New Zealand
and the Mediterranean
The 15th annual conference
of the New Zealand Studies Association
together with the
Centre for New Zealand Studies, Birkbeck, University of London
Florence, Italy
2 - 4 July 2008
This major international event sees NZSA combining again with the Centre for New Zealand Studies (CNZS). Following the success of NZSA's 2006 conference in Paris, this event will be located in Italy, in central Florence. The conference venue, at the Florence campus of Richmond The American International University in London, is a 16th century palace just 300 yards from the Uffizi Gallery, 200 yards from the Ponte Vecchio, and 100 yards from the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. A conference dinner and excursions are planned, with Florence within easy travel of Pisa, Rome, Bologna and Venice. Keynote speakers confirmed are: Claudia Bell, Roger Collins, Caroline Daley, James George, Patricia Grace, Jan Kemp, Michele Leggott, Karen Nero, Vincent O'Sullivan, and Christopher Pugsley. One excursion included within the conference will be an exclusive coach trip 30 miles south of Florence where Christopher Pugsley will provide a guided tour of the battle of San Michele. A second event will be an evening of poetry reading from Jan Kemp, Michele Leggott and Vincent O'Sullivan at a special location. Proposals for 20 minute papers must be sent by 9 November to either Dr Ian Conrich, Chair of NZSA & Director of CNZS <> or Dr Dominic Alessio, Vice-Chair of NZSA <>. Abstracts need to be 250-300 words and accompanied by a bio sketch of 100-150 words. A decision on proposals received will be made by 3 December. Initial enquiries pre-proposal are welcomed and we will give priority to proposals received from members of NZSA.
The conference will accept proposals on all subjects to do with New Zealand BUT priority will be given to papers on New Zealand and the Mediterranean, which is viewed as including the following regions: Spain, Portugal, the south of France, Italy, Croatia, Albania, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco. We are particularly keen to receive papers on New Zealand and one or more of these regions. Possible topics include New Zealand and World War I (Gallipoli, Egypt, and Palestine), World War II (The Battles for Crete and Monte Cassino, the New Zealand army in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia), migration to New Zealand (Italian, Croatian, and Greek settlers), New Zealand writers and artists within the Mediterranean (Janet Frame in Spain, Katherine Mansfield in the South of France, Frances Hodgkins in Italy and Morocco, Ralph Hotere in Avignon, John Mulgan in Greece, Dan Davin in Crete and Italy, the Mediterranean in the work of Patricia Grace and Vincent O'Sullivan), the influence of Spanish, Italian and Greek cultures on New Zealand art and culture, the teaching of Mediterranean subjects in New Zealand (Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, and Italian courses), Portuguese voyaging and discovery in the Pacific, New Zealanders and The Big OE, the New Zealand diaspora in the Mediterranean.