SYMPOSIUM: Landscapes, Exiles, Belonging, Home

The Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia, will present a second part to the July 2004 cross-disciplinary symposium hosted by the University of Barcelona’s Centre for Australian Studies, Landscapes of Exile. The second symposium will be held at the New Norcia Monastery, a Spanish enclave one-and-a-half hour’s drive from Perth, Western Australia founded by Spanish monks led by Dom Rosendo Salvado in 1846. The connections are obvious once you have seen the landscape: the exile was one of both discovery and fueled by religious persecution, and the Spanish influence on this quintessentially Australian land is profound and on-going. We intend to invite writers and musical composers to make presentations, alongside a program of invited scholarly papers.

Following the 2004 symposium, all invited papers in 2005 will address the experience of "exile": understood in both the strictest sense of the word and also in the widest metaphorical sense to include, for example, forced migration, experiences of internal exile and incarceration. We are particularly interested in opening up cross disciplinary discussion among scholars working in the fields of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Spanish Civil War Studies, Immigration Studies, Convict Studies, Inter-colonial Transportation, personal experiences of forced exile/migration, experiences of returning migrants, among others.

We shall be inviting scholars as well as writers and artists to participate in this meeting, to take place over two days with an additional excursion into the Western Australian landscape. We shall be arranging the accommodation, transportation from Perth to New Norcia and meals to offer you as a set price.

This symposium has been scheduled to overlap with an academic event in Perth to take place 12-16 July, Middle Passages so as to share opportunities with keynote and other speakers. See over the page for its call for papers.