NEW EXHIBITION - Leading Lights (Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, Sydney)

LEADING LIGHTS Exhibition
Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, UNSW
6 Nov - 13 Dec 2008

Artists include:

Brook Andrew, Del Kathryn Barton, Trent Jansen, Adam Cullen, Dinosaur Designs, Shaun Gladwell, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, The Kingpins, Lindy Lee, Owen Leong, Clinton Nain, Vanila Netto, and Bronwyn Oliver.

CFP - Cosmetic Cultures: Beauty, Globalisation, Politics, Practices (24-26 June 2009; U of Leeds, UK)

Cosmetic Cultures: Beauty, globalisation, politics, practices
University of Leeds , 24 - 26 of June 2009

Papers and panel sessions are invited for an international, interdisciplinary conference on Cosmetic Cultures to be held in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds from the 24 to 26 of June 2009.

Papers on any element of ‘cosmetic cultures’ are welcomed but the conference seeks to move beyond well-rehearsed ‘Beauty Myth’ arguments.

Beauty has often been conceptualised as the concern only of women (or the only concern of women!) and as idealised in ‘whiteness’ or ‘Westerness’. Whilst many have found significant evidence to support these claims, work in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies has already flagged up the importance of men, masculinities and beauty, both in the ‘West’ and ‘East’ and has disrupted the idea that whiteness alone presents idealised beauty in all parts of the world, or even in this one. Whilst beauty ideals may be important in one sense, this conference also aims to explore beauty practices. The subject’s engagement in beauty practices may be ‘transformative’ in line with current ideals, and undertaken in the clinic, or it may be everyday and mundane, practices in the home or ‘salon’.

Themes will include:

* National beauty cultures and histories and the intersection between local and globalised ideals;
* Beauty practice ranging from ‘spectacular’ makeover cosmetic surgery to mundane beauty technologies such as diet and exercise, skin tanning/ lightening, hairstyling, hair removal and tattooing/piercing.
* Intersections of ‘race’, class, gender and beauty cultures and practices; men, masculinities and beauty;
* LGBI and Trans beauties; surgical tourism;
* TV makeover shows;
* Work in the ‘beauty industry’, including medical practices and cultures, beauty salons and cosmetics marketing and manufacture as well as (fashion and glamour) modelling.

By encouraging participants to explore beauty cultures, practices and politics in their broadest sense we hope to advance current debates and develop an international network of researchers.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

* Professor Carolyn Cooper – University of the West Indies
* Professor Kathy Davis – University of Utrecht
* Dr Debra Gimlin – University of Aberdeen
* Dr Meredith Jones – University of Technology, Sydney
* Professor Toby Miller – University of California, Riverside
* Professor Elspeth Probyn – University of Sydney

200 word abstracts and panel suggestions should be emailed to: Matthew Wilkinson at m.wilkinson@leeds.ac.uk no later than 1 March 2009.

Please mark all emails with ‘Cosmetic Cultures’ in the subject line.

CHAIR POSITION - Freilich Foundation Chair, ANU

Freilich Foundation Chair (A209-08AV)

The Australian National University wishes to appoint an outstanding leader to hold the newly established Freilich Foundation Chair.

The Herbert and Valmae Freilich Foundation is an endowment to The Australian National University established in 1999 to promote the study of, and research into, the causes, the histories and the effects of ethnic, cultural, religious and sexual bigotry and animosity, and the exploration of how such intolerance can be combated and co-existence promoted by educational and social programs.

The Foundation sits within the interdisciplinary and dynamic Research School of Humanities. The Foundation runs a program of public lectures, seminars and graduate workshops. It runs a summer school for teachers, is involved in teaching, and funds visiting fellowships, bursaries and scholarships.

Further information about the foundation can be found at http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/freilich/

The Foundation wishes to appoint a senior academic to substantially develop the research component of the Foundation's work whilst being involved in the current operation and activities of the Foundation. Applications are invited from women and men with a recognised record of achievement in any disciplinary field which addresses the research interests of the Foundation. You will provide leadership for the Foundation, participate and build upon the existing program of activities, participate in graduate teaching and supervision, and develop relationships with relevant units within the ANU and external organisations.

The level of appointment will depend on qualifications and experience.

Further information on this position can be obtained HERE.

Enquiries:

Renata Grossi, Freilich Foundation Fellow, T: 02 6125 5527, E: Renata.Grossi @ anu.edu.au

Debjani Ganguly, Head HRC, Research School of Humanities, T: 02 6125 9877, E: Debjani.Ganguly @ anu.edu.au

NEW RESOURCES - Amerasia and AAPI Nexus Journals now online

Amerasia and AAPI Nexus Journals Go Online

Los Angeles - The UCLA Asian American Studies Center has launched an internet site for its two academic journals, Amerasia and AAPI Nexus. Starting November 2008, subscribers will be able to access Amerasia Journal and AAPI Nexus articles online.

Both journals are recognized core publications in Asian American Studies.

Since its inception in 1971, Amerasia has been the leading interdisciplinary journal in the field. "Amerasia Journal," states Ethnic Studies Professor Yen Le Espiritu (University of California, San Diego), "continues to be an indispensable resource for scholars, students, and the broader community interested in issues affecting Asian Americans."

"Amerasia articles contain information and perspectives difficult or impossible to locate elsewhere," adds Serials Review. "This journal is highly recommended for all academic collections and for large public libraries." The searchable, full-text database enables subscribing institutions and researchers access to over thirty-five years of Amerasia articles.

Amerasia's online database features over 900 articles on topics ranging from diaspora and empire, U.S.-Asia relations, and religion to legal/political/civil rights issues, sexuality and queer studies, and multiracial Asians. Library Journal has thus described Amerasia as "a scholarly journal which considers almost every aspect on the role of the Asian Americans" and "an absolute must for universities." In 2003, the Center launched AAPI Nexus Journal: Policy, Practice & Community, the most cutting-edge journal focusing on applied social science research for and on the diverse and growing Asian American and Pacific Islander community. AAPI Nexus draws from professional schools, applied social science scholars, and practitioners, with the explicit goal of reinvigorating Asian American Studies' traditional mission of serving communities and generating practical research."AAPI Nexus Journal is the nation's trusted voice for Asian American and Pacific Islander public policy debates, community-based research, and action-orientated advocacy," said Lisa Hasegawa, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development.

The AAPI Nexus database includes articles covering civil rights, health, and art and cultural institutions from an Asian American perspective. In addition to research and resource articles, AAPI Nexus also features practitioner essays, where professionals and community leaders draw from their experiences to offer discussions and strategies regarding policy issues facing the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

The new online databases for Amerasia Journal and AAPI Nexus are valuable resources for libraries and research institutions. Access to the databases will be included as part of a new or renewed yearly subscription. The subscription prices are as follows:

Amerasia Journal - $445 for institutions; $99.99 for individuals
AAPI Nexus - $175 for institutions, $35 for individuals

For more information or to place subscription orders, please contact Ying Ming Tu, Distribution Manager, AASC Press, at (310) 825-2968 or aascpress @ aasc.ucla.edu.

CALL for SUBMISSIONS - Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

ASIATIC: IIUM JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
(http://asiatic.iium.edu.my)

Asiatic, an online, biannual (June, December), refereed journal, invites scholars and writers to submit their work for its forthcoming issues. We invite papers on all aspects of Asian Englishes and Asian writings in English, including Asian diasporic literature and Asian literatures in translation. We are also interested in creative works by Asian writers and writers of Asian origin.

Papers submitted for publication should not exceed 7,000 words and should follow the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (www.mla.org). Creative pieces should be between 1-3 pages for poetry and 6,000 words for other genres. All submissions sent for publication are refereed blind by at least two readers. Asiatic is indexed in the MLA Annual Bibliography, AustLit and EBSCO, and listed in the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ).

Submissions to and enquiries about the journal should be sent to mquayum @ gmail.com or Asiatic @ gmail.com.

RESOURCE - Australian Media History Database

Australian Media History Database (AMHD)

It has been established by the ARC Cultural Research Network as part of its goal of supporting research in the areas of cultural and media studies, cultural history, cultural geography, cultural anthropology, and the creative industries. It is part of the work of the Media Histories Node, convened by Dr Bridget Griffen-Foley of Macquarie University.

The database grew out of a large ARC-funded history of television project conducted by Professor Liz Jacka and Associate Professor Paula Hamilton at the University of Technology, Sydney. It was inspired by www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/BBC-history.html which includes over a hundred researchers. The pilot Australian database was demonstrated at the first History of Australian Television Conference held at UTS in 2005. In early 2006 the database was extended to include other media and launched online.

The Australian Media History Database aspires to list all research into Australian media history by established academics, early career researchers, research higher degree students, and independent scholars. It is designed to be a central tool of Australian media history research.

The database aims to:

• encourage researchers to contact each other on matters of mutual interest;
• avoid duplication in research;
• assist postgraduates and recent graduates with research exposure and networking;
• assist with developing cross-institutional research partnerships and joint research projects;
• bring academic research to the attention of related cultural institutions;
• assist with easier development of ARC Linkage grant applications and the involvement of industry partners.

Categories of research include advertising, film, games, magazines, music, press, publishing, radio and television. Free to use, the database is searchable by keyword, researcher, project and institution.

Researchers are invited to submit the details of their projects: click here for details.

EVENT - Making Links - 11-13 Nov 2008 (Melbourne)

MAKING LINKS 2008

The conference Where Social Action and Technology Converge
Community - Responsibility - Sustainability

WHERE? Melbourne University, ICT Building, 111 Barry St Carlton

WHEN? 11th - 13th November 2008

The Making Links Conference is the leading forum for the not-for-profit and community sectors to showcase their work and to explore current and emerging new media and Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This year Making Links is focusing on how technology can enhance and support social inclusion.

>> Visit the Making Links 2008 website HERE.

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Making Links is a conference that seeks to engage interested people, organisations and groups working at the intersection of social action and IT - including community workers, educators, trainers, not-for-profit organisations, school teachers, environmental campaigners and activists. The Conference seeks to:

• bring the community sector together to access resources, training and services, and to share ideas, skills and creative applications of technology.
• Explore the possibilities ICTs generate for communities whose voices have been marginalized and excluded from the mainstream.
• Showcase innovative, grass roots ICT initiatives in community cultural development, outreach, and e-learning.
• Build and develop networks amongst workers and activists interested in how ICT can be used to support social justice.

The conference, which started in 2004, is organised by a steering committee composed of representatives from a range of not-for-profit organisation.

SCHOLARSHIP - PhD Scholarship in Australian Literature (readvertised) - U of Wollongong, NSW (Deadline: 14 Nov 2008)

PhD Scholarship in Australian Literature (readvertised)
Award: $ 25,118 p. a. for three years.

A PhD scholarship with the Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, is offered for contribution to the ARC-funded project 'Globalising Australian Literature: Asian-Australian writing, Asian perspectives on Australian literature.' The student will join a research team consisting of Alison Broinowski, Wenche Ommundsen, Paul Sharrad, Ouyang Yu and another PhD student in the investigation of multiple facets of Australian literary interaction with Asia:

* A comprehensive mapping and analysis of Asian-Australian writing

* A study of the circulation and reception of Australian literature across the Asian region

We welcome applications from qualified students who can demonstrate an understanding of the general field of study and have a developed research proposal in a particular area with relevance to it, such as:

* South East Asian-Australian writers
* The reception and study of Australian literature in India (or other major Asian country)
* Theoretical perspectives on Asian-Australian literary production

Application should include a full cv, including transcripts of previous studies, the names of two academic referees, a research proposal and a statement about your understanding of, and interest in, this area of study.

For more information please contact Prof. Wenche Ommundsen on (02) 4221 5445
(wenche @ uow.edu.au).

Deadline for applications: Extended to 14th November 2008.

JOBS VACANT - National Institute of Education, Singapore - English Language and Literature Academic Group (Deadline: 1 Feb 2009)

English Language and Literature Academic Group (ELL)

The National Institute of Education invites qualified applicants to apply for academic positions in ELL.

The ELL Academic Group has academic and pedagogy commitments. Its Literature programme offers a B.A. (Education) and an M.Ed. (English Literature Education), as well as teacher certification courses. Research-oriented postgraduate work is also offered for the Master of Arts and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.

Requirements

Applicants should have a Ph.D. in the relevant fields and preferably with a proven track record in research and teaching at the university. The successful candidate will be teaching two of the following areas:

• 20th Century Fiction in English
• 20th Century Poetry in English
• Literary and Critical Theory

An applicant will be in a position of added advantage if he or she possesses a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or an equivalent qualification as well as some secondary school or sixth-form college literature teaching experience.

>> Visit the official job advertisement site HERE (includes all contact details and more job information).

PRIZE - Rascals Prize (People Like Us) - Singapore (Deadline: Jan 2009)

People Like Us (PLU) is the oldest homosexual rights and activist organisation in Singapore, and the inaugural Rascals Prize for Lesbian/Gay/BisexualTransgender/Queer research on Singapore is now open for entries.

The prize is valued at $S2,000 (about $AUD 2,000) for the best piece of research in any of Singapore's four official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil).

The deadline for submissions is January 2009. Please contact PLU directly for further information: pluadmin @ gmail.com

>> Download the PDF flyer HERE.

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

People Like Us is a Singapore gay and lesbian group focussed on advocacy and public education. It is an informal group since the Registrar of Societies refused to grant registration in 1997, and in 2004 when we applied a second time.

As an informal group, it does not yet have any firm membership, but a feel for the numbers of interested persons can be seen from the fact that there are over 2,300 members in PLU’s email discussion list SiGNeL.

CFP - Anthology - Women Warriors: Fighting Breast Cancer

CALL FOR PAPERS: Anthology
Women Warriors: Fighting Breast Cancer

AASRN member Robyn Morris is editing an anthology of stories regarding the trials of breast cancer including, but not limited to;

• responses to diagnosis,
• the experience of treatment,
• the trials of juggling work and/or family,
• facing/embracing the future.

Stories are encouraged from breast cancer patients, their friends and/or their family.

Individual chapter submissions will be around 2000-5000 words although larger chapters will be considered. Poetry will be considered also.

Please contact Robyn via email if you have any further queries or wish to register your interest in this project.

All monies raised from this book will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) for future research.

Contact email: robynmorris @ bigpond.com

NEW BOOK - As others see us: The values debate in Australia (Australian Scholarly Press)

JUST PUBLISHED

As Others See Us:
The values debate in Australia
edited by J.V. D'Cruz, Bernie Neville, Devika Goonewardene & Phillip Darby

This book is a splendid collection of essays on Australian culture, politics, and the "values" debate- illuminated by the ideas of a thinker Australians need to know, Ashis Nandy, one of the foremost critical intellectuals on the globe. Across issues from asylum seekers to sport, this book digs through the clotted layers of official hypocrisy to lay bare both the violence, and the hope, that mark our situation in the world.

-- Professor Raewyn Connell, University of Sydney, author of Southern Theory (2007).

• An Ashis Nandy Travelling Kit for 'DOWN UNDER'
• Australia's Polygot Ghosts
• Swimming Against the Mainstream
• The Sporting Nation
• 'I don't mind the headscarf but...'
• A New Cosmopolitanism
• Aussie Bums on the Beach
• Mates Together
• An Isolation Within
• The Dance of the Hidden Gods
• Performing Outside One's Comfort Zone
• The Stranger in our Midst
• Nationalism at the Crossroads

Features writing by Ashis Nandy, Vinay Lal, Anthony Langlois, Erika Kerruish, Vin D'Cruz, Deborah Bird Rose, Baden Offord, Kate O'Mara, Goldi Osuri, Bernie Neville, Alisoun Neville, Suvendrini Perera, Joseph Pugliese, Margaret Robertson, Brian Stoddart, David Walker, Devika Goonewardene, Kane Collins, Devleena Ghosh, Phillip Darby.

ISBN:978 1 74097 176 8 | RRP: $39.95

Available from Australian Scholarly Press:
http://www.scholarly.info/new.htm#otherssee

CFP - Race in the Modern World - Goldsmiths, U of London, UK (Deadline: 1 Dec 2008)

Race and the Modern World

An international conference on race discourses and contemporary identities

Confirmed speakers include Les Back, Bryan Cheyette, Paul Gilroy, Kenan Malik and Ann Phoenix

Venues: Goldsmiths, University of London and the Stephen Lawrence Trust, London
Dates: April 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2009

This major international and multidisciplinary conference is especially concerned with the race discourses still fundamental to the ways in which modern society and culture thinks itself. We will be expecting papers on all aspects of race and modernity — how ‘races’ are imagined and represented, in biological, linguistic, gendered and spiritual terms; what anxieties and desires are expressed in or projected onto racialised figures; how individuals in modern societies and cultures relate themselves to the collective identities posited by race discourse. With panels on such areas as diasporas, multiculturalism, faiths and civil society, race and representation, urban design and youth cultures, we are aiming to engage not just with the academy, but also with the wider community and with particular reference to young people in local schools and colleges. Centered in this vibrant area of South East London, the event, a Goldsmiths and the Stephen Lawrence Trust collaboration, presents scholarly research and discussion, exhibitions, workshops and social and civic events. The conference venues will be the University campus at New Cross and the recently opened Stephen Lawrence Trust building, designed by David Adjaye.

A reception, led by Doreen Lawrence will open the event on April 1st. Two full days of lectures, panels and workshops will follow. We are hoping to attract a wide range of participants, both within and outside the academic community, including strong representation from the local communities.

Sign in and registration will take place in April 1st at the Stephen Lawrence Trust, or at Goldsmiths on April 2nd and 3rd. Conference dinner is scheduled for April 2nd.

Please join us in April 2009 for the Race and the Modern World conference in New Cross and Deptford, London.

>> Visit the conference page HERE.

>> Download the CFP HERE.

EVENT - Gaayip Walk (Whitehorse Friends for Reconciliation) 9 Nov 2008

The Whitehorse Friends for Reconciliation is pleased to offer people the chance to be part of the Gaayip Walk (Gaayip - 'coming together')

TIME/DATE: 12 noon Sunday 9th November
VENUE: Blackburn Lake, Central Rd, Blackburn.

The main ideas behind the Walk are:

• after the Apology there is still much to be done by many people at different levels - 'many steps by many people'
• people can do something locally by supporting the local Indigenous community through donating to the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place (MMIGP)
• reconciliation is an idea and process, which needs the involvement of all cultural groups in Australia.

Please feel free to distribute the leaflet (see link below) in any way you think is appropriate.

Contact me if you need more details. Hard copies of the leaflet are also available.

We hope to see you on the day.

Cheers, Howard (Tankey)
Whitehorse Friends for Reconciliation
Email: howardtankey @ iprimus.com.au

>> Download the PDF flyer HERE.

VISITING PROFESSORSHIP - Australian Studies, University of Tokyo, 2009-2010 (Deadline: 1 Dec 2008)

Visiting Professor in Australian Studies 2009 - 2010

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Centre for Pacific and American Studies (CPAS), The University of Tokyo

The Visiting Professorship in Australian Studies was created in 1999 by the Centre for Pacific and American Studies, The University of Tokyo, to promote a deeper understanding of Australia and its regional engagement. The Australia – Japan Foundation supports activities associated with the position.

Applications are invited from highly qualified Australians with a significant academic achievement, including those who have moved to academia from the senior levels of government or community. The Visiting Professor is required to teach three courses at introductory and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels; to present conference papers; to conduct research and participate in other activities. Opportunities are available to contribute to Australian Studies programs elsewhere in Japan.

The appointment is usually for a twelve month period, and commences no later than 1 October 2009. The Visiting Professor is expected to spend most of his/her time in Tokyo engaged in research and, during semester, in teaching. All teaching is conducted in English. An attractive salary package is available.

Applications close on 1 December 2008.

The selection process will be managed by the International Australian Studies Association (InASA). A full position description and application procedures are available at:

http://www.inasa-home.net/

http://www.ajf.australia.or.jp/english/tokyouni/

For any further information contact:
Professor Kate Darian-Smith
Vice President InASA
email: k.darian-smith@unimelb.edu.au

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - Transcultural Adoptee Short Films and Panel Event (TASFP) - 29 May 2009 (Deadline: 22 Dec 2008)

TRANSCULTURAL ADOPTEE SHORT FILMS AND PANEL EVENT (TASFP)
to be held 29 MAY 2009
in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Venues tba.

Call for short films by transnationally and/or trans-racially adopted people now open!

Deadline 22 December, 2008.

For more information see
http://www.darlo.tv/indigo/filmfest09.html or contact Indigo Willing.

WORKSHOP - REMINDER - Movement workshop for performance (by Anna Yen) - Metro Arts, Brisbane - 24-28 Nov 2008

PLAYMOVES
Movement Workshop for Performance
Anna Yen

November 24 –28, 2008
Monday – Friday, 10am – 2pm

Metro Arts, 109 Edward Street, Brisbane

$220 ($190 Early Bird -if paid by October 16, 2008)
Numbers Strictly Limited. Book Early.

This workshop is for performers, directors, movement and drama teachers & students. We will focus on playfulness, presence and complicity. It is inspired by the work of Monika Pagneux, a renowned European theatre teacher, whose theme is the physical, vocal and personal freedom of the performer. It includes combining the Feldenkrais Method’s “Awareness through Movement” work with ensemble exercises and games in innovative ways to assist the performer expand their creative possibilities, playfulness, pleasure, complicity and ensemble skills. We will also play with some physical exercises for creating text which Monika explored in Barcelona earlier this year.

-----------

Anna Yen is a performer, movement teacher and director who trained with Monika Pagneux in Europe and Australia, including being invited to Pagneux’s only Pedagogy Courses in recent years - Paris 1994, Barcelona 2007 and 2008. Inspired by Pagneux, Anna trained as a Feldenkrais Method® Practitioner, graduating in 2000. Anna is keen to share Pagneux’s work and in doing so, deepen her own investigation of how we as performers / creators can be more awake and present in every moment, ready to play. A highlight of Anna’s work is her acclaimed one-woman show ‘Chinese Take Away’ and its film adaptation, which has taken her to festivals in Asia, Europe and USA. Anna is in the new comic trio, ‘Los Lunch Dates’. Her collaborative physical/visual work was part of ‘Undiscovered Country’ at the OzAsia Festival. Anna performed with Rock’n’Roll Circus, Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre Co, La Boite, QTC and studied with Pagneux, Philippe Gaulier, Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, Shanghai Circus School and Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre Summer School. Anna has taught for QUT, Uni of Southern Qld, Uni of Qld, Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, Vulcana Women’s Circus, QTC. Anna directed shows for UQ, Vulcana Women’s Circus, Backbone Youth Arts, QUT (TABOO), and was Assistant Director on AWGIE Award winning ‘Kese Solwata ‘.

Bookings and Enquiries:
Anna ph 07 3846 1651 mobile 0417 623 886
annayen@ozemail.com.au

JOB - Comparative Literature and Asian Studies: Modern/contemporary Chinese (Penn State U, USA)

Comparative Literature and Asian Studies: Modern/contemporary Chinese

Penn State is seeking candidates for a new Assistant or Associate Professor position in Comparative Literature and Chinese (tenure-track or tenured according to qualifications). Home department Comparative Literature; joint appointment with Asian Studies.

We are interested in candidates who will demonstrate abilities to expand our major in Chinese, participate in the undergraduate and graduate programs in Comparative Literature, and contribute to the new dual-degree Comparative Literature / Asian Studies PhD program. Teaching responsibilities will include introductory and advanced courses on literature and culture, as well as modern Chinese language at upper levels. Areas of specialization may include, but are not limited to: modern and/or contemporary Chinese-language literature; film and new media studies; East-West, intra-Asian, or global comparisons, including Sinophone literature and/or film; postcolonial studies, gender studies, or queer theory. Native or near-native ability in Chinese and appropriate teaching experience required. Relevant research achievements or evidence of relevant research promise required.

Starting date: August 2009 preferred

Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Chinese, or related field required. Screening of applications will begin November 15, 2008, although all applications will be considered until the search is concluded. Send letter, CV, and names of three references; electronic submission to Cindy Bierly at is strongly preferred. Visit our Web sites at http://complit.la.psu.edu and http://asian.la.psu.edu.

Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

SEMINAR and WORKSHOP - Articulating Movement: Negotiating a Politics of Migratory Knowledge Production (U of Melbourne, 21 Nov 2008)

Articulating movement: negotiating a politics of migratory knowledge production

An interdisciplinary seminar and workshop featuring Dr Sandro Mezzadra (University of Bologna), Angela Mitropoulos (Queen Mary College, University of London), Dr Brett Neilson (University of Western Sydney).

11.00—5pm
November 21 2008
Multifunction Room, Graduate Centre
University of Melbourne

Despite apocalyptic warnings about oil prices, the end of globalisation and the curtailing of migration, both documented and undocumented global migratory movement continues to accelerate into the twenty-first century. With this movement, national and transnational border controls, surveillance technologies, racial profiling and war continue to mark differentiations between ‘cherished life’ and ‘bare life’, bodies to be protected and bodies to be extinguished, bodies that can move and that must be contained.

Following years of “No Borders” interventions and the revival of interest in migration, borders and rights in the academy, debates continue on how to produce knowledges and write about, migration. These debates raise questions that are vital to any research processes around human mobility. How can we theorise migration without reifying migratory movement as emblematic of a generalised “exodus” or “resistance”? What histories intersecting migration, labour, gender, sexuality and colonialism have been forgotten in the desire to enshrine rights and border talk as the new cultural capital of philosophy departments world-wide? Where is the faultline between deploying the so-called “authenticity” of singular experience and the vulgarity of an entirely structural analysis? How can we negotiate a space between theorising the movement of bodies as already determined by war, injustice, ecological disaster, and a naive conception of movement as an autonomous and individual choice, thus reinstalling the sovereign subject of liberalism? Who constitutes the “we” that performs these negotiations, and what are our investments?

To examine these questions, to share tactics and strategies, to find passageways of negotiation, and to consider our own role in the composition and distribution of knowledge, we invite thinkers and practitioners in Melbourne to participate in a moment of “militant research” into the knowledge production of migration. Following the Colectivo Situationes, we define militant research as a process of defining practical knowledges of subaltern counter-power, renouncing the institutional spaces of management of these knowledges, and beginning with what we do not know rather than what we assume.

We invite postgraduate students, researchers and interested members of the public to submit expressions of interest in participating in the workshop by November 5 2008.

To RSVP for the workshop and obtain a reading list, please submit up to 250 words outlining your research interests and the contribution you might make to the discussion. Submit expressions of interest and RSVPs to: a.aizura@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

Program:
11am-1pm. Seminar featuring Sandro Mezzadra, Angela Mitropoulos and Brett Neilson.
1-2.30pm: Light lunch.
2.30-4.30pm. A roundtable discussion for graduate students, independent scholars and researchers.

This event is free of charge.

Speakers:

Sandro Mezzadra is an Associate Professor in History of Political Thought at the Department of Politics, Institutions, History of the University of Bologna. He is currently “eminent research fellow” at the Centre for Cultural Research of the University of Western Sydney, Australia (2006-2008). His research work has focused on the classical modern European political philosophy (especially on Hobbes, Spinoza and Marx), on the history of political, social, and legal sciences in Germany between the Nineteenth and the Twentieth centuries (especially on the constitutional debates in the years of the Weimar Republic) and on several issues at stake in the development of contemporary political theory.

Angela Mitropoulos (Queen Mary, University of London) has written on the intersections of labour, migration and geopolitics, eg, "Precari-us?" (Mute, 2005), "The Materialisation of Race in Multiculture" (DarkMatter, 2008), "Borders 2.0: Future, Tense" (Mute, 2008).

Brett Neilson is Associate Professor of Cultural and Social Analysis at the University of Western Sydney, where he is also a member of the Centre for Cultural Research. He is interested in the intersections of cultural criticism and political practice. Apart from academic publications, his writings have appeared in venues such as Variant, Mute, Posse, DeriveApprodi, Vacarme, Subtropen, Conflitti globali, makeworlds, Overland, Carta and Framework. He is a contributor to the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto and author of Free Trade in the Bermuda Triangle …and Other Tales of Counterglobalization (University of Minnesota Press, 2004).

Convenors: Anja Kanngieser and Aren Z. Aizura. This event has been convened with the support of the School of Culture and Communications, the Melbourne School of Graduate Research Academic Activity Grants program and the Arts Faculty’s Postgradaute Conference Assistance Scheme.

FORUM - Creative Scholarship: A Forum on Creative Writing in the University - State Library of NSW - 22 Oct

CREATIVE SCHOLARSHIP

A FORUM ON CREATIVE WRITING IN THE UNIVERSITY

The Writing & Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney is holding a forum, Creative Scholarship, in response to the popularity of creative writing programs in Australian universities. The forum will examine the legitimacy of creative writing postgraduate degrees (PhD and DCA) and their scholarly and public uses.

The forum will be held in the Metcalfe Auditorium at the State Library of NSW on Wednesday 22 October 2008 from 6-7:30pm.

The panellists are distinguished writers in their own fields as well as university teachers and supervisors of creative writing theses.

Bill Manhire is a four-time winner of the New Zealand Book Award for poetry. His Collected Poems are published by Victoria University Press in NZ and Carcanet in the UK. He is the director of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University in Wellington.

John Dale is the author of five books, including the bestselling Huckstepp and two crime novels, Dark Angel and The Dogs Are Barking. He is Director of the Centre for New Writing and Head of Creative Practices in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS.

Hazel Smith is a writer, performer and new media artist, and member of the UWS Writing & Society Research Group She is author of The Erotics of Geography and The Writing Experiment: strategies for innovative creative writing and co-author, with Roger Dean, of Improvisation, Hypermedia And The Arts Since 1945.

Marcelle Freiman is a poet and teacher of creative writing and post-colonial and diasporic literature at Macquarie University. In 2008 she was awarded the Macquarie University Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence.

Kim Cheng Boey is the author of four collections of poetry and a forthcoming book of essays, Between Stations. Born and raised in Singapore, he is a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle.

Catherine Cole is professor of creative writing at RMIT University. She has published three novels - Dry Dock, Skin Deep and The Grave at Thu Le, and the non-fiction books, The Poet who Forgot about Becoming a Writer, on the poet A.D. Hope, and Private Dicks and Feisty Chicks: An Interrogation of Crime Fiction.

Enquiries: (02) 9772 6780 or writing@uws.edu.au

Please rsvp to writing@uws.edu.au

FELLOWSHIPS - Visiting Fellowship Program - Research School of Humanities (ANU)

RSH 2010
Visiting Fellowship Program
Research School of Humanities, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University

The Research School of Humanities has been established by the Australian National University in 2007 by amalgamating four key Centres of the University – the renowned Humanities Research Centre, the Centre for Cross Cultural Research, the National Europe Centre and the Australian National Dictionary Centre. The RSH builds on research fostered by these Centres and seeks to promote innovative research in the Humanities. Its Visiting Fellowship program is an enhancement of the program offered by the HRC since the 1970s and provides funds to support scholars to work in the Research School.

Applications are particularly welcome from scholars with interests in one or more of the RSH’s research programs and especially from those whose current projects relate to the RSH 2010 Annual Theme of ‘Imaging Identity’.

Applications for fellowships to the Freilich Foundation and the National Europe Centre are also welcomed. The key research programs of the RSH include:

• Visual Culture
• History and Memory
• Biography and Life Writing
• Culture, Heritage and the Environment
• Public Cultures and Museums
• World Literature
• Postcolonial Studies
• Digital Humanities

Application are now open and guidelines, application and referees comment forms can be downloaded the RSH website (follow the links): http://rsh.anu.edu.au/

READING - Tom Cho on Radio National "Short Story" - 2 Nov 2008

Tom Cho's short story 'Today on Dr Phil' is going to be broadcast on the Short Story program for ABC Radio National:

'Today on Dr Phil'
Read by Brett Cousins
Sunday 2 November, 3.35pm
Short Story program, ABC Radio National
(look up your local frequency at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/freq/)

This piece is from Tom's forthcoming collection of short stories called 'Look Who's Morphing', which is going to be published in May next year by Giramondo Publishing (http://www.giramondopublishing.com/).

UPCOMING CONFERENCES and NEW PUBLICATIONS - Chinese Diaspora

The World Confederation of Institutes and Libraries for Overseas Chinese Studies website contains a wealth of information about:

1. Upcoming conferences

2. New publications - This issue carries thematic sections on Music as well as Memory and Belonging, Women, and Education, different parts of the world. Many thanks to Prof. Frederick Lau, Prof. Khuah-Pearce, Prof. Claudine Salmon, Prof. Nora Chiang, Prof. James Armstrong, Prof. Wan Guofang, Prof. Park Yoon Jung, Didi Kwartanada and others for sharing information about these new and recent publications.

If you have any new publications on any aspect of Chinese overseas studies in any part of the world and any language, forward the information to koh @ ohio . edu

MEETUP - Melbourne Asian Australian Meetup - October 2008

MELBOURNE ASIAN AUSTRALIAN MEETUP - OCTOBER 2008

... Chatting, hatching plans and other non-emailing activities for Asian Australians and their friends...

The next Melbourne Asian Australian Meetup is planned for THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER. This meetup coincides with the evening screening of Maximum Choppage: Round 2 (MC2) at UniMelb's Asia Week (see HERE for full details). As part of the screening, the event will feature a panel of the film's producer Maria Tran and writer/director Timothy Ly (both from Sydney). Both Maria and Tim are keen to meet up with Melbourne folk while they're here!

The Asian Australian Meetups are a chance to meet and chat with Asian Australians and their collaborators, friends, partners and other associated folks (note: 'non-Asians' are more than welcome!). The meetups have a very casual vibe. So why not come along?

The details for both events are:

SCREENING of MC2 + DISCUSSION PANEL
DATE: THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER
TIME: 6.30-8.30pm
VENUE: Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, University of Melbourne (Parkville)
COST: FREE!

MELBOURNE ASIAN AUSTRALIAN MEETUP
DATE: THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER
TIME: 9PM
VENUE: University Cafe (255 Lygon St, Carlton)
RSVP: By Monday 20 October - tseen@yahoo.com

To get announcements of future meet-ups e-mailed to you, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asianaustmeetups/

Please feel free to forward this on to others...

Hope to see you there!

REMINDER - Maximum Choppage: Round 2 - Screening/Panel - Thurs 23 Oct 2008

Thursday 23 October 2008, 6.30-8.30pm
Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, Swanston Street, University of Melbourne

With the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute, AASRN is co-sponsoring the Melbourne launch of Rumble Pictures' Maximum Choppage: Round 2 and a panel featuring producer Maria Tran and writer/director Timothy Ly.

See this event's full listing for Asia Week:
http://www.asiainstitute.unimelb.edu.au/events/asiaweek_maximum_choppage.html

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NOTE that the screening/panel will be followed by a Melbourne AA Meetup at 9pm - full details for that HERE!