What's On at UWA

For over a century aerial archaeology has been in the vanguard of archaeological discovery and recording. Thanks to a unique twenty year programme of aerial reconnaissance in Jordan combined with the growing availability of high-resolution satellite imagery we can now thickly ‘populate’ with often novel archaeological sites one of the most inhospitable landscapes in the world – ‘Arabia’. Bio: David Kennedy has taught at UWA since 1990 after 12 years at the University of Sheffield. His principal research interests are the Roman Near East and Aerial Archaeology. He has been engaged in a programme of Aerial Archaeology in Jordan since 1997, the only such programme outside Europe. He is currently working on a book, ‘East of Jordan’ in the Nineteenth Century: Travel and Travellers in North-Western Jordan.

UWA Publishing warmly invites you to the launch of Like Nothing on this Earth: A Literary History of the Wheatbelt by Tony Hughes-d'Aeth.

Like Nothing on this Earth will be launched by Prof. Matthew Tonts, Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean.

Please RSVP by Monday 6 March for catering purposes.

A public lecture by Carmen Lawrence, Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Change, School of Psychology, The University of Western Australia.

Too often planning decisions are made without reference to their human impact, except in the narrowest sense of projected economic outcomes. Straight line thinkers overlook the deep connections between people and place and are particularly blind to the effects on people and their communities of destroying natural environments, native animals and plants. The decision by the current state government to proceed with the long abandoned extension of Roe Highway and in the process to destroy the Beeliar wetlands, raze the Coolbellup bushlands and dissect communities into polluted enclaves, illustrates just how destructive such decisions can be.

In this lecture, Professor Lawrence will explore research which demonstrates the powerful effects of place and the natural environment on human well-being and conversely what happens when such environments are destroyed. Using illustrations from the campaign to halt the construction of Roe 8, she will also explore the genesis of a powerful community of interest and the many ways people have found to give expressions to their desire to protect people and place.

Tuesday 14 March 2017; 12:30pm – 1:00pm

Thursday 16 March 2017; 1:00pm – 1:30pm

Friday 17 March 2017; 10:00am – 10:30am

Limit of 2 people per session

Futures Observatory partner Hewlett-Packard (HP), have loaned a Sprout Pro to the Futures Observatory. This is HP’s latest in immersive computing. With fast 3D and 2D scanning, touch mat, and high quality video recording the Sprout is a collaborative tool that can be used for rapid prototyping and 3D modelling.

Attendance at this event will explore the functionality of the Sprout and conjure ideas for the use of the Sprout in Teaching and Learning. The Centre for Education Futures is eager to help support ideas and support staff through this process for implementation in class or a pilot.

Register via the Eventbrite link listed below.

You are invited to join us for a public lecture on the escalating South China Sea dispute and how the assertive policies of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte are shaping this dispute and wider East Asian geopolitics. In 2017, the Philippines are chairing the ASEAN bloc in its 50th year. As the institution reflects on its achievements over the last five decades, focus must not be taken away from the urgent and future challenges that face this organisation.

In a famous scene in Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland confesses to Henry Tilney that she rarely reads history, finding it ‘tiresome’. ‘I read it a little as a duty’, she admits, ‘but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all’.

Catherine’s frustration evokes a literary-historical landscape from which women are missing, and this ‘absent woman’ of course becomes the centre of the comic gothic plot of the novel. But while Catherine laments this absence, her conversation with Eleanor and Henry shows us something rather different. Catherine seems part of a lively culture of literary conversation in the last decades of the eighteenth century: she discusses her reading preferences; debates the value and gendered readership of novels (mentioning the very popular novelist Ann Radcliffe by name); and is even able to tantalize the more sophisticated Tilneys with a piece of literary gossip out of London.

This talk explores literary landscapes for women in Britain in the late eighteenth century. Were they absent or present? How did they participate? Were they predominantly readers (like Catherine) and rarely writers (like Radcliffe or Austen herself), or more closely involved? And how might this milieu have influenced Austen’s own trajectory as a writer in provincial England?

About the talk

In this paper Julian discusses the positive impact reclaiming language has for first people. He cites the growing understanding that Indigenous language is inseparable from culture - that language is integral in affirming and maintaining wellbeing, self-esteem and identity. The National Trust of Western Australia is contributing to the reclamation of Aboriginal languages in the Goldfields region through the establishment of the Goldfields Aboriginal Languages Centre in Kalgoorlie.

About the Speaker

Julian Donaldson – Chief Executive Officer National Trust of Western Australia

Julian joined the Trust in January 2016. He was previously CEO of the Perth International Arts Festival. His interest is in inspiring community support for heritage which he believes contributes much to a sense of community well-being.

Members : Free Guests : $5.00

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