Arts Faculty News

From Superwomen to Domestic Goddesses

On 16 July, the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, in conjunction with the Victorian Women’s Trust, hosted the launch of Dr Natasha Campo’s From Superwomen to Domestic Goddesses: The Rise and Fall of Feminism.

The book was launched by Professor Marilyn Lake (La Trobe University) and by Professor Rae Frances, Dean of Arts (Monash University). It examines the rise and fall of feminism in the public imagination in the last twenty years and explains why ‘feminism failed me’ has become the catch-cry of a generation.

Published by Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, the book is available now in the Monash University bookshop.

In this photo from left to right: Mary Crooks, Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust; Professor Rae Frances, Dean of Arts, Monash University; Professor Marilyn Lake, History Program, La Trobe University; Dr Natasha Campo, author, National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University.

Photo courtesy of The Victorian Women’s Trust – Steb Fisher Photography.

Indonesia at the Margins

Between Three Worlds Asian films and videos is proud to announce the release of a new DVD, Indonesia at the margins: political documentaries and essay films.

The executive producer of this DVD is David Hanan of Film and Television Studies in the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, who re-subtitled the documentaries, designed and authored the DVD and wrote a essay on the films, which is included in the DVD as a pdf file.

The four films on this DVD are the most important early documentary and essay films by Indonesia’s leading director of features, Garin Nugroho. The subjects examined in this collection include environmental issues in Jakarta, the plight of young street kids in Yogyakarta, the past and future of  West Papua, and Nugroho’s relationship to his own films. The first two films are pioneering works in the development of critical and investigative documentary in Indonesia, made in the Suharto era, at a time of considerable political repression. The two later films are innovative documentary-essay films, made by Nugroho with the resources of his SET Workshop.

View ‘Indonesia at the margins: Political documentaries and essay films‘ on the MAI site for further information.

The Iconic Female

Monash Asia Institute Press publications are now available for purchase online through the Monash ecommerce gateway. The MAI Press eCart can be accessed directly or from links on the MAI Press website. Titles are listed, with descriptions, title details and prices. Just add purchases to a cart and the system will calculate the total payment including postage. All international orders will be sent via DHL. Payment can be made with the secure credit card payment system and orders will include a tax invoice.

Visit Monash Asia Institute Press

The iconic female: goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet edited by Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat and Ian Mabbett

The energy of the goddess fills every facet of Indian life. To her devotees, the goddess appears in myriad forms: a mother, boon-giver, destroyer of evil, a divine lover, a protector and/or a bloodthirsty ogress. The more we discover about her, the more teasingly complex and multivalent the Devi appears. She is both constant and changing, loved and feared, worshipped and forgotten only to be re-discovered and worshipped.

In this book, for the first time, ten Australian researchers working on many aspects of the Devi have come together and offered, in a single collection, new research on the divine female. This book is the beginning of a renewed quest for the iconic Devi who continues to emerge in her many, unpredictably powerful forms.

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India

The Monash Asia Institute in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts is pleased to invite applications from talented Arts students interested in working in India over the summer break.

Four students will be selected to work with an organization in Bombay as part of an internship program for a period of 4 – 6 weeks. Two students will travel in early January 2008 and two in early March.

The program seeks to promote a better understanding of the culture and business environment of Bombay and Melbourne. It is supported by the City of Melbourne, the Indian Merchants Chamber in Bombay and the Hyderabad Sind National Colleges of Bombay.

The selection process will focus on academic results and preference will be given to students intending to take up honours or a masters degree in 2008.

Conditions

1. The in-country costs of placing Monash interns in Bombay for between four and six weeks are covered by the Indian host institution – The HR College of Commerce. Basic food, accommodation and local transport costs are covered by this Bombay partner.
2. The costs of international airfares, insurance, visas and incidental costs in Bombay are covered by the students selected for the program.

Applying

Interested applicants should send their resume and transcripts of academic results to monash.asia.institute@adm.monash.edu.au or deliver the documents to Juliet Yee, Room S811, 8th floor Menzies Building South Wing.

Deadline

20th November 2007

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Dr Angus McIntyre, Dr Robert Cribb, Dr Ariel Heryanto, Dr Thomas Reuter, Dr Irman G. Lanti and Prof Greg Barton

The recent Monash University Annual Indonesia Lecture Series — 10 Years of Political Reform in Indonesia: Reasons for Hope — saw a packed auditorium addressed by expert speakers from within Australia and abroad.

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Ms Jai Hartnell

Shadow puppetry exponent and Monash Asia Institute honorary research fellow Ms Jane (Jai) Hartnell is heading to Cambodia as one of Australia’s Youth Ambassadors.

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Stock footage of Afghanistan

The Monash Asia Institute has facilitated the donation of almost 1100 books to the University of Kabul library in Afghanistan.

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Herb Feith

The third annual Herb Feith Lecture will explore the difficulties faced by Indonesia in 2005 in maintaining national unity while striving to recognise diversity among its many islands.

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