What's On at UWA

By Dr Caroline Fleay, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University.

The responses of most political leaders to people seeking asylum lie in contrast to growing numbers of others in Australia who are disturbed by the impacts of policies on asylum seekers and their families. Over the past 25 years the responses of Australia’s major political party leaders have generally hardened when increasing numbers of people seeking asylum arrive in small boats. This is despite the fact that relatively few people have ever sought asylum in Australia compared with many other countries. The impact on asylum seekers of the harsh policies implemented by political leaders particularly over the last five years continues to be profound and lasting.

This includes the devastating consequences of policies that effectively prevent the reunion of refugees who came to Australia by boat, with their families. The majority of people who arrive by boat are men, reflecting the dangers of the long journey and their hope that they may at least get their immediate families to join them safely once they arrive. Instead, many women and children are now forced to remain in precarious and often dangerous and violent situations in their own or neighbouring countries. Australian policies prevent the safe passage of families to be re-united, forcing families to be rendered apart indefinitely.

This presentation will outline the adverse impact that Australian political leaders and their policies have on people seeking asylum and their families. It will also explore a range of community responses that challenge these policies, highlighting acts of solidarity, activism and community building that defy and challenge political attempts to dehumanise, punish and divide.

Dr Caroline Fleay is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, where she teaches human rights and conducts research into the experiences of people seeking asylum in Australia. She has been a regular visitor to some of WA’s sites of immigration detention and written extensively about the impacts on people seeking asylum of indefinite detention and being released into the community with minimal supports.

The Grace Vaughan Memorial Lecture

This annual lecture commemorates the life and achievements of Grace Vaughan, a social worker, social activist and parliamentarian, who was dedicated to the improvement of life at all levels and had a deep commitment to Australia’s participation in the Asian region and to ensuring women’s full participation in society. The lecture is presented by the Australian Association of Social Workers, the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia and Department of Local Government and Communities Western Australia.

In 2012 the newly established Association of Critical Heritage Studies appealed for a critical turn in heritage scholarship, calling on its members to ‘critically engage with the proposition that heritage studies needs to be rebuilt from the ground up’, and that this required the ‘ruthless criticism of everything existing’ – the last phrase of course, referencing Marx. In doing so, the Association formalised a turn towards the critical that had been slowly growing in heritage scholarship circles since the late 1990s, and which sought to broaden the focus of heritage studies from an emphasis on practice and heritage fundamentally being about being about ‘the preservation of the past for future generations’, to one that stressed the inherently political nature of heritage as a process. This seminar – based on research undertaken in collaboration with Professor Laurajane Smith (ANU) – seeks to explore the supposed ‘need’ for a critical turn in heritage scholarship, and in doing so, also explores the utility of the tradition heritage canon to the critical heritage project.

CMSS Seminar Series: Religion, State and Society

Legalizing Authoritarianism in Egypt

By Dr Amr Hamzawy, American University in Cairo and Cairo University

DATE: Thursday, 16 March 2017 TIME: 4.00pm – 6pm WHERE: Fox Lecture Theatre, Arts Building, The University of Western Australia ENTRY: Free REGISTRATION: Register via Eventbrite or email.

Abstract:

This talk examines the ways through which successive Egyptian governments have utilized lawmaking to eliminate opponents and silence voices of dissent since the coup of 3 July 2013. Key examples include the adoption of a draconian protest law and anti-terrorism laws. Most recently, the legislature passed a bill that, subject to the president’s approval, is poised to significantly curtail the autonomy of civil society organizations. By restricting freedom of expression and association and clamping down on voices of dissent, these legal initiatives have helped upgrade the repressive bureaucratic tools at the disposal of the government.

About the speaker:

Amr Hamzawy studied political science and developmental studies in Cairo, The Hague, and Berlin. After finishing his doctoral studies and after five years of teaching in Cairo and Berlin, Hamzawy joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Washington, DC) between 2005 and 2009 as a senior associate for Middle East Politics. Between 2009 and 2010, he served as the research director of the Middle East Centre of the Carnegie Endowment in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2011, he joined the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the American University in Cairo, where he continues to serve today. Hamzawy also serves as an associate professor of political science at the Department of Political Science, Cairo University. His research and teaching interests as well as his academic publications focus on democratization processes in Egypt, tensions between freedom and repression in the Egyptian public space, political movements and civil society in Egypt, contemporary debates in Arab political thought, and human rights and governance in the Arab world. Dr. Hamzawy is a former member of the People’s Assembly after being elected in the first Parliamentary elections in Egypt after the 25th of Jan 2011 revolution. He is also a former member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights. Hamzawy contributes a daily column and a weekly op-ed to the Egyptian independent newspaper Shorouk. His publications include: A Margin for Democracy in Egypt – The Story of a Failed Transition (in Arabic) Cairo: The Egyptian Lebanese Publishers (2014), On Religion, Politics, an Democratic Legitimacy in Egypt Carnegie Middle East Centre, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (in English and Arabic) (2013) and Remarks on Political Writing and its Role in Defending Democracy, Freedoms, and Human Rights (in Arabic) Ahram: Journal of Democracy (2013).

Be transported from the everyday in our free lunchtime concert series, featuring the finest musical talent locally, nationally and within the School.

This week features Chris Tonkin and Adam Pinto performing works for Piano & Electronics by late UWA lecturer Roger Smalley.

This talk draws on a small scale pilot study which focused on identifying some key themes relating to appearance, attractiveness and belonging, and which were considered important for young Asian Australian men and women. Some existing literature on appearance and belonging in Australia and other Western diasporic contexts has suggested that young people of Asian descent are more likely to feel dissatisfied with their appearance than their white Australian peers. Moreover, some recent media reporting has asserted that Asian Australian women in particular are tempted to ‘deracialise’ their bodies through cosmetic surgery, in order to better conform to what such media representations describe as mainstream white beauty ideals in Australia. The findings of this research suggest that while media may have had some influence on the participants’ ideas of attractiveness and desirable beauty, their personal perceptions of attractive appearance were informed by much broader multicultural notions of desirable appearance, which may draw on various transnational sources, but without negating the participants’ sense of belonging to Australia.

Getting Air: Technology and the Levitating Body in Sports Media outlines a history of technological developments related to capturing the athletic human body in motion. The role of filmmakers, artists, and inventors through the 20th century in this continued culture of photographing, tracking, and capturing the levitating body, reveals these images as texts in which cultural fears and desires can be read Theorists such as Marshall McLuhan, Judith Butler, and others serve to analyze and critique the ideology that drives technological progress in relation to the human body and compels the ongoing re-iteration and mass distribution of these bodies and images.

Isla Hansen is an artist working across New York and the Rust Belt to reinterpret and complicate the relationship between the human body and technological progress. Her solo and collaborative installations, systems, and performances have been exhibited at the Columbus Museum of Art, MOCA Cleveland, Industry City Gallery, the Parrish Art Museum, the Hammer Musem, Miller Gallery, and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Isla has been the recipient of the Daedalus Foundation MFA fellowship and a Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art at the Frontier Grant from the Studio for Creative Inquiry. She received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and her BA from Columbia University. Currently, Isla teaches in both the department of Art and at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at the Ohio State University.

http://islathemovie.com/indexhibitv070e/

Ordinary Meetings of Convocation are the general meetings of The University of Western Australia.

These meetings of Convocation provide the opportunity to receive an update on the operations of your University and current issues in tertiary education from the Vice-Chancellor, the Warden of Convocation and the Guild President. Questions are invited from the audience.

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Winthrop Singers, join us for a spectacular concert of favourite choral and organ works presented in association with Pipe Organ Plus.

Tickets: Standard $40 | Concessions $35 | Under 18's $20

Artificial intelligence is a complex area of computer science that is expected to have a impact in all areas of life. Come along to this one hour introductory session to gain some insight into how artificial intelligence is already being used, both in education and other fields.

You will get to explore a variety of tools that are understood to have some element of artificial intelligence. By considering practical examples of artificial intelligence in the context of your current teaching and learning methods, you will be able to reflect on the impact the incorporation of artificial intelligence may have on students now or in the future.

Outcomes for this session:

*Relate aspects of Artificial Intelligence (e.g. natural language processing) to learning and teaching practices or tools.

*In a group setting, observe or use tools that incorporate an aspect of Artificial Intelligence.

Register for this event via the Eventbrite link listed below.

In the last two decades there has been an ever-increasing volume of academic work by legal and social historians, literary scholars, philosophers, social scientists, criminologists and legal practitioners that investigates the relation between law and the emotions, both in historical and contemporary contexts. This workshop brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to consider intersections between emotions and law (using a broad concept of ‘law’), and to discuss possible future cross-disciplinary collaborations in this area, within and beyond the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education at The University of Western Australia (UWA).

This is a free event, but spaces are limited. Please register ([email protected]) by 22 March.

West Australian Opera | Distinguished Artist Series

For the last thirty years Stuart Maunder (General Director, New Zealand Opera) has been directing musical theatre and opera in Australia.

Having directed The Merry Widow, Patience, Pearl Fishers, Tosca and Rigoletto for West Australian Opera he is in Perth to direct Tosca.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Stuart, and ask questions about ‘The Enduring Attraction of the Classics’ in the first of our WAO Distinguished Artists Lecture Series.

Entry is free – bookings essential.

RSVP to [email protected]

Presented by Fremantle Arts Centre & UWA Music as part of offBEAT, FAC’s annual celebration of rhythm.

Interior Echo is a journey of music and spaces. Listeners are treated to a series of intimate percussion works presented in FAC’s historic cell room, galleries and studios. This compelling and revealing promenade performance provides listeners with a personal experience of new percussion music – with edgy rhythmic grooves in one room, gentle melodic textures in another and group percussion in the next.

The full ensemble then comes together in the Inner Courtyard for a rapturous finale.

This program celebrates music by Australia’s most influential contemporary composers including Matthew Shlomowitz, Kate Neal, Erik Griswold and more.

Piñata Percussion, based at the UWA School of Music, is acclaimed for its bold contemporary repertoire and championing the music of our time.

Artistic Director: UWA Artist in Residence Dr Louise Devenish

Tickets $24 | $15 Concessions

Author of the celebrated book The Inner Game of Music, Barry Green (USA) was Principal Bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony for 28 years and is currently active as a bass soloist, teacher, clinician and motivational speaker. The School of Music is delighted to host Barry as part of the Royal Over-Seas League Visiting Artist scheme and in collaboration with AUSTA WA.

Double Bassist extraordinaire and author of "The Inner Game of Music", Barry Green, presents an afternoon bass ensemble extravaganza! Bassists of all ages and standards are welcome to be a part of the day, which includes a concert performance by all participants.

Afternoon tea included in workshop. Free concert by participants at 4:30pm.

Tickets: General Public - $10 UWA students - Free

Book Now - https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=261091

UWA Exercise and Performance Centre (located at the southern end of campus within the school of Sport Science Exercise and Health) is offering FREE HEART SCREENING. This includes blood pressure testing, resting heart rate, spirometry (lung function) and body mass index (BMI). PLEASE EMAIL OR PHONE FOR AN APPOINTMENT.

Although employee reporting of workplace ethical violations is recognized as an important measure for managing the integrity of the public service, not many public employees who have witnessed ethical violations actually report them. This study examines and compares the links between employee perceptions of the trustworthiness of different organizational members and internal whistleblowing. It differentiates between trustworthy coworkers, supervisors, and senior managers. It uses cross-sectional data from 10,850 employees in the Australian Public Service in 2013 and 2016, which are aggregated to construct longitudinal data for 60 organizations. Among the three groups examined, perceptions of trustworthy senior managers are found to be most strongly related to internal whistleblowing.

Author of the celebrated book The Inner Game of Music, Barry Green (USA) was Principal Bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony for 28 years and is currently active as a bass soloist, teacher, clinician and motivational speaker. The School of Music is delighted to host Barry as part of the Royal Over-Seas League Visiting Artist scheme and in collaboration with AUSTA WA.

Barry Green will talk about his celebrated book The Inner Game of Music, plus much more in this not to be missed free seminar!

Free entry. RSVP to [email protected]

In the last campaigns of the Italian Wars, a conflict that had divided European states for more than fifty years, four key political protagonists in France exchanged letters. French campaigns against Habsburg forces in the north had separated the king, Henri II, from his queen, Catherine de’ Medici, his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, Duchess of Valentinois, and his chief military advisor, the constable Anne de Montmorency. In doing so, four individuals whose political fates were tightly interwoven in orientation around their monarch took to letters to express their hopes, desires and fears at war.

NB: This lecture follows the Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group Annual General Meeting (to which all are welcome), which begins at 6pm. The start time may vary slightly depending on the length of the meeting.

Futures Enthusiasts are people who are keen to be a part of the next wave of developments in higher education using technology and concepts to innovate learning and teaching practices.

This year we would like to extend an invitation to our gamut of enthusiasts to a monthly catered networking event at the Futures Observatory.

Come along to the next Futures Enthusiasts Meet-Up (FEMU) on Wednesday, 29 March 2017 between 4-5pm and take the opportnity to meet and share ideas with other education futures enthusiasts from the UWA community, Perth start-ups, industry or technology specialists.

Attending this monthly social event gives you the opportunity to:

*discuss an idea or concept with a specialist that could be part of an Education Futures Scholarship project,

*team up with other enthusiasts on projects to streamline costs, services and resources to enhance learning and teaching at UWA,

*find out about innovative developments in technologies to integrate and support your teaching practices, and

*enjoy conversations with like-minded people.

Given the broad range of specialist skills and knowledge at UWA, we hope these casual interactions can facilitate strategies to improve student learning and engagement as well as raise the profile of the Education Futures Scholarship program.

You can register for the event via the Eventbrite link listed below.

A public lecture by Marc Orlando, Director of Translation and Interpreting Studies program, Monash University, Melbourne and 2017 Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Working in a globalised and digitised world, and having to adapt to many different working environments, twenty-first century translators and interpreters face new challenges. They should therefore be trained to cope with the novel multifaceted realities of their profession. To meet these challenges and to gain the adaptability necessary to succeed in their role as linguistic and cultural mediators today’s and tomorrow’s practitioners should be exposed to, and learn from, the four dimensions of the Translation and Interpreting field: theoretical, technological, practical and professional.

This presentation will focus specifically on the training and education of interpreters. It will discuss today’s interpreting working environments, required skills and competence, modes of interpreting, technologies and equipment, as well as specialisations. The aim of this training is for twenty-first century interpreters to achieve the status of practitioners-researchers or practisearchers (Gile, 1995).

Author of the celebrated book The Inner Game of Music, Barry Green (USA) was Principal Bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony for 28 years and is currently active as a bass soloist, teacher, clinician and motivational speaker. The School of Music is delighted to host Barry as part of the Royal Over-Seas League Visiting Artist scheme and in collaboration with AUSTA WA.

Why and how we make music will be explored in this 2 hour lecture/workshop, which will also feature excerpts from Barry’s new productions around the life of a musical artist.

Tickets: Standard $10 AUSTA Members / UWA Students FREE trybooking.com/OXAK