2011 Seminar Series

2011 Seminars

3 March :

Dr Peter Mauch: 'The Path to Pearl Harbor: A Re-examination'

Abstract

This paper constitutes a reexamination of Japan’s path to a ruinous war. On the basis of a recent documentary discovery relating to the 1941 Japanese-U.S. negotiations, it establishes the existence of a hitherto unknown channel of communication which existed between Ambassador Nomura Kichisaburo (in Washington) and the Imperial Japanese Navy leadership (in Tokyo). In particular, it examines the Japanese navy’s involvement in a Japanese-U.S. peace proposal which surfaced in Washington in April 1941. It also examines the navy’s eventual failure to support this peace proposal – a failure which had wide-reaching ramifications for Ambassador Nomura’s effort to avert a Japanese-U.S. war.

Presenter’s Biography

Peter Mauch has authored three books on Japanese-U.S. relations. His most recent book, entitled Sailor Diplomat: Nomura Kichisaburō and the Japanese-American War, is contracted for publication with the Harvard University Press Harvard East Asian Monograph series. A native of Australia, he spent ten years in Japan, and taught at several of Japan’s best universities, including Kyoto University, Doshisha University, and Ritsumeikan University. He recently returned to Australia, and is a Lecturer of Modern History at the University of Western Sydney. 

17 March:

Abstract

The way that languages change over time is systematic, i.e., can be characterized by a set of rules. This discovery launched the field of linguistics over two centuries ago. The second major discovery of the field was that synchronic linguistic systems are also systematic. This came in the 20th century and spurred "the cognitive revolution", a shift in perspective in how to approach human psychology, which culminated in the birth of a new field, called Cognitive Science. An unresolved issue of modern linguistics is the relationship between these two major discoveries. In this talk, I present a formal model of phonological cognition that makes predictions about how the linguistic systems of individuals can structure sound change in the community over time. The predictions of the model are evaluated against data on a sound change in Japanese, which unfolded over the last 150 years and is now nearing completion.

Presenter’s Biography
 
Jason Shaw is a Lecturer in Linguistics and a member of MARCS Auditory Laboratories. His research on phonological cognition emphasizes an integrated approach characterized by theoretical, computational and experimental components linked so that they elucidate each other. Before joining UWS in 2010, he worked at Haskins Laboratories at Yale University and the Phonetics and Experimental Phonology Laboratory at New York University. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Linguistics from New York University and a BA in Linguistics from the University of Southern California.

11 August (2 seminars available)

1. Dr Kate Fagan: '"A Fluke? Never[!]": Reading Chris Edwards'

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of collage, mimicry and hieroglyphics by the innovative Australian poet Chris Edwards in his latest book of poetry, People of Earth (Vagabond Press 2011). With scissors in hand, Edwards goes hunting for Jacques Derrida’s “non-phonetic functions” and “operative silences of alphabetic writing”, those poetical score-marks that are neither “factual accident nor waste” (Derrida, ‘The Pit and the Pyramid’) but rather, endlessly renewable resources. The collagist is a recycler and composter, and also a compositor – a filmic sculptor who tricks visual fragments into new entities. Edwards is a deft and seamless crafter, often producing grammatically flawless collages whose motion from scene to scene is subtle and kaleidoscopic. An appendix to People of Earth compiles hundreds of texts that are sources for Edwards’ poems. They are a gentle invitation to detective work, but mostly, a museum of tools tended by a fastidious drafter. This paper will explore the radical materialism of Chris Edwards while invoking along the way the ghosts of Christopher Brennan, Charlie Chaplin, Stéphane Mallarmé and Charles Olson.

Presenter’s Biography

Kate Fagan is a writer, editor and musician whose books of poetry include The Long Moment, Thought’s Kilometre and return to a new physics.  Her doctoral thesis addressed the writings of Lyn Hejinian with special attention to poetry avant-gardes, theories of intersubjectivity and the poetics of translation.  Kate’s critical and teaching interests include Australian poetry and literature, twentieth-century American poetry, cultural and textual theory, experimental writing and contemporary music.  Her current research involves literary communities and Australian poetry, and she is a former editor of How2, the US-based online literary journal.  Kate is also an established songwriter and performer whose album Diamond Wheel won the National Film and Sound Archive Award for Best Folk Album.

2. Professor Xiaolu Wang: 'Analysis of Pragmatic Functions of Chinese Cultural Markers'

Abstract

Although a discourse marker does not have semantic truth-value and can only generate meanings in the pragmatic category, it can indicate the implicit meaning in the context and contribute to the deduction of the speaker’s intention. If the listener does not know the psychological, social and cultural background implied in the speaker’s utterance, it is hard for him/her to get the true emotion and intention the speaker conveys in the discourse since discourse markers sometimes bear cultural features of the particular language. Those which may trigger Chinese cultural association and distinctive Chinese way to respond are termed as Chinese cultural markers (CCMs) in this paper. In Chinese conversation, CCMs have strong pragmatic complexity because their pragmatic functions are implicit rather than explicit. In order to assist the mastery of Chinese language for foreign students, this paper has probed into the pragmatic functions by New Intention and New Common Ground Theory. After the analysis, we have found that in daily conversation CCMs usually play the roles as follows: 1) promoting mutual reciprocity between interlocutors; 2) softening the strong tones in speech; 3) hiding interlocutor’s true feelings;  4) alleviating negative expressions; and 5) smoothening the progress of discourse.

Presenter’s Biography

WANG Xiaolu is Professor of Linguistics at the School of International Studies (SIS), Zhejiang University, China, where she teaches Educational Psychology for Chinese as a Foreign Language Teaching for graduates, Psycholinguistics for English majors, and College English and American Culture and Oral English for non-English majors.  Her main academic interest lies in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language and thought, TEFL/TESL and TCFL.

Thursday, 18 August

Neuromechanism of Chinese metaphorical cognition: an ERP study - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr WANG Xiaolu, Professor in Linguistics, School of International Studies (SIS), Zhejiang University, China 

Thursday, 25 August

‘Many an unmarked grave’: The physical and cultural remains of old racecourses and their preservation - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Wayne Peake, Senior School Administrative Officer, UWS School of Humanities & Languages

Thursday, 8 September

How Reliable Was Paper Money in Late-Imperial China? Comparative Monetary History Inside Out

Presenter: Dr Niv Horesh, Associate Professor in China Studies, UWS School of Humanities & Languages

Thursday, 22 September

Speaking Out as Telling Stories: Feminism and Women’s Narratives of Sexual Violence - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Tanya Serisier, Coordinator and Lecturer in Contemporary Popular Culture, UWS School of Humanities & Languages.

Thursday, 20 October

The Eighteenth Century Origins of Human-Induced Climate Change - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Brett Bennett, Research Lecturer in Modern History, UWS School of Humanities & Languages.

Friday, 21 October - 12 pm

The Power of the Virtual in Music Scholarship: Composing a Women’s Musical Future as a ‘Becoming-Other-Than-Itself’ - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Sally Macarthur, Senior Lecturer in Music, UWS School of Communication Arts.

Living Colours: The Mind of the Composer and Spirit in Ma, Nature and Asian-Pacific Materiality - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Bruce Crossman, Senior Lecturer in Music, UWS School of Communication Arts.

Are you really t/here? Affect, affordance and vitality in heterotopii of flows - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Kate Richards, Head of Program in Masters of Convergent Media, UWS School of Communication Arts.

Thursday, 3 November - 12.00 pm to 1.00 pm

Subtitling and Intercultural Communication - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Jing Han, Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting, UWS School of Humanities & Languages.

Thursday, 11 November - 1 pm

Internet Piracy as a Hobby: What Happens When the Brazilian Jeitinho Meets Television Downloading? - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Vanessa Mendes Moreira De Sa, PhD student, UWS School of Communication Arts.

AgriCULTURE: the contest for land and water resources in Sydney’s west - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Jonathon Allen, Associate Professor in Design, UWS School of Communication Arts.

Evaluating Blended Learning: Exploring Alternatives to Standard Course Surveys - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Ray Archee, Lecturer in Communication Research and Professional Writing, UWS School of Communication Arts.

Letters to Photography: Ontology of a Photography in Demise - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr David Cubby, Senior Lecturer, Head of Program for Bachelor of Communication, UWS School of Communication Arts.

Thursday, 17 November - 12.00 pm to 1 pm

The mask of the post-hero: the validity of self-assertion in John Barth’s novels - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr Chris Conti, Tutor in English Text & Writing, UWS School of Humanities & Languages.

Thursday, 1 December - 11.00 am to 12.00 pm

Translating Unintelligibility in Samuel Beckett's Play - (Go to abstract and bio)

Presenter: Dr James Gourley, Tutor in English and Literature, UWS School of Humanities & Languages and member of the Writing & Society Research Group