984, noted historian Jennifer Cushman challenged researchers to move beyond the prevalent one-dimensional approach to understanding the Chinese presence in Australia—an approach that was primarily concerned with examining Australia’s attitudes towards the Chinese. In taking up this challenge, and seeking to understand the Chinese ‘on their own terms’, researchers have uncovered new sources and applied inter-disciplinary approaches to reveal the complex picture of Chinese community cultures, identities and race relations in Australia.

While we would no longer say that the history of the Chinese in Australia is hidden or neglected, where do these new stories fit within the wider narrative of Australian history? What are the challenges involved in communicating and interpreting these new perspectives, with their inherent complexity and contradictions, to broader audiences? One of the major aims of this conference is to bring together these new historical understandings about early Chinese-Australians, and consider their place within broader histories of Australia and the Chinese diaspora. Another aim is to create a forum for how these stories might be interpreted in the classroom, and at cultural heritage sites and museums.

This conference welcomes papers from a wide range of disciplines, including history, archeology, tourism, cultural studies, education, and museum/heritage studies.

We are particularly interested in work that:
  • Tells about early Chinese-Australian history from Chinese-Australian perspectives.
  • Discusses Chinese-Australian heritage/history within broader perspectives (e.g. Australian, Chinese, comparative, and/or transnational).
  • Draws on new resources to tell new stories.
  • Focuses on intercolonial (Northern Territory and Queensland) and/or trans-Tasman connections.
THEMES:
  • Chinese goldseekers and their legacy
  • Developments and issues for Chinese-Australian heritage tourism (regional and urban)
  • Everyday life and culture for early Chinese-Australians
  • Communicating Chinese-Australian heritage (e.g. education, multimedia, internet technology)
  • Early Chinese-Australian formations of politics, identity and citizenship
  • Interrogating Chinese-Australian historiography and material culture
  • Perspectives on heritage Chinese precincts
  • Mapping historical connections between Asia and Australia
  • Biographies and oral histories of Chinese-Australian ‘pioneers’
  • Creative work that re-interprets Chinese-Australian history

PRESENTATIONS:
  • Papers – Standard session presentations should be 20 mins long (with 10 mins allowed for question time).
  • Panels – We’d welcome panel submissions. Our suggested formats for the panels are:
    (a) 3 x 20 min papers with a coherent theme, or
    (b) Up to 5 speakers on a discussion panel (approx 10 mins each, with at least 40 mins for discussion)
Abstracts (max 200 words), with speakers’ full contact details and short biographical notes (max 100 words) should be sent to keirreeves@iprimus.com.au BY MONDAY 18 MAY 2009.

Enquiries about the conference should be directed to keirreeves@iprimus.com.au

CFP - AAI 3: Regionalising Asian Australian Identities (13-14 Nov 2009; Curtin U, Perth, WA) Deadline: 30 June 2009

Asian Australian Identities 3 (AAI3) Conference: Regionalising Asian Australian Identities

Curtin University, Perth, Australia
13-14 November 2009

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Asian Australian Studies Research Network, in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Studies in Australia, Asia and the Pacific (CASAAP), Curtin University, invites submissions for the Regionalising Asian Australian Identities conference, to be held at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, from 13-14 November 2009.

Building on the momentum of previous successful Asian Australian Identities conferences, AAI3 considers the importance of understanding Asian Australian identities and communities within both regional and transnational contexts. In holding the 2009 conference in Western Australia, we are particularly mindful of the rhetoric of the rise of ‘Asia’ which has sustained much of the State’s (and nation’s) boom years. From distanciation to fascination and engagement, Australia’s relationship to Asia continues to inform the culture and politics of the nation. At the same time, the conference theme also reminds us to look into our own backyards and to consider the often neglected histories of the nation’s own regional encounters with Asians, in particular Asian-Indigenous interactions in the north of Australia. How does the articulation of ‘Asian Australian identities’ fit within these shifting terrains? And how might we reconsider Australia’s relationship to Asia and to its own local regions in new and productive ways, particularly as it affects identity formation?

As Asian Australian studies comes of age, what new pathways will the field take? Do we (continue to) learn from the direction Asian American studies has taken? Does Asian Australian studies have a role to play in the growth of Inter-Asia cultural studies? What kinds of conversations might scholars in Asian Australian studies have with their counterparts in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as with ‘locals’ from regional parts of Australia?

We invite papers from all disciplines that explore the regionalising of Asian Australian identities, cultures and politics.

Areas of interest include:
  • Australia’s relationship to Asia and the Pacific
  • The effect of the ‘rise of Asia’ on Asian Australian identities
  • Regional interactions between Asians and indigenous Australians
  • Rethinking questions of migration, belonging and settlement
  • Transnational connections, political alliances
  • The development of new forms of cultural production, participation and imagination
  • New creative practices for Asian Australian youths; gaming and online communities
  • Constructions of ‘local’ Asian Australian identities and practices in the context of the globalisation of diaspora
  • Asian Australian identities and religion
  • Articulating Asian Australian heritage and history
We also value the participation of creative practitioners across the various fields of Asian Australian cultural production.

Confirmed speakers include:
  • Koichi Iwabuchi (Waseda U)
  • Krishna Sen (U of Western Australia)
  • Jon Stratton (Curtin U)
All presentations should be of 20 minutes duration. Abstracts (200 words max) and a short bio (max 200 words) should be sent by 30 JUNE 2009 to: AAI3@curtin.edu.au

Notifications will be sent by 31 July.

Please contact Olivia Khoo for more information.

3 February 2009

POSITION VACANT - Sociology lecturer, U of Oxford, UK (Closing date: 20 February 2009)

University Lecturership in Sociology atOxford, associated with Nuffield

The Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford seeks to appoint a University Lecturer in Sociology, specializing either in the field of ethnicity or in one of the other areas of departmental interest (social inequality and stratification, political sociology, economic sociology, the study of extralegal forms of governance or economic activities). The appointee will also be offered a Fellowship at Nuffield College.

The anticipated starting date is 1 October 2009, or as soon as possible thereafter.

The University salary is in the range £35,520-47,736. The post-holder will also receive a pensionable academic allowance from the College of £20,361 per annum.

Applicants should have a doctorate or equivalent, a strong record of research achievement at an international level, including the demonstrated capacity to publish in top-rated journals and with first class University presses.

The successful candidate should have the ability and experience necessary to teach mainly at the graduate level, to supervise doctoral students, and to win external research funding.

Further information is available at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/fp/, including details on how to apply.

The closing date for applications is 12 Noon on Friday 20th February 2009.

Ref no is CY09001.

See http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/apply/vacancies.asp

UPCOMING CONFERENCES - Range of Chinese transnational/diaspora conferences in 2009

[This listing courtesy of Keng We Koh and the Shao Overseas Chinese Center]


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies

Have you been working on an article over summer? Beginning to think about where to place it? Continuum is currently looking for new material.

Continuum – Journal of Media and Cultural Studies

Continuum expanded to 6 issues in 2008, allowing the journal to reduce lead-times to publication. In most cases, successful summer submissions will result in 2009 publication.

As the affiliated journal of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia, the journal is circulated in hard copy to all members, putting your work directly before those who will read it with most interest. A good example is the recent issue (22.6) proceeding from the 2007 CSAA Conference ‘Sustaining Culture’ held in Adelaide. Congratulations to Susan Luckman for bringing together an excellent collection.

With extensive electronic distribution as a Taylor & Francis title, the journal also has excellent international exposure, being circulated to some 23,000 libraries world wide.

To submit an article please go to:

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ccon

Or send a manuscript with author details to Mark.Gibson@arts.monash.edu.au or Mark Gibson, National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, Caulfield East, Victoria 3145.

Continuum will also shortly be reviewing special issue proposals for 2009-2010. Running a seminar? An innovative conference panel? Want to push forward a new theme or idea in media and cultural studies? If so, then please also discuss your ideas with the editorial team.

EDITORS:
Mark Gibson Mark.Gibson@arts.monash.edu.au
Panizza Allmark P.Allmark@ecu.edu.au
Greg Noble G.Noble@uws.edu.au

21 January 2009

NEW JOURNAL ISSUE and CFP - Peril - Issue 6 "passing, failing" now online; CFP for Issue 7 "Fashion Fetish"

NEW ISSUE OF PERIL NOW ONLINE!

Note and news from Peril's editor, Hoa Pham:

"The new edition of Peril has been released. Edition 6 - Passing, Failing - will be published at 12:15am on January 11.

We managed to catch Nam Le for a short interview, and attract a variety of short prose pieces and poetry in response to the theme. We talked to Mai Long, a Vietnamese-Australian artist who caused some controversy with her Pho Dogs which was covered by Lateline in December 2008. A cultural critique of The Jammed is also included. We invite people to comment on our commentary with their views.

Peril has recently incorporated and we thank our board members for their support: Alice Pung, Chi Vu, Olivia Khoo and Anna Mandoki. We have also been most fortunate to receive an Australia Council for the Arts grant and will be able to pay contributors for Issues 7 and 8. If you are interested the themes will be "fashion, fetish" and "Why are people so unkind?" Information about submissions can be found at http://www.peril.com.au/submissions

Peril's web address has also changed. Peril can be found at http://www.peril.com.au/ Peril's former address, http://www.asianaustralian.org/ will still work. For those who are interested, Peril also has new software behind it. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to transfer your email accounts from the old software to the new software. We invite you to re-register to be on Peril's email list. We wish everyone a Happy New Year of the Ox and look forward to hearing from you."

========================

Call for Submissions - Peril #7 - "Fashion Fetish"

'Fashion Fetish' is the theme for Peril Issue 7! Love it or hate it, everyone has an opinion on fashion and fads. Is it, as Bowie says, big, bland, loud and tasteless? Or is it the realm of risk-takers and visionaries? Do you follow or buck trends? Is Oriental in (yet again) this year? Are we talking clothes or cultures?

Below are some prompts that we hope are only the start of what you might do with the theme:
  • (Un)healthy obsessions
  • 'So hot right now' – lure or deterrent?
  • Extreme fashion
  • Fashion, culture and identity – who or what does it say you are?
  • What's class got to do with it?
Let's see and hear what you think about 'Fashion Fetish' – write, create, draw, compose, collaborate! We accept submissions of any kind of text, sound or visual art, as long as it can be presented online (e.g. essays, blog entries, reflections, poetry, fiction, memoir, spoken word tracks, photos, etc.). Text limit is 1000 words, preferably submitted in .txt format.

We are fortunate enough to have two issues sponsored by the Australia Council this year, and will be paying contributors for Issues 7 and 8. Issue 8's theme will be "Why are people so unkind?"

The deadline for Issue 7 material is March 31 2009, to be published online by May 2009. This issue will be launched at the Sydney Writers Festival.

Please send your submissions and queries to peril@asianaustralian.org

Check us out at http://www.peril.com.au/

EVENTS - Melbourne's Museum of Chinese Australian History Activities

The Chinese Museum is organizing the following events and exhibition and you are cordially invited to attend and join us:

Photographic Exhibition – CHINA : 112 Cities in 97 Days, Katrina de Jersey’s photo series of the China Olympic Games Torch Relay
Date :
27 Jan to 27 Feb 2009

OPENING DETAILS
TUESDAY 27 JANUARY 2009
TIME: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

EXHIBITION DATES
WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY TO WEDNESDAY 3 MARCH 2009
OPEN DAILY 12 TO 5PM

==========================

Chinese New Year Celebration
Date:
1 February 2009 (Sunday)
Price: Special price – adult ($5), children/concession ($3)
Programmes include: Dragon parade, Kid’s heritage treasure hunt, Chinese calligraphy, Tai Chi Chuan demonstration and introductory class and lantern making workshop

JOIN US TO CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR!

MUSEUM OF CHINESE AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
22 COHEN PLACE, MELBOURNE

TEL [03]96.62.28.88
EMAIL info@chinesemuseum.com.au
WEB chinesemuseum.com.au

NEW ANTHOLOGY - gang re:Publik Indonesia (a Gang Festival publication)


gang re:Publik
Indonesia Australia Creative Adventures

Edited by Jan Cornall, Alexandra Crosby, Rebecca Conroy and Suzan Piper

A brand new anthology of creative exchange from Indonesia and Australia with 200 pages of previously unpublished essays, stories, conversations and illustrations from over 40 fabulous contributors.

This is a very limited edition (only 200 copies in circulation) so order fast!

PRICE: AUS$35 + $7 postage (Australia)

To order books please contact thegang@gangfestival.com

Published in 2008 by Gang Festival Inc.

ISBN 9 78064650 133 8 (pbk.)

This project has been funded by: Arts NSW and the City of Sydney

NEW BOOK - Brian Castro's Fiction: The Seductive Play of Language (by Bernadette Brennan), Cambria Press, 2008


Brian Castro’s Fiction: The Seductive Play of Language
by Bernadette Brennan

Excerpt from the book blurb:

Brian Castro is one of the most innovative and challenging novelists writing in English today. By virtue of his childhood migration from Hong Kong to Australia, he is an Australian writer, but he writes from the margins of what might be termed mainstream Australian literature. In an Australian context, Castro has been linked with Patrick White because like White he is an intellectual, deeply ironic, modernist writer. His writing can also be comfortably situated within a wider circle of (largely European) modernist works by Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, James Joyce, Gustav Flaubert, Vladimir Nabokov, W. G. Sebald, and the list goes on. Castro’s writing conducts richly intertextual conversations with these writers and their work.

Castro’s writing is linguistically and structurally adventurous. He revels in the ability of good experimental writing to open up imaginative possibilities for the reader. He strives always to encourage his reader’s imagination to embrace heterogeneity and uncertainty. His extensive engagement with the great modernist writers of the 20th century, combined with his Australian-Chinese cross-cultural concerns make his work unique amongst Australian writers.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bernadette Brennan is a Lecturer in Australian Literature at the University of Sydney. Her current research interest is in the field of Literature and Ethics. She has published widely in Australian Literary Studies, JASAL, Southerly, Antipodes and The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, Departures: How Australia Reinvents Itself (MUP 2002), Australian Literature and the Public Sphere (ASAL 1998) and Australian Writing and the City (ASAL 1999). She has co-edited JASAL (2005) and Southerly (2007) and is on the Editorial Board for Studies in Australasian Cinema. Bernadette’s edited collection Just Words?: Australian Authors Writing for Justice was published by UQP in January 2008. Other publications in 2008 include an edited collection of Noel Rowe’s critical essays and Brian Castro's Fiction: The Seductive Play of Language (Cambria Press).

NEW BOOK - Once they hear my name (Ellen Lee, Marilyn Lammert and Mary Anne Hess), Tamarisk Books

Once They Hear My Name
By Ellen Lee, Marilyn Lammert and Mary Anne Hess

Once They Hear My Name is a step forward in our collective understanding of the cultural hurdles international adoptees tackle every day. In their own words, the nine Korean adoptees of Once They Hear My Name talk about how they became the adults they are today, speaking candidly about acceptance and rejection, about life struggles and successes, about experiences unique to each yet connected by common threads. At their core these stories chronicle adoptees’ ongoing, and often difficult, quests to discover who they are. Growing up, they initially viewed themselves as typical American kids at home with baseball, pizza, playing with dolls and the rest. But often their peers - and sometimes members of their own families - saw them as strangers, good targets for ugly stereotypes. Many of the nine adoptees chronicle their trips as adults back to Korea to find their roots and, in some cases, their birth families. These journeys yield mixed emotional results. The narratives illustrate the wide variety of ways all adoptees, not just those from Korea, and all Americans with cultural roots in Asia, wrestle with identity issues.

ISBN: 978-0-9793756-0-6 (Paper) 978-0-9793756-1-3 (Hardcover)
LOC CONTROL NO. : 2007937159
PUBLICATION DATE: September 2, 2008
PAGE COUNT: 200
PRCE: $14.95 (Paper) $20.95 (Hardcover)

Tamarisk Books
P.O. Box 3006
Silver Spring, MD 20918
USA

tamariskbooks@aol.com
www.tamariskbooks.com

CFP - "The role of language and multi-cultural education in educating local communities in global economies: Perspectives from Asia" (Hanoi, Vietnam)

The Institute for the Study and Development of Language and Culture - Linguistics Society of Vietnam & Monash International Strategic Initiative - Monash University, Australia are pleased to announce

The International Work-related Education Conference:

“The role of language and multi-cultural education in educating local communities in global economies: Perspectives from Asia”
7th – 8th April, 2009, Hanoi, Vietnam

Background
The global knowledge-based economy produces profound challenges to work-related education at every level. While these challenges manifest themselves in uniquely local ways at specific local sites, they are produced, and must be addressed, in contexts that are uncompromisingly global. If work-related education is to contribute to positive outcomes for people and for local communities we (workers, corporations, educators, researchers, policy makers, politicians and international organisations) must find new ways to pay attention to the ways in which a workforce in the knowledge-based economy can be understood to be ‘global’ as well as ‘local’, and what workers need to be able to know and be able to do to move across and within these spatial and temporal domains.

Clearly all aspects of education and training, including language and multi-cultural education, are being recruited to support and develop a knowledge-based economy. What educators, employers and policy makers at national, regional and international levels need to do now is to cast a critical eye over the past and to consider, with far grater clarity than we have managed in the past, what role work-related education should play in the future. As part of those deliberations we need to consider who work-related education is intended to benefit and what kinds of knowledge-based economies it should be helping to build. Language and multi-cultural education plays an essential part in those deliberations.

Being an international language, English has played an important role in educating the global workforce. This conference, in particular, aims to understand the use and ownership of English by different players in the workplace, and the ways in which English has both been a facilitating and colonising means in workplace education at national, regional and global levels. Taking a critical look at these issues in itself responds to ethical concerns that the conference also targets to address. One of the ethical concerns related to the role of English in educating the global workforce relates to the diminishing role of other languages and associated cultures and practices which are at risk due to the dominant status of English. For local communities to be ‘global’ as well as ‘local’, work-related education must acknowledge and promote the important role of education conducted in local and other foreign languages. Multicultural education also needs to be given more emphasis and made more explicit in educational policies.

This conference wishes to bring together the voices of researchers, educators, policy makers, international organisations, enterprises and corporations operating in Asia on various aspects of work-related education in educating local communities in global economies. These aspects include what is involved and what is at stake when global corporations, NGOs, national education systems and local communities attempt to educate individuals and workforces to engage in the global economy. We are particularly interested in identifying and understanding the role of multicultural education, English, local languages and other foreign languages in the education of a global workforce and the ethical issues involved in educating a global workforce for the global economy from the perspectives of the Global South, starting with Asia as the initial site for this conference.

Conference Themes
The conference will focus on, but not limited to, the following themes:
1. The role of English as an international language in educating the global workforce
2. The role of local languages and other foreign languages
3. The role of multicultural education
4. Educating local communities for global economies: perspectives from corporations, enterprises, NGOs and policy makers
5. Ethical concerns in educating the global workforce
6. Others

You are invited to submit an abstract of about 200-300 words addressing one or more of the above conference themes to Phan Le Ha at ha.phan@education.monash.edu.au

This conference will enable publication of a special issue in an international journal.

Important dates

Deadline for abstract submission: 1 February 2009
Deadline for conference registration: 20 March 2009

A full conference program will be sent to you after 1st February 2009. The conference organisers will also assist you with accommodation booking and tour arrangements in Vietnam.


Thank you for your interest in the conference. We look forward to your participation.


Conference chairs and convenors:
Associate Professor Dr Phan Van Que & Dr Duong Ky Duc
Institute for the Study and Development of Language and Culture, Linguistics Society of Vietnam
&
Dr Phan Le Ha
Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia

Contact
Dr Phan Le Ha
Email: ha.phan@education.monash.edu.au

7 January 2009

NEW BOOK - Our history is still being written: The story of three Chinese-Cuban generals in the Cuban revolution

Our history is still being written:
The story of three Chinese-Cuban generals in the Cuban revolution

A chapter in the chronicle of the Cuban Revolution, as told by those on the front lines of that ongoing epic.

Armando Choy, Gustavo Chui, and Moisés Sío Wong—three young rebels of Chinese-Cuban ancestry—threw themselves into the great proletarian battle that defined their generation. They became combatants in the clandestine struggle and 1956–58 revolutionary war that brought down a U.S.-backed dictatorship and opened the door to the socialist revolution in the Americas. Each became a general in Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Here they talk about the historic place of Chinese immigration to Cuba, as well as more than five decades of revolutionary action and internationalism, from Cuba to Angola, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Through their stories the social and political forces that gave birth to the Cuban nation and still shape our epoch unfold. We see how millions of ordinary men and women like them changed the course of history, becoming different human beings in the process.

Introduction by Mary-Alice Waters, 24-page photo section and other photos, maps, glossary, index. Appendix: Cuito Cuanavale: A victory for the whole of Africa (speeches by Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela).

>> For more information, reviews and book flyer, visit the book's Pathfinder Press page.

6 January 2009

CALL FOR POEMS - Chapbook publication (The Private Press) - Deadline: 28 Feb 2009

CALL FOR POEMS

'I can't figure out if you're a detective or a pervert.'

Seeking poems that explore the twisted world of David Lynch's Blue
Velvet for The Private Press's next chapbook anthology.

DEADLINE EXTENDED to 28 February 2009.

Visit http://zoo.f2s.com/privatepress/callforpoems.html

Poems accepted via online contribution form only.

Please read poet Tim Thorne's review of The Private Press's chapbooks
'A Slice of Cherry Pie' & 'We Don't Stop Here' on Famous Reporter:
http://is.gd/57Oi

Thanks!
Ivy Alvarez

5 January 2009

NEW JOURNAL REMINDER - PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication

ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW POSTGRADUATE JOURNAL

Submissions are invited for PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication, a new postgraduate journal to be launched in June 2009.

PLATFORM is a biannual open-access online publication started by the Media and Communications Program, School of Culture and Communication,University of Melbourne. It is planned to develop this journal as an international journal.

AIMS:

* to provide a platform for Media and Communication postgraduates to showcase, share and support the work of one another through publication, peer-review and comments.

* to provide a platform for emerging Media and Communication scholars to build a publication record, and to contribute subsequently to other academic publications.

* to increase scholarly appreciation of Media and Communication research across diverse theoretical, methodological and empirical interests.

* to encourage international awareness and collaboration through the discussion of issues associated with the rising significance of multiple media and communication platforms for societies and individuals across various globalized and localized environments.

==================

CALL FOR PAPERS (VOLUME 1, JUNE 2009):
Theme: "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities"

Submissions are invited for the inaugural volume of PLATFORM: Journal ofMedia and Communication, in the following sections:
  • General Articles on an issue of relevance to the field of Media and Communication. These may be purely theoretical, methodological, empirical or a combination of the above. (6000-8000 words including notes andreferences)
  • Thematic Articles which address the theme "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities". These may be purely theoretical, methodological, empirical or a combination of the above. (6000-8000 words including notes and references)
  • Thematic Commentaries and Essays which provoke discussion on the theme "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities", and act as a platform for future articles. (2000-3000 words including notes and references)
  • Thematic Reviews which, in addressing the theme "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities", provide accurate summaries and rigorous critiques of books and/or websites as well as reference other works by the same author and/or the work of other authors in a similar area. (1000 words including notes and references)
  • Interviews with scholars who have made significant contributions to the field of Media and Communication (1000-2000 word report or transcript; audio and/video supplements are especially encouraged)
  • News on research projects, conferences, courses, book launches, and other discipline-related events (up to 700 words)

SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
February 2, 2009: Full Papers (including 200 word abstracts and six keywords)

Early submission is highly encouraged as the review process will commence on submission. Please see Submission Guidelines for more details.

EDITORS: Esther Chin, Gin Chee Tong, Amira Firdaus, Elias Mokua Nyatete.

For more information (including an invitation to peer review) and full submission guidelines, visit: http://www.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/platform

NEW JOURNAL ISSUE - Asiatic - Dec 2008

The December 2008 issue of Asiatic is now available online at http://asiatic.iium.edu.my OR http://asiatic.iiu.edu.my.

Access to the journal is free.

There are 8 articles, 1 interview, 1 review article, 4 book reviews, 11 poems, 2 short stories and a play in this issue.

Contributors include writers and scholars from the US, Germany, Australia, India, Bangladesh, Singapore and Malaysia.

Asiatic EDITOR:
Mohammad Quayum
www.quayum.net

OBITUARY - Vin D'Cruz (1933-2008)

The following obituary is an edited version of an entry from a Monash Asia Institute (MAI) bulletin from late 2008. The AASRN would like to acknowledge the important work of Vin D'Cruz in shaping timely discussions about Australia and its Asian engagements and communities.

=======================

Staff, Students, Colleagues and Friends at the MAI note the sad passing of Prof Vin D'Cruz on Monday 24 November 2008. Prof Vin D'Cruz was appointed an Adjunct Professor of the MAI in 2001 and was one of the MAI's most delightful and productive members. He had an enormous passion for research as demonstrated by his large book Australia's Ambivalence Towards Asia: Politics, Neo/Post-colonialism, and Fact/Fiction (co-authored with William Steele) published by the MAI Press. In that book, he grappled with his love for Australia and its people and the disappointing performance of the Australian government and press in their failure to engage with Asia in a more positive and creative manner. Vin arrived in Australia in 1954 and is survived by a son, a daughter, siblings and a great-grand-daughter.

For a fuller notes about Vin's life, see:

FORTHCOMING EVENTS for Tom Cho - Gendermash and Mummy Dearest (17 and 29 Jan, respectively)

TWO UPCOMING EVENTS featuring TOM CHO


1. Gendermash

Following on from the popular Translesbian Readings, held regularly over 6 years at King Victoria drag kings, Gendermash is a deliberately controversial, positive, and sexed up journey starring gender creators, morphers, questioners and revellers with special glamour guests! Sexy word nerds and dirty word flashers include Yana Alana, Lian Low, Jade Starr (Syd), Fancy Piece Productions (Syd), Kylie Brickhill, The Kill Room, Bumpy Favell, Jules Wilkinson, PJ Fotiades, Tom Cho, Ebony Hickey and more. This is an AUSLAN interpreted event.

WHEN: Sat 17 Jan, 9.30pm
VENUE: Gasworks Arts Park - Gasworks Theatre, 21 Graham Street, Albert Park (note: this venue is wheelchair accessible)
TRANSPORT: Tram 109 - Stop 128; Melway 2J G7,H7
PRICE: Full $18; Concession $15; Group (+8) $15
BOOKINGS: Via event page on Midsumma website
INFO: http://www.gasworks.org.au/

===============

2. Mummy Dearest
From the people who brought you Come As You Are 1 & 2 and Femme Fever 1 & 2. A night of brilliant performers from all sides of the queer spectrum converge to talk about mums. Hear stories of heartbreak, hilarity, weirdness, and even sexiness. Performers include Tom Cho, Richard Watts, Lisa-Skye Ioannidis, Peter Van Der Merwe, Ed Burger, Jo Mundy, Shelly O'Reilly, Megan Petrie and Jenny Lee.

WHEN: Thurs 29 Jan, 7.30pm
VENUE: Dante's - Back room, 150-156 Gertrude St, Fitzroy (note: this venue is wheelchair accessible)
TRANSPORT: Tram 86 - Stop 14; Melway 2C B11
PRICE: Full $ 14; Concession $11 (come with Mum for concession prices!); Group (+5) $10
BOOKINGS: Via event page on Midsumma website

NEW BOOK - Race and Ethnic Relations (OUP)

Race and Ethnic Relations (OUP, 2008) brings together theoretical and substantive issues on race, migration and multiculturalism and places them in an Australian context. Divided into three sections this text covers a broad scope of issues and theory, combining insights from traditional sociological theory, as well as anthropological and social psychology approaches.

The first section focuses on outlining the development of theorising around the concepts of race and ethnicity, and the ways in which these have been used to understand inter-group relations. The second focuses on the Australian context, covering the history of Australian settlement, policy and legislation associated with migration, citizenship and discrimination, indigeneity and non-indigeneity, and refugees and asylum seekers. And the final section explores recent and challenging issues such as critical whiteness studies, the intersection of race and ethnicity with religion and anti-racism.

Three authors work together to offer a clear, consistent and authoritative voice.

Uses popular culture references, in particular movies which are concerned with particular aspects of race and ethnic relations, to help students engage with the text and to make the theory ‘real’.

Stimulates students through the use of examples and case studies, and the posing of thorny questions which encourage debate and illustrate the relevance of the theory to everyday or current political issues.

Part One: Understanding Race and Ethnicity: a theoretical overview
1. Race and Othering
2. Ethnicity and Identity Politics
3. Nations and Globalisation
4. Theories of Migration
5. Dealing with Diversity

Part Two: Race and Ethnicity in Australia
6. Considering Australia. Race, Ethnicity and the Nation
7. Indigenous Peoples
8. Migrants in Australia
9. Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Australia

Part Three: Emerging Issues
10. Whiteness Studies
11. Religion
12. Intersections
13. Methodological Issues in Race Studies
14. Anti racism

AUTHORS:
Farida Fozdar (Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences & Humanities, Murdoch U)
Raelene Wilding (Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe U)
Mary Hawkins (Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, U of Western Sydney)

>> More information can be found at THIS WEBSITE.