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Today's date is Friday, March 29, 2024
Institute of Advanced Studies
 March 2018
Wednesday 07
17:30 - Open Rehearsal - UWA Music presents: Converge | The Irwin Street Collective : Jamie Hey (cello) Website | More Information
Join us each week for a delightful musical surprise!

From young artist-led concerts to informal musical drinks on the famous grassy knoll, behind-the scenes workshops, lectures and masterclasses, these free weekly musical experiences will delight all music lovers.

This week join visiting artist Jamie Hey (cello) and UWA faculty Shaun Lee- Chen (violin), Cecilia Sun (fortepiano) and Emeritus Professor Paul Wright (viola) for a unique behind the scenes look into the rehearsal process as you observe these renowned musicians preparing for their upcoming performance.

Jamie Hey is Australia’s pre-eminent period cellist and a passionate researcher of the history, development and repertoire of the cello in 17th century Italy. He has been a member of the celebrated Australian Brandenburg Orchestra since 1995 and has been their principal cellist since 2002. He is a 2018 UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Entry is free - no bookings required.
Thursday 08
14:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Love in Times of War: war wives and widows in Shakespeare Website | More Information
A public lecture by Bob White, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, UWA.

The subject of war in Elizabethan literature, and Shakespeare’s plays in particular, has attracted sustained attention from a variety of perspectives. However, it is usually treated in the light of military manuals as a technical subject, which is ‘men’s work’, and the question is rarely raised--what happens to love relationships in times of war? In discussions of the comedies the existence of war is either ignored altogether or diminished to the level of ‘background noise’ even though there is a war in almost every comedy, if only a trade war in The Comedy of Errors and a diplomatic war in Love’s Labour’ Lost. In tragedies the loss of love is generally seen as part of the male protagonist’s lonely fate rather than a set of emotional tragedies in which conflict is internalised destructively within relationships, and there are female casualties not often considered in terms of their own loss—Desdemona, Cordelia, Ophelia, Lavinia, Lady Macduff, and others. In history plays, war is kept firmly in the foreground, and love is analysed only in terms of providing moments of apparently insignificant contrast. However, with the renewed critical interest in emotions, the nexus drawn in Shakespeare’s plays between war and love, and the consequences of war on love relationships emerges as a subject inviting closer attention. It is the subject of this talk.

This talk is part of a lecture series Peace and War: Representations in European Art and Literature. The three lectures in this series, offered by UWA academics associated with the UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, focus on representations of war and peace in European art and literature. Collectively, they will examine the contexts and reception of cultural and political practices of war and peace in the medieval and early modern era from the perspectives of emotions history, medievalism, and gender studies. In this way, the series stands to challenge conventional interpretations of European life in wartime from the sixteenth- to the nineteenth century.
Monday 12
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - The Uluru Statement: Towards Truth and Justice Website | More Information
A public lecture by Professor Megan Davis, Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous, Professor of Law, University of New South Wales and 2018 UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

For over a decade, Australians have been debating whether and how to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within Australia’s constitutional system. One of the most important moments in that debate occurred in May 2017, when hundreds of First Nations delegates gathered at a First Nations Constitutional Convention in Uluru to deliver the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Through the Uluru Statement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples offered a clear and powerful vision of constitutional recognition, calling for voice, treaty and truth-telling.

Professor Megan Davis has been an influential figure in discussions over Indigenous constitutional recognition. As a member of the Federal Government’s Referendum Council, she played a pivotal role in the process that led to the Uluru Statement. In this lecture, Professor Davis will reflect on a decade of debates over constitutional recognition and examine the centrality of truth and justice to Indigenous aspirations for constitutional reform.

Professor Megan Davis is Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Law, UNSW. She is an expert member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Davis is a constitutional lawyer who was a member of the Referendum Council and the Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies, the UWA Law School and UWA School of Indigenous Studies.
Wednesday 14
13:00 - PUBLIC TALK - A van Gogh, a toilet, and the trumping of Trump : A Talking Allowed event Website | More Information
A Talking Allowed event with Associate Professor Clarissa Ball, Discipline Chair, History of Art, UWA School of Design and Director, UWA Institute of Advanced Studies.

In late 2017, Donald and Melania Trump asked the Guggenheim Museum if they could borrow a van Gogh painting for their White House private quarters. Their request was rejected and countered with an offer of Maurizio Cattelan’s America, (2016) a fully functional 18-carat solid gold toilet that more than 100,000 people had already used. While some considered the Guggenheim’s offer a contemptible act of profanity, others claimed that the real work of art here was the suggestion that for the Trumps, a well-used toilet that reportedly cost in excess of $1 million to make was a more fitting artwork than a van Gogh.

Join us for this first Talking Allowed of 2018, when the complexities of this incident will be explored and we ask, what’s the fuss? After all, the toilet as subject and object of art has a long and noble history.

‘Talking Allowed’ is presented by the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies and the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

On the second Wednesday of every month, a UWA academic will give a short presentation on a topic of current relevance to the arts and culture before inviting the audience to participate in discussion and debate.

‘Talking Allowed’ is designed to be thought-provoking, challenging, stimulating and engaging. Come along and join the dialogue on matters that are of great importance to our society.

18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Women, Art and Violence in Seventeenth-Century Italian Art Website | More Information
A public lecture by Dr Susanne Meurer, School of Design, The University of Western Australia.

Virtuous women encountered a great deal of violence in early modern art – at times they were the victims of physical brutality or emotional cruelty, at times they were its righteous perpetrators. One of the most prominent and accomplished painters of both types of imagery happened to be a woman herself: Artemisia Gentileschi. As in the case of her friend Caravaggio, Artemisia’s work tends to be read through the prism of her life. The rape she suffered as a young woman is often thought to be reflected in the (re-)actions of her predominantly female heroines. Yet, is it wise to read biography into an artwork? To what extent are Artemisia’s visual strategies conditioned by her gender? Does a woman portray violence in a different way to a man?

This lecture is part of a lecture series: 'A Window on Italy – The Corsini Collection: Masterpieces from Florence'

The Institute of Advanced Studies is pleased to present a series of lectures to be held in conjunction with the exhibition, A Window on Italy – The Corsini Collection: Masterpieces from Florence, which is being held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 24 February – 18 June 2018.

The exhibition is organised by the Galleria Corsini, Florence, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tãmaki, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and MondoMostre, Rome..
Tuesday 20
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Knowing Autism Website | More Information
A public lecture by Liz Pellicano, Professor of Educational Studies, Macquarie University.

In this presentation, Liz will argue that truly understanding autism – knowing autism – requires both objective and subjective understandings, experiences and expertise, that is, listening, learning and involving autistic people and their families in research. She investigates in depth what the autistic community rightly demands of autism research and the major changes that will need to be made to deliver on their expectations.

Liz’s talk is supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, as part of their 2018 public talk series.

 April 2018
Wednesday 04
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Resisting the Orientalization of the Enemy: Korean Americans, Japanese American Incarceration, and Moral Imagination on the Homefront during World War II Website | More Information
A public lecture by Lili M. Kim, Associate Professor of History and Global Migrations, School of Critical Social Inquiry, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA and 2017-2018 Fulbright Senior Scholar, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea.

World War II, often referred to as the “Good War,” was a race war. For Americans, it was a race war against the Japanese, and it had a profound and disturbing impact on the Homefront. Against the backdrop of Japanese American mass incarceration during World War II, this talk asks the seemingly simple yet hitherto unexplored question: how did other Asian Americans cope with this time of heightened hostility and racism toward people who looked like them?

Korean Americans make an especially interesting case study. In addition to being often mistaken for Japanese based on their physical appearance, they were forced to share the same legal classification with the Japanese on the Homefront. Because Korea had been annexed by Japan since 1910 and did not exist as an independent nation at the time of U.S. declaration of war against Japan, Korean immigrants in Hawai‘i and the continental United States were legally classified as Japanese subjects and, therefore, “enemy aliens” along with Japanese immigrants. Thus, Koreans found themselves in the strange predicament of being lumped together with the Japanese, whom they despised for colonising their motherland, and ironically were now accused of having loyalty to Japan.

Framing her study as what Clifford Geertz has called “a social history of moral imagination,” Professor Kim argues that through complex, not always moral or effective, transnational politics, Korean Americans simultaneously resisted U.S. officials’ Orientalization of them as enemy and contributed to the racialization of Japanese Americans on the homefront during World War II.
Thursday 05
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Allegories for Meditation and Self-Reflection in the Elite Renaissance Home Website | More Information
A public lecture by Dr Elizabeth Reid, Researcher in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.

The paintings that decorated the Renaissance home were not solely intended for aesthetic appreciation, but for moral instruction. This talk will take a small selection of the early sixteenth-century works from the exhibition as a starting point to consider the ideal role of religious and mythological allegories in domestic experiences of self-reflective looking.

This lecture is part of a UWA Institute of Advanced Studies lecture series.

The IAS is pleased to present this series of lectures held in conjunction with the exhibition, A Window on Italy – The Corsini Collection: Masterpieces from Florence, which is being held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 24 February – 18 June 2018.

The exhibition is organised by the Galleria Corsini, Florence, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tãmaki, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and MondoMostre, Rome.
Tuesday 10
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Love in Times of War: war wives and widows in Shakespeare Website | More Information
A public lecture by Bob White, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, UWA.

The subject of war in Elizabethan literature, and Shakespeare’s plays in particular, has attracted sustained attention from a variety of perspectives. However, it is usually treated in the light of military manuals as a technical subject, which is ‘men’s work’, and the question is rarely raised--what happens to love relationships in times of war? In discussions of the comedies the existence of war is either ignored altogether or diminished to the level of ‘background noise’ even though there is a war in almost every comedy, if only a trade war in The Comedy of Errors and a diplomatic war in Love’s Labour’ Lost. In tragedies the loss of love is generally seen as part of the male protagonist’s lonely fate rather than a set of emotional tragedies in which conflict is internalised destructively within relationships, and there are female casualties not often considered in terms of their own loss—Desdemona, Cordelia, Ophelia, Lavinia, Lady Macduff, and others. In history plays, war is kept firmly in the foreground, and love is analysed only in terms of providing moments of apparently insignificant contrast. However, with the renewed critical interest in emotions, the nexus drawn in Shakespeare’s plays between war and love, and the consequences of war on love relationships emerges as a subject inviting closer attention. It is the subject of this talk.

This talk is part of a lecture series 'Peace and War: Representations in European Art and Literature'.

The three lectures in this series, offered by UWA academics associated with the UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, focus on representations of war and peace in European art and literature. Collectively, they will examine the contexts and reception of cultural and political practices of war and peace in the medieval and early modern era from the perspectives of emotions history, medievalism, and gender studies. In this way, the series stands to challenge conventional interpretations of European life in wartime from the sixteenth- to the nineteenth century.
Wednesday 11
13:00 - TALK - The Virgin, the Madame, and the Greenie Girlie-man: an art scholar�s tale. : A Talking Allowed event with Dr Ann Schilo, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University. Website | More Information
Kehinde Wiley’s recent official portrait of the former US president, Barack Obama, has caused debate over dinner tables and in conference rooms. Looking unlike the conventional figure of conservative, patriarchal power, Obama is pictured seated, amidst a forest of flora. While it has been discussed as a shift in the portrayal of American presidents, the painting has also been seen as a sign of African-American empowerment.

Using Wiley’s portrait as a springboard for a personal reflection on portraiture, or more specifically the figure in a floral setting, Dr Ann Schilo will spin a tale that encompasses some favourite pictures from the annals of art history, a few ideas about representation and the presentation of the self, as well as a notation on the all-pervasive symbolism of flowers. In so doing, she will consider how images are embedded in their social cultural milieu and embroiled in the circulation of meanings.

Dr Ann Schilo has published widely in the visual arts, creative practice research, and cultural studies. In addition Ann works as an independent curator. Her edited volume, 'Visual Arts Practice and Affect: place, memory and embodied knowing' was published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2016.

‘Talking Allowed’ is a new series of presentations offered by the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies and the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

On the second Wednesday of every month, a researcher/practitioner will give a short presentation on a topic of current relevance to the arts and culture before inviting the audience to participate in discussion and debate.

‘Talking Allowed’ is designed to be thought-provoking, challenging, stimulating and engaging. Come along and join the dialogue on matters that are of great importance to our society.

18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Moment of Truth: History and Australia�s Future Website | More Information
A public lecture by Mark McKenna, Research Fellow, History, University of Sydney.

The UWA Institute of Advanced Studies, City of Perth Library and Boffins Books are pleased to present Mark McKenna, author of 'Moment of Truth: History and Australia’s Future' in 'Quarterly Essay 69'.

In this inspiring essay, Mark McKenna pushes the debate about Australian history beyond the familiar polarities. Australia is on the brink of momentous change, but only if its citizens and politicians can come to new terms with the past. Indigenous recognition and a new push for a republic await action.

Judging by the Captain Cook statue controversy, though, our debates about the past have never been more fruitless. Is there a way beyond the history wars that began under John Howard? And in an age of free-floating fears about the global, digital future, is history any longer relevant, let alone equal to the task of grounding the nation?

In this inspiring essay, Mark McKenna considers the frontier, the Anzac legacy and deep time. He drags some fascinating new scholarship into the light, and pushes the debate about history beyond the familiar polarities.
Tuesday 17
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Beautiful Florentines: perfumes, powders and paint in the Renaissance Website | More Information
A public lecture by Professor Evelyn Welch, Provost (Arts & Sciences), King’s College London.

The portraits of Renaissance men and women show unblemished skin, smooth, well-groomed hair and strong, handsome physiques. Women were all shown with pale white complexions while the men all have full heads of hair and ruddy cheeks. But their skeletons tell a different story, one of disease, pox-marks and deformities.

In this talk, Evelyn Welch will discuss the many recipes, potions and procedures that were used to both improve physical appearance but also to protect beauty in Renaissance Florence between 1500 and 1700. Drawing on images in the Corsini and other Italian collections, she will help today’s viewers imagine a very different sense of health and beauty in the past.

18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Emerging technologies: towards responsible, ethical futures Website | More Information
A public lecture by Professor Sarah Pink, Professor of Design (Media Ethnography), RMIT and UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Self-driving cars, screenless technologies, digital assets, self tracking, automation and data - such emerging technologies are often represented through utopian or dystopian narratives that portray them as part of a future in which human society will be strongly impacted by technological change.

In this lecture Professor Pink will discuss the role of the social sciences both as critical voice in the debates around our futures with emerging technologies, and in an interventional mode of engagement and inquiry in technology futures as they play out. Having conducted ethnographic research into each of the technologies listed above, she will discuss the significant role the social sciences can play in determining how the possible futures implied by emerging technologies are imagined, envisioned and enabled, all of which opens up and deepens contributions towards responsible and ethical technological futures.
Wednesday 18
18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - The Seeing without Light: how people with disability are embracing emerging technologies : A public lecture by Dr. Scott Hollier, digital access specialist, lecturer, and author Website | More Information
The rapid evolution of computers and mobile devices has had a significant impact on how we engage online and with each other. Yet for people with disabilities, including visual impairment, such technologies represent far more than just the sum of their parts - it is ultimately a gateway for independence. Yet with emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and the Internet of Things, how can we ensure that people with disability continue to be a part of our digital culture? Dr Scott Hollier will demonstrate how people with disability are currently able to engage with consumer devices along with the benefits and issues associated with our new and emerging consumer digital needs.

Dr Scott Hollier specialises in the field of digital accessibility and is the author of the book Outrunning the Night: a life journey of disability, determination and joy. With a PhD in Internet Studies and project management experience across the not-for-profit, corporate and government sectors, Scott is an internationally-recognised researcher and speaker.

Consultancy areas include consumer-based support for service organisations, developer-based support for ICT professionals for web and app-related work and support across different organisational roles to achieve compliance with digital accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.0.

Scott currently lectures at Edith Cowan University and the University of South Australia in the areas of information management and web accessibility. He is also an active participant in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Research Questions Task Force (RQTF). In addition, Scott is legally blind and as such has both a professional and personal understanding of the importance of accessibility.

18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Unravelling the Early History of the Earth Website | More Information
A public lecture by Professor Jeffrey Vervoort, Professor of Isotope Geochemistry, Washington State University and 2018 UWA Robert and Maude Gledden Senior Visiting Fellow.

Earth scientists have long been interested in the nature of Earth’s earliest continents. There are several fundamental and outstanding questions concerning the formation and evolution of planet Earth: How and when did Earth’s earliest continental crust form? What was the composition of this crust and was there a change in its composition through time? What was the volume of this early-formed crust—was it once extensive and subsequently destroyed or did it not exist in any volume until later in Earth’s history?
Thursday 19
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Revitalising Indigenous Language and Law Website | More Information
A public lecture by Professor John Borrows, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law, University of Victoria Law School, British Columbia and 2018 Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Despite centuries of colonialism, Indigenous peoples around the world are rebuilding their nations through processes of cultural and material rejuvenation. Central to that task of rejuvenation are efforts by Indigenous communities to revitalise their languages and laws. While the revitalisation of Indigenous language and law are often considered as separate processes, in this lecture, Professor John Borrows will consider them together. What is the role of Indigenous languages in learning law from the land and in rebuilding Indigenous nationhood and governance? And given the impact of colonialism on Indigenous languages, how can they serve to strengthen Indigenous laws today? Professor Borrows will answer these questions by attending to the revitalisation of Indigenous laws across a range of domains, from Indigenous constitutional law to dispute resolution and leadership practices.

This talk is co-sponsored with the UWA School of Indigenous Studies.

18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - The Secret of Cultured Pearls Revealed- from the Water to your Necklace Website | More Information
A public lecture by Dr Marie-Lise Schläppy, Research Associate at The University of Western Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Pearls have been used as jewels for centuries and pearl aquaculture has helped make pearls more readily available. How are these pearls produced? How do they differ from natural pearls and why are freshwater pearls so much cheaper than marine pearls? Dr Schläppy, who was employed in the pearl industry on a remote island of Irian Jaya in Indonesia, will reveal the mysteries of the steps necessary for a pearl to become an asset around your neck or part of your cufflinks. In her presentation, she will uncover how pearls are produced and what criteria is used to judge the quality of a pearl.

This lecture is part of the All at Sea series, presented by the UWA Oceans Institute and the Institute of Advanced Studies.

About this Series: All at Sea - Restoration and Recovery.

Our Oceans and coasts provide us with food, energy, livelihoods, cultural and recreational opportunities, yet they are coming under increasing pressure. This UWA Institute of Advanced Studies - Oceans Institute Lecture Series explores the wonders of our seas, the challenges they face and how research at UWA- in a diverse range of fields including marine science, ocean engineering, health., humanities and social sciences- are contributing to sustainability.

 May 2018
Tuesday 01
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - The Collective Power and Potential of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women and girls: recognising their human rights in achieving gender equity : The 2018 Grace Vaughan Memorial Lecture by June Oscar AO, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. Website | More Information
In April 2017, June Oscar AO became the first woman to be appointed as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Commissioner Oscar has made the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls a priority of her term. It has been over thirty years since the Commonwealth Government invested in the landmark Women’s Business Report, which listened and responded to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

This year, 2018, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet are supporting Commissioner Oscar and her team to build on the legacy of this report. The project called, Wiyi Yani U Thangani, Women’s Voices, will listen to the strengths, challenges and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls in engagements across Australia. In her address, Commissioner Oscar highlights the remarkable lived reality of women and girls across the nation. She considers how gender equity will only be achieved when Australia delivers justice to First Nation’s women and girls. She explains how embedding human rights mechanisms in our policy and legislative frameworks will guarantee that we listen and respond to what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls need and want for a positive and healthy future. Through raising the collective voices of women and girls we can achieve a more just, dynamic and equitable nation.

The annual Grace Vaughan Memorial 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 Communities Western Australia.
Thursday 03
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Ageing and Care in Mediterranean Countries: the case of Italy Website | More Information
A public lecture by Giuliana Costa, Associate Professor of Sociology, Politecnico di Milano, Italy and 2018 Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

A great many of us will be in need of care during our lifetime, mainly when we grow old. It is likely we will have to gather together the resources we already have, as well as look for new ones to support us, particularly the longer we live. Care arrangements depend a great deal on where we live, which services are available to support us if we become ‘dependent’, and how “care systems” function. The majority of research has shown that care remains a family task even in those contexts characterized by generous publicly funded personal services, as in the Nordic European countries. But in the Mediterranean “care regimes”, this task is taken for granted. A kind of “implicit familialism” is in place because of the huge duties assigned to families by policies (or the absence of them) assuming that family members are always capable and available to provide care. In these care regimes formal services are indeed scarce and intervene only residually, in very urgent and complex cases. This approach is embedded in social policies as well in the wider normative framework, for example concerning financial responsibilities towards relatives.

In this presentation, Associate Professor Giuliana Costa will illustrate and discuss the main elements of the Mediterranean care regime focusing on the Italian case: the lack of in-kind services, the existence of unregulated monetary supports for long term care, the centrality of families and the emergence of a ‘private to private’ solution that is peculiar to Italy, and which is attracting care workers from Eastern European countries. As a matter of fact, growing long-term care needs are supported by few existing formal public services and rely heavily on the informal care provided by family members and the help of private assistants, the so-called “badanti” (care-workers). These care workers are mostly migrant women and are filling the existing care gaps within the Italian welfare state. Giuliana will present the dilemmas related to this policy pattern as well as the most recent proposals to overcome it.
Tuesday 08
18:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Youth in Wartime: medievalist fictions for Victorian children. Website | More Information
A public lecture by Andrew Lynch, Professor of English and Cultural Studies, UWA.

The middle ages acquired a higher cultural prestige in nineteenth-century ideas of English national heritage. Literature exemplifying the spirit of medieval ‘chivalry’ was called on to offer behavioural models to Victorian children, yet there was also a widespread critique of medieval war as marred by mercenary motives, atrocities and civilian suffering. Consciousness of the perceived violence and religious ‘superstition’ of the medieval past in general helped shape writers’ narrative and ideological strategies. With the Middle Ages commonly seen as the childhood of the present, their works focussed a larger debate about war’s place in the course of national history and the development of the English character. The talk will be illustrated by contrasting examples of medievalist fictions about youth growing to maturity in wartime, including Charlotte M. Yonge, The Lances of Lynwood (1855), Charles Kingsley, Hereward the Wake (1866) and Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow (1888).

This talk is part of the lecture series - Peace and War: Representations in European Art and Literature. The three lectures in this series, offered by UWA academics associated with the UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, focus on representations of war and peace in European art and literature. Collectively, they will examine the contexts and reception of cultural and political practices of war and peace in the medieval and early modern era from the perspectives of emotions history, medievalism, and gender studies. In this way, the series stands to challenge conventional interpretations of European life in wartime from the sixteenth- to the nineteenth century.

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