Newsletter 31st October 2006
In this Issue
Annual Meeting
Notices
Annual Meeting
Not long now until the much anticipated Cultural Studies Sleepover (thanks Kate, I think that term
will be with us forever). I’ll send a final reminder in a week or so, but just in case you’ve forgotten
the details, the meeting will be held at the Mercure Broadway in Sydney on Monday 13 th and
Tuesday 14th November. Those staying over will also be accommodated there. Accommodation,
including breakfast, and the conference package which includes morning and afternoon teas and
buffet lunch will be covered by the CRN, as will airfares. We regret that we cannot offer transfers
to or from the airport.
The dinner on the Monday evening (you should have all gotten an email invitation from me by
now) is not covered, and the cost will be $30.00 per head, plus drinks.
Everyone who is travelling should have received a copy of their e-ticket. If you haven’t, or can’t
find it, let me know and I’ll re-send.
There are details of the Annual Meeting on the CRN website:
http://www.uq.edu.au/crn/notices/annual_meeting_2006.html
If there is anything else you are not clear about, please email me.
Next week I will send copies of the main reports so that you will have a chance to read them
before the business part of the meeting. We will also provide hard copies on the day.
Notices
Here is some information about events and issues that might be of interest. Please circulate to
anyone who might be interested.
CULTURAL FRICTIONS
SEMINAR SERIES
…a study of global connections shows the grip of encounter: friction. A wheel turns
because of its encounter with the surface of the road; spinning in the air it goes
nowhere… As a metaphorical image, friction reminds us that heterogeneous and unequal
encounters can lead to new arrangements of culture and power.
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Friction:
An Ethnography of Global Connection, Princeton UP,
2004, p.5.
CULTURAL FRICTIONS is a project of the Transforming Cultures research centre. The project
seeks to examine how modern societies increasingly experience contradictions generated by the
tensions between claims to secularism, equality and rationality, and the realities of cultural
hierarchies, social inequalities and resurgent social movements, some based on religious
affiliation. The project will place these questions in comparative settings in order exploring the
challenges generated by these frictions, and varying governmental and cultural responses to
them.
The core of the project explores the disjuncture between cultural friction and cultural citizenship –
the sense of fear and apprehension associated with cultural differences as conflict and threat on
the one hand, and the celebration and encouragement of cultural exploration and assertion on the
other. The concept of cultural citizenship points to a terrain of meaning making, of identity
formation, resistance and creation in the flows and folds of the contemporary world.
The first seminar will be held from
11.30-1pm on
Wednesday 15th of November
Transforming Cultures, Room 3.402,
(Level 4, Bon Marche, Building 3)
University of Technology, Sydney
Broadway Campus
Enquiries: TFC Administrative Manager Jonathan Marshall Phone: 02 9514 2309
Email: transforming.cultures@uts.edu.au
http://transforming.cultures.uts.edu.au/
Dr. Urmila Goel
Visiting Scholar at the Asia Centre, University of New England
Department for Cultural and Social Anthropology, European University Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder,
Germany
Dealing with experiences of racism: The German internet portal Indernet
‘Indians of the second generation’ in Germany experience racism on a daily basis, mostly not in a
violent open but rather subtle implicit way. Individuals develop different strategies in dealing with
these experiences. They stretch from the total negation of any such experience on the one
extreme to the full resistance and anti-racist action on the other.
The internet portal Indernet can be seen as a space for the (implicit) negotiation of the
experiences and to develop strategies of coping. The Indernet was established in the summer of
2000 by three young ‘Indians of the second generation’ to provide a platform for communication
and information to other ‘Indians of the second generation’ in Germany. Rather than addressing
issues of racism explicitly the Indernet refers to a common ‘Indian’ identity and aims to build a
community. There is no explicit political agenda.
The paper will analyse in which ways the Indernet is nonetheless a space dealing with
experiences of racism. It will discuss how racism, which is determined through international and
national discourses and experienced locally, is dealt with by referring to a transnational context
and struggling with the requirements of the logic of national unambiguity.
Bio-note
Urmila Goel is currently a visiting scholar at the Asia Centre of the University of New England in
Armidale. She is a researcher in cultural and social anthropology affiliated to the European
University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany. Urmila is working on the research project ‘The
virtual second generation – On the negotiation of ethnicity on the internet’. Her research interests
cover the construction of ethnic identities, othering and racism, second generation migrants,
migration from South Asia to Germany as well as the role of the internet in this. For more
information please visit www.urmila.de.
The HKU Arts Faculty is advertising 15 positions from senior to junior
levels, which include posts in Comparative Literature and in the Humanities
broadly defined.
Position: Faculty of Arts
Institution: University of Hong Kong
Location: Hong Kong
Date posted: 10/23/2006
Faculty of Arts - Multiple Positions
The University of Hong Kong is at the international forefront of higher learning and research, with
more than 100 teaching departments and sub-divisions of studies, and more than 60 research
institutes and centres. It has over 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 48
countries. English is the medium of instruction. The University is committed to international
standards for excellence in scholarship and research.
Faculty of Arts
The Faculty of Arts, founded in 1912, is one of the oldest and largest faculties in the University.
The Faculty is seeking to fill at least 15 academic positions. These posts have been created with
two fundamental aims in mind: to prepare for the launch of the reformed four-year curriculum in
2012 and the expansion in student numbers that this will entail, and to bring new impetus and
vigour to the Faculty's research development. The Faculty has set itself the goal of excelling in
interdisciplinary studies, in particular in cultural comparisons and cross cultural discourse in
relation to China and the West. The Faculty will be appointing top scholars in all major
Humanities programmes to achieve this aim. Information about the Faculty of Arts can be
obtained at http://arts.hku.hk
Applications are invited for the following appointments as Professor/Associate
Professor/Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts, tenable from as soon as possible, on a threeyear fixed-term basis, with the possibility of renewal and consideration for tenure, or on a tenured
basis for exceptionally outstanding candidates above Assistant Professor level.
School of Chinese
1. Classical Chinese Literature (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-200) 2. China-West Historical Studies (Ref.:
RF-2006/2007-200) 3. Translation (English-Chinese/Chinese-English) (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-201)
School of English
1. Cross-Cultural, Postcolonial, or Travel Writing Studies (Ref.:RF-2006/2007-200) 2. Arts
coordinator for the BA/BEd double degree, with a specialization in English morphology and lexis,
pedagogical grammar, second language acquisition or educational linguistics (Ref.: RF2006/2007-200)
School of Geography
1. Population and Migration Studies (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-202) 2. Tourism and Leisure (Ref.: RF2006/2007-203)
School of Humanities (encompassing Art History, Comparative Literature/Cultural Studies, History,
Linguistics, Music, Philosophy) 1. Head of School (with specialization in one or more of the above
disciplines) (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-200) 2. China-West Literary and Cultural Studies (Ref.: RF2006/2007-200) 3. Musicology (including Western Classical Music and/or East-West studies)
(Ref.: RF-2006/2007-200) 4. Modern Chinese History (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-204)
School of Modern Languages and Cultures (encompassing American, European, Japanese, and
Modern China Studies, and 9 languages) 1. Head of School (with specialization in one or more of
the above disciplines) (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-200) 2. Modern Japanese Studies (Ref.: RF2006/2007-200) 3. Modern China Studies (China Studies programme coordinator) (Ref.: RF2006/2007-200) 4. Director of the Language Centre (Ref.: RF-2006/2007-205)
Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree in related fields, a strong tertiary teaching experience, a
distinguished record of research and scholarship and international standing for appointment at
professor level. Preference will be given to applicants who work in more than one discipline.
Applicants should indicate clearly on the application form which post, discipline(s) and level,
preferably with reference number, they wish to be considered for.
A highly competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience will be offered. The
appointments will attract a contract-end gratuity and University contribution to a retirement
benefits scheme, totalling up to 15% of basic salary, as well as leave, and medical/dental benefits.
Housing benefits will be provided as applicable. Before preparing an application, prospective
applicants are invited to contact the Head of the School or department chairperson concerned in
the first instance to ascertain disciplinary areas they wish to apply for. Applicants should then
submit a completed University application form, a curriculum vitae, a statement of professional
interests and accomplishments, and arrange to have three confidential reference reports sent
directly by the referees to the Assistant Registrar (Appointments), Human Resource Section,
Registry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
Further particulars and application forms can be obtained at https://extranet.hku.hk/apptunit/; or
from the Appointments Unit (Senior), Human Resource Section, Registry, The University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong (Fax (852) 2540 6735 or 2559 2058; E-mail: apptunit@hkucc.hku.hk). The
University reserves the right not to fill some of the posts listed. Review of applications will begin
from December 1, 2006 until sufficient appointments are made.
The University is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to a No-Smoking Policy
ARC Cultural Research Network
crn@uq.edu.au