Arts Faculty News

On Thursday 24 September 2009, Monash University’s Research Unit in Film Culture and Theory collaborated in its inaugural public event: a lively and thought-provoking seminar devoted to Quentin Tarantino’s divisive and highly popular new film, Inglourious Basterds.

Hosted by The Age critic Philippa Hawker, the speakers were:

• Mark Baker, director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation
• Adrian Martin, world-famous film critic and Co-Director of the Research Unit in Film and Cultural Theory
• Jan Epstein, Melbourne film critic and broadcaster
• Nathan Wolski, lecturer in Jewish Studies.

This event was presented by the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation in association with the Research Unit in Film Culture and Theory at Monash University.

The talks given on the night were filmed and can now be viewed, free of charge, at the Slow TV site of the Australian arts and current affairs magazine The Monthly.

For more of Adrian Martin’s analysis of Tarantino’s film, consult the forthcoming issue of the Australian art magazine UN, his extended essay on ‘sadistic cinema’ (in French translation) in the next issue of Trafic, and his feature piece “Revenge is Useless” which appeared (in Spanish translation) in the September-October issue of Cahiers du cinéma España.

On the 23rd-25th of August 2009, the University of Copenhagen in partnership with Monash University’s School of English, Communications and Performance Studies and Social Aesthetics Research Unit held a symposium on aesthetics, culture and social life, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event brought together scholars at the forefront of investigations into socio-aesthetics and cultural analysis. It was the first of a series of planned symposia engaging with the theme of Socio-Aesthetics. Drawing together scholars from various fields of the humanities and social sciences, the focus upon interdisciplinary exchange was noteworthy, with delegates interrogating a wide range of phenomena.

The three-day conference saw contributions from more than 40 academics from Monash University, the University of Copenhagen and many other international institutions. The symposium included two keynote speakers, Gerhard Schulze and Scott Lash. Both provided telling, yet dramatically divergent accounts of the dimensions of the aesthetic in social and economic life.

The symposium was a great experience that has set high expectations for the next socio-aesthetics symposium, tentatively scheduled 2011, in Melbourne. Congratulations to all delegates and organizers for their considerable efforts.

See Social Aesthetics Research Unit for further research activities and events.

For further information on the Symposium read Michael Walsh’s report or view the University of Copenhagen’s SocioAesthetics site.

Dr Therese Davis, co-director with Dr Adrian Martin of the new Research Unit in Film Culture and Theory, recently participated as an international guest in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Indigeneity and Performance, a series of international research workshops funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK.

Dr Davis gave a presentation on how Indigenous filmmakers in Australia are adopting and adapting film as a means for transmitting Indigenous cultural knowledge and history in ways that are radicalising conceptions of historical film and knowledge.

The Heritage and Material Culture workshop analysed functions of heritage within specific social/cultural groups as well as in cross-cultural situations. Heritage was considered not just in terms of transmitting and preserving objects, discourses, values and practices, but also in an expanded sense as mobilising historical understanding or social memory to nourish a desire for solidarity between generations.

Further information on Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Indigeneity and Performance is available from the Beyond Text site.

Dr Belinda Smaill comments on reality television in The Age:

Trouble TV’s a disaster and that’s why we love it

Lisa Curtis-Wendlandt, who recently completed her PhD in History in the School of Historical Studies, is a joint winner of the Australian Historical Association-Copyright Agency Limited Postgraduate Essay Prize for 2009. Lisa’s essay, ‘Beating Around (In) the Bush: Corporal Punishment and Moral Reform at Hermannsburg Mission in Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century Australia’, will be published in History Australia.

The citation for Lisa’s essay reads, “This article provides a subtle, astute analysis of the relationship between corporal punishment and the practices of Lutheran missionaries in Australia, most particularly those of Carl and Freida Strehlow’s Hermannsburg Mission in Central Australia. Conceptually rich and making careful, probing use of archival sources, the author traces the interdependence between Lutheran proselytisation, an ostensibly benevolent patriarchal mode of missionary authority, and the mutually reinforcing tendency of this ‘protectionist agenda’ and practices of ‘indigenous male violence’ among the Aranda and Loritja people. In insisting that ‘the image of the missionary and his whip deserves a closer look’, and mining mission records for the gendered impact and legitimacy accorded to abuse within cultures fostered by the missions, the author has brought a powerful new dimension to themes in Australian Indigenous history, and a offered a perspective with considerable resonances in contemporary debates.”

From Australian Historical Association

Emily Byrne

Three third-year performing arts students have taken top honours at the Malthouse 3D Festival.

Students Emily Byrne, Sean Mulcahy and Amelia Ducker from the Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies, received the 3D Festival Development Award recently for their original work Send in the Clowns, which explores the subject of child abuse.

The students were chosen from a large field of entrants from Victorian universities and TAFEs to participate in the final showcase performance at the CUB Malthouse.

The Monash group will be given the opportunity to workshop their piece further with industry professionals.

Ms Byrne said the group was excited to win the award.

“It was important to us because it was our own piece; we wrote, acted in, and directed the play so it was nice to get the recognition,” she said.

“The performing arts industry is hard to break into so winning this award and having the chance to now network and work with some of the best people in the industry to develop our piece further will be invaluable.”

Head of the Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies Dr William Peterson said the recognition continued a long and distinguished history of Monash Bachelor of Performing Arts students being rewarded for their work.

“It reflects the capacity we seek to develop in our performing arts students to be able to generate original performance work,” Dr Peterson said.

Further Information

Malthouse 3D Festival

Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies

Bachelor of Performing Arts handbook entry

The Monash European and EU Centre is pleased to announce its 2009 Annual Essay Competition in European and EU Studies.

Up to three prizes of $500 will be awarded.

The competition is open to all students at Monash University. Honours and postgraduate students in the faculties of Arts, Law, and Business and Economics are particularly encouraged to apply.

Essays should focus on recent developments in Europe and the European Union and should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words in length.

The essays will be assessed by a panel of judges selected by the Monash European and EU Centre. Winning essays will be considered for publication in the Monash European and EU Centre’s new electronic working papers series or in a suitable academic journal or book.

To enter, please send an electronic version of your essay together with your name, faculty, address, email and level of study to: patricia.arnold@general.monash.edu.au

Closing date: Thursday 12 November 2009

Winners will be notified by mail.

This initiative is funded by the Monash European and EU Centre.

Further information: Amanda Crichton, amanda.crichton@general.monash.edu.au

Erin Quigley

I am studying History Honours, and am writing my thesis on children in the Lodz ghetto during the Holocaust.

For one of my coursework units I studied at the Monash South Africa campus and Rwanda.

I think Honours is a great way to conduct further research on an area you found interesting in undergraduate studies. You are given a lot more freedom, and less contact hours. You develop a great relationship with your supervisor, and get the opportunity to meet other Honours students from a vast area of research.

I chose to undertake Honours because I really enjoyed History in my Bachelor of Arts degree and wanted to specialise in another historical period. It also gave me the opportunity to undertake original research. Studying Honours looks great on your resume, and gives you the opportunity to undertake higher Postgraduate programs.

More about History Honours

More about applying for Arts Honours

Nominations are now open for the 2009 Sir John Monash Medal for Outstanding Achievement for students in the Arts Faculty. The Sir John Monash Medal is awarded to final year undergraduate or Honours students with excellent academic records who have also achieved excellence in another arena (e.g. sports, community service, performance).

Nominations can be made by the student, a fellow student, any Monash staff member, or a member of the community.

Deadline for nominations: Thursday 19 November 2009

Further information: Sir John Monash Medal for Outstanding Achievement.

Trauma, Memory and Transformation: The Malaysian and Southeast Asian Experience

Conference and Workshop Dates

Tuesday 22 June – Thursday 24 June 2010

Venue

School of Arts and Social Sciences
Monash University Sunway
Jalan Lagoon Selatan
46150 Bandar Sunway
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Important Dates

• Submission of Abstract: Monday 2 November 2009
• Notification of Acceptance: Tuesday 1 December 2009
• Submission of Conference Paper: Monday 3 May 3 2010

In recent humanities and social science research there has been a cross disciplinary interest in notions of both trauma and memory. Trauma is seen as a moment of profound alteration and change in the lives of both individuals and communities. The range of catalysts for the assessment of trauma is wide, from the effects of war, terrorism, state violence and natural disaster through to the more personal instances of trauma such as illness, sexual identity acceptance and survivors of crime, including survivors of gender based violence.

The study of memory has also been an important development in the humanities and social sciences. Memory study complements more traditional historical discourse by offering alternative pathways to an assessment of personal and shared experience. Memory Studies provides subaltern communities with a distinctive opportunity to have their recollections and memories considered as a part of a living history—revealing narratives that might be alternative to the grand narratives of national and regional historic discourse(s).

This conference wishes to scrutinize localised Malaysian and Southeast Asian responses to trauma through an analysis of a variety of case studies that are informed by memory and that reveal as a result patterns of transformation that have arisen. How do individuals and communities in Southeast Asia respond to trauma? How is trauma overcome? What role does reflection play in the process of transformation? What particular features do the Malaysian and Southeast Asian experiences of a range of traumas add to our understanding of trauma and memory at a global level?

Participants for this conference can bring experience from a wide and diverse array of discipline backgrounds including, but not limited to:

• Southeast Asian Studies
• Cultural Studies
• International Relations
• Political Science
• History
• Literary Studies
• Film Studies
• Anthropology
• Sociology
• Psychology
• History of Medicine
• Development Studies
• Economics
• Gender Studies
• Law and Legal Studies
• Health Sciences and Medicine

As the conference wishes to explore the nature of applied practice in relation to the areas of trauma and memory we invite the participation of those outside the academy. The work of Non-Governmental and Civil Society groups in these areas is important in Southeast Asia and the conference anticipates their valuable participation and input. Proposals for papers that address gender and the diversities of sexuality will be warmly welcomed.

Abstracts and Panel proposals not exceeding 500 words should accompany a brief biography and be sent no later than Monday November 2, 2009 to:

Benjamin McKay
Lecturer, School of Arts and Social Sciences
Monash University Sunway
Jalan Lagoon Selatan
46150 Bandar Sunway
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Email: benjamin.mckay@sass.monash.edu.my
Fax: +60 3 5514 6365