CCR Events and News

CONTACT Postgraduate Conference Registrations Open

Registrations are now open for the conference, CONTACT: An Interdisciplinary Challenge in Cultural Studies.  CONTACT is a postgraduate conference that aims to bring together Australian and New Zealand Higher Degree Research candidates and young researchers working in Cultural Studies.  Taking place over two days on 25-26 September 2008, the conference will feature speakers presenting from their ongoing research and addressing themes around 'contact'.   

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Digital Humanities: A Symposium

CCR is hosting a one-day Symposium exploring the past, present and future possibilities and opportunities in Digital Humanities on 2 September 2008.  Selected speakers include Professor Willard McCarty (Kings College, London) and Professor Ien Ang (Centre for Cultural Research, UWS), with full programme and venue details available here.  Although there is no registration cost, capacity is strictly limited and RSVPs to the Symposium Convenor, Dr Elaine Lally, are essential.

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CCR Professor Wins 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Award prize 

Professor Kay Anderson's book, Race and the Crisis of Humanism (2007, Routledge), has won the $10,000 Gleebooks award for Critical Writing in the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.  Judges described Professor Anderson's work as "gratifyingly cogent and (offering) an original perspective".  There were five other finalists in the category.

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CCR Professor Honoured as Elected Fellow

Professor Kay Anderson was recently honoured as an Elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA). The ASSA is an autonomous, non-governmental organisation, devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the various social sciences.

This honour follows Professor Anderson's receipt of the 2008 Visiting Women's Scholar Award at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. As part of this award, Professor Anderson spent several weeks at Queen's University in February 2008.

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2008 ARC Research Funding Success for CCR

CCR Researchers have been successful for 2008 funding from the Australian Research Council.

Dr Fiona Cameron, Professor Bob Hodge, Associate Professor Brett Neilson and Dr Juan Francisco Salazar from CCR and Professor Jann Conroy from the Centre for Plant and Food Science along with colleagues from other institutions have recently received $570 000 over three years for the project 'Global Citizenship and the Agency of the Museum Sector in Climate Change Interventions'. This ARC Linkage grant has the following funding partners: the Australian Research Council, Powerhouse Museum, Museum Victoria, Australian Museum, Questacon - the National Science and Technology Centre, and Liberty Science Center (USA).

Professors Deborah Stevenson and David Rowe and a colleague from another institution have been successful in an ARC Discovery Grant entitled 'The City after Dark: The Governance and Lived Experience of Urban Night Time Culture'. This project will recieve $223 284 over three years.

Professor David Rowe is also part of another ARC Discovery Grant with Dr Brett Hutchins from Monash University. The project 'Struggling for Possession: The Control and Use of Online Media Sport' will receive $181 800 over three years.

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CCR Seminar Series 2008

The CCR is pleased to announce the return of its CCR Seminar Series for 2008. The CCR Seminar Series 2008 will feature several distinguished international scholars, as well as providing CCR members and final year HDR candidates the opportunity to present their research to a wider audience.

Seminars are usually held on Thursday afternoons at the Parramatta campus. For more information, please contact Professor Kay Anderson.

Also returning in 2008 is the Lunchtime Seminar Series. A new initiative in 2007, the Lunchtime Seminar Series provides an additional forum for researchers, research staff and HDR candidates to present their work. The Lunchtime Seminar Series are held on the first Monday of every month, commencing in March.

» CCR Seminar Series 2008 Schedule

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CCR Professor Honoured with Distinguished Title

Professor Ien Ang, the founding Director of CCR, has had the title of Distinguished Professor conferred on her by the University of Western Sydney in recognition of her outstanding research record and eminence. She is the first person at UWS to be conferred with this honour. Congratulations Ien!

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World Leading Professors Present Inaugural Lectures

Professor Meaghan Morris gave her Inaugural Professorial Lecture, "The Company of Strangers: how hard can 'internationalizing' be?", as part of the College of Arts Professorial Lecture Series 2007. Professor David Rowe presented his Inaugural Professorial Lecture 'Boulevard of Broken Screens: Culture Re-Surfaced' on 6 December 2007.

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New Books by CCR Researchers

• Allon, A. (2008) Renovation Nation: Our Obsession with Home, Sydney: UNSW Press.

• Arvanitakis, J. (2007), The Cultural Commons of Hope: The Attempt to Commodify the Final Frontier of the Human Experience, Berlin: Verlag.

• Nightingale, V. and Dwyer, T. (eds) 2007, New Media Worlds: Challenges for Convergence, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Lawson, S. and Peake, W. (eds) (2007) Globalization and Regionalization: Views From the Pacific Rim, Guadalajara: Editorial Centro Universitario De Ciencias Sociales Y Humanidades, University De Guadalajara.

• Bushell, R. and Eagles, P. (eds) (2007) Tourism and Protected Areas: Benefits Beyond Boundaries, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Cameron, F. and Kenderdine, S. (eds) (2007) Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse, Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press.

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UWS Research Update

For an overview of the latest funded research success stories across UWS, please see Research Directions.

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CCR in the Media

Below are a selection of recent media releases, reports, opinion pieces and feature articles by CCR researchers. Please email ccr@uws.edu.au for copies of articles.

2008

March

• Professor David Rowe, Director of the Centre for Cultural Research, comments on the Federal Government's plan to curb binge drinking by suggesting that the Government cut back on alcohol advertising and sponsorship. Radio National ('PM' program), ABC News Online.

February

• Professor Ien Ang, from the Centre for Cultural Research, comments on the Rudd Government's plans to review the Citizenship Test for new migrants after it was revealed that almost one in five people failed the quiz on their first attempt. Radio National ('Australia Talks' program), Radio National Online.
• Professor Ien Ang, from the Centre for Cultural Research, discusses the trend of white, western men developing fascinations with Asian women who are described as "serene, beautiful and submissive". Radio National ('Madam Butterfly Effect' program).
• Dr Fiona Allon, from the Centre for Cultural Research, discusses her new book, 'Renovation Nation', which analyses the planning and land subdivision which led to suburbanisation in the 20th century. ABC 702 Sydney ('Mornings' program).

January

• Dr James Arvanitakis, from the School of Humanities and Languages and the Centre for Cultural Research, comments on the cultural climate of Sydney which is increasingly becoming an 'angry city'.  Sun Herald, SMH Online, Radio 2UE.
• Jasmine Foxlee, PhD student from CCR and the School of Social Sciences, discusses the recent phenomenon of people who, citing bad luck, are returning their natural mementos such as fossils or rocks to their original locations. Sun Herald, Sunday Age, ABC Darwin ('Breakfast' program).

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