Newsletter 28 August 2008

Events for September
New members
Reports on recent activities
Notices posted by request

Events for September

  • CRESC Annual Conference, Culture and Citizenship, 3 - 5 September, St Hugh’s College, Oxford
  • Community, Health and the Arts 'Vital Arts - Vibrant Communities' Conference, University Melbourne, 5 - 7 September
  • CONTACT: An Interdisciplinary Challenge in Cultural Studies, Uni Western Sydney, 25 - 26 September
  • CRN - Listening Project Workshop, Conflict, democracy and listening, Monash, 26 September
  • Histories of Australian Media Reception: A Colloquium, State Library of NSW, 26 September
  • Ninth International Women in Asia (WIA) Conference: Transition and Interchange, UQ, 29 September - 1 October
  • Planning for a socially inclusive future for Australia, UTS, 30 September – 3 October

More details on the CRN website.

New Members

I’m pleased to be able to introduce two new CRN members, Dr Meredith Jones, and Dr Rowan Wilken. Meredith has established a track record of publication and emerging international recognition in the broad fields of media and cultural studies, corporeal feminism, and the more specific area of feminist approaches to cosmetic surgery. She has a number of developing interests in digital media, art and technology, intersections between bodies and technology, and container technologies.

Rowan’s main areas of research output are within and across the fields of cultural studies, media and communications, and architectural theory and history. Prior to his PhD studies, he worked as an independent researcher and writer. He also worked for the State Library of Victoria in a variety of capacities, including planning, programming and curating a large-scale (90+ item) exhibition in 2004, and completing several large-scale research projects aimed at improving public access to the Library’s heritage collections.

We welcome Meredith and Rowan to the Network, and look forward to seeing their contributions to our ongoing research.

Reports on Recent Activities

Japanese Transnational Fandoms Workshop, Wollongong, 3 – 4 July

This workshop investigated the different ways in which originally Japanese genres, aesthetics and styles have been taken up, deployed and transformed by female fans transnationally. The way in which Japanese products, styles and images are received in different cultures as well as the (sub)cultural ends to which they are deployed will be investigated, as will the impact of the fandom on the changing nature of consumerism, participatory fan culture and particularly gender in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Of particular interest was the ‘yaoi’ or ‘boys’ love’ (BL) manga/animation fandom popular with girls and young women. Over the last decade there has been a massive boom in interest in this genre (including commercially translated and published volumes as well as amateur fan-authored productions) in Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

About 20 speakers looked at the impact of Japanese popular culture in Australia and the region.

The keynote lecture was delivered by Professor Christine Yano from the University of Hawaii who spoke on the global Hello Kitty Fandom.

The workshop will result in a themed edition of the journal Intersections: for release in April 2009.

The event garnered some favourable publicity – most notably a spread in A2, the culture pull out of The Age newspaper on Saturday August 18 (Age journalist Fran Atkinson attended the whole event).

Photo link:

The Listening Project

This is an edited report on the on-going Listening Project. You can read the complete report on the CRN website:

The Listening Project is now about half-way through our year-long program ofevents. The project is centred on ‘listening’ as a way of reframing debates in Mediaand Cultural Studies around media practices and interventions. The Project situatesestablished and emerging Australian researchers within an increasing internationalfocus on the practices, politics and ethics of listening. The Project convenors aredrawing on their own expertise and ongoing research both to link with other scholarsand establish a research agenda that engages scholarly research on these issues withpractitioners in the field. The Project also significantly enhances the profile of theCultural Literacies (and Technologies nodes), as well as the activities of the CRN.In 2007, we proposed as the first steps towards these broad goals a program of eventsthis year leading to a multi-authored publication around the theme of ‘listening’. Twoof these events have now been completed and we are preparing for the remainingthree.

The Media, Multiculturalism and the Politics of Listening workshop was anextremely successful CRN event in April 2008 that brought together mediapractitioners and community activists as well as established, ECR and postgraduatescholars working across this emerging field. The innovative format of the workshop was particularly effective in opening a spacefor engagement between the diverse interests of participants involved. Prior to theworkshop, the conveners circulated readings and a booklet that included framingquestions for the discussion. Instead of beginning the workshop with a discussion ofhow individual people’s research projects fitted with the workshop themes allparticipants were asked to prepare a two-to-three minute response to the framingquestions. This enabled practitioners and researchers alike to participate.

The Technologies of Listening workshop incorporated soundartists as well as academics workingacross the fields of technologies, new media and cultural histories, including A/Prof. Jonathan Sterne, who was touring the country on behalf of the CRN. The crossover between these two CRN events meant that broad areas of sharedresearch interest elaborated during the workshop could be further developed in othercontexts such as the highly productive and intellectually generous ‘Open Door Days’convened by Kate Crawford and held by Jonathan Sterne in Sydney, Melbourne andBrisbane. In addition, the workshop format of distributing papers and framingquestions beforehand was again very effective in generating sustained and engageddiscussion throughout this daylong event.

Notices Posted by Request

Social Inclusion conference brings universities together with communities

The 4Rs - Rights, Reconciliation, Respect, Responsibility – Conference

University of TechnologySydney (UTS) 30 September – 3 October 2008

“Social Inclusion means many things - but to everyday Australians it's about the things that matter,” says conference convenor, Professor, Andrew Jakubowicz. “How will the new climate change regime affect human rights? What will happen after ‘Sorry’ for Indigenous Australians? How does the workplace affect human rights? What is it like being a young Muslim woman in Australia's schools and workplaces? What happens if we think of housing as a human right? What does it mean to be an active citizen? How does racism affect people in different communities? “These are just some of the questions we will discuss at the conference.”

The 4Rs conference brings the community together with university researchers to explore, debate and plan for a more socially inclusive future. Four themes capture the ideas of the conference - Rights, Reconciliation, Respect and Responsibility”

Sixty years ago the United Nations adopted the Universal Charter of Human Rights. Since then the international community has expanded our understanding of human rights to cover economic, social, political, cultural and educational rights, and yet, there is still no federal bill specifically for the protection of human rights in Australia.

Senator Ursula Stephens, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector says, “Key to our approach is looking at how we can put people back at the centre of service delivery – so that we can remove the barriers that prevent some Australians from participating and engaging in their communities. In doing so, we understand the connection between economic and social policy, and how they are complementary in ensuring we have an engaging and vibrant civil society. I look forward to hearing the conference outcomes and continuing a broader dialogue on these important issues in the context of the Australian Government's social inclusion agenda.”

The 4Rs conference, opened by NSW Governor Marie Bashir, involves leading civil rights advocates Patrick Dodson, Robert Manne, Susan Ryan, Sev Ozdowski and Tom Calma. It foregrounds research on racism, cultural diversity, sexualities, climate change, citizenship and Indigenous futures.

Key international speakers include Saskia Sassen from the USA and Tariq Modood from the UK. Australian speakers include Andrew Marcus, Hurriyet Babacan, Tracy Taylor, Greg Noble, Kevin Dunn, Jock Collins, Jenny Onyx, Marion Maddox, Lucy Taksa, Peter Kriesler and John Nevile.

Government and NGO speakers from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Centre for Policy Development, State equal opportunity commissions, the NSW Community Relations Commission, the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), Reconciliation Australia, Diversity Health Institute and teachers, curriculum developers and students from across the NSW education system - state, catholic and independent will attend. Key conference partners include Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS).

Highlights include: a public discussion on the Northern Territory Intervention, supported by Australians for Native Title & Reconciliation (ANTaR). Award-winning international writer and story teller, Arnold Zable will entertain guests at the Conference dinner and the work of four leading contemporary Australian artists, exploring the 4Rs themes, will be showcased.

The 4RsConference Website: is organised by the Centre for Cosmopolitan Civil Societies at the University of Technology Sydney, and SAVE - Australia Inc, an independent human rights advocacy organisation, in co-operation with the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, and the Institute for Cultural Diversity.

Media and sponsorship enquiries: Suzanne Henderson / Conference secretary, Maqsood Alshams
/ Tel: 0407 104 268 / / Tel: 0422 085 222

ARC Cultural Research Network