CSAA Funding Available Now: Best PG Paper (2017 CSAA Conference)

Posted September 28, 2017 by CSAA

CSAA-Continuum Best Postgraduate Paper Award

The CSAA has always been active in supporting postgraduate scholars as best we can, so we are particularly delighted to re-launch this award–in conjunction with our affiliated journal, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies–to draw attention to, and celebrate, the ‘Best Paper’ presented by a postgraduate at the 2017 CSAA Conference (‘Cultures of Capitalism’, University of Massey, 6-8 December). This Award will include cash prizes of up to $1500, with the winner also receiving mentoring towards publication in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies.

The paper will obviously be broadly located within “cultural studies”, but there are otherwise no restrictions or preferences on topic or approach.

Papers will be assessed on their demonstrated knowledge of the field, the originality and significance of their ideas, and the quality of their expression.

Applications will be competitively assessed by a panel comprised of CSAA Executive members, including Dr Kelly McWilliam (CSAA President) and Dr Jess Carniel (CSAA Secretary), and Associate Professor Panizza Allmark (Chief Editor, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies).

To be eligible, you must:

be presenting a paper at the 2017 CSAA Conference;
be a currently enrolled postgraduate student;
have paid your conference registration.

To apply:

forward your paper acceptance and proof of paid registration;
include a complete draft of your paper (no longer than 3000 words), including confirmation of the institution you are currently enrolled through, by midnight (AEST) Friday 3rd November 2017.

Judges reserve the right not to award the prize.

All entries, or questions, should be directed to kelly.mcwilliam@usq.edu.au

Job: Tokyo Visiting Professor of Australian Studies 2018-19 and/or 2019-20

Posted September 13, 2017 by CSAA

Visiting Professorship in Australian Studies 2018-19 OR 2019-20 Centre for Pacific and American Studies, Institute of Advanced Global Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo

This senior position will be based in the Centre for Pacific and American Studies (CPAS), part of the Institute of Advanced Global Studies within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo, and located at the Komaba Campus in inner Tokyo.

Teaching CPAS requires the Visiting Professor to teach three subjects each semester: one subject for first and second year students, one subject for third and fourth year students, and one subject for postgraduate students. Overall, the Visiting Professor will teach six different subjects during their time at the University of Tokyo, divided into three subjects per semester. Please note that:

Each class runs for 105 minutes per week.
The total contact teaching time per week during semester is 5.25 hours.
Class sizes can vary considerably, and are generally much smaller than at Australian universities.
The teaching load and assessment is generally much less than standard loads in Australian universities. Japanese students take many subjects each semester, not the 3 or 4 subjects that are standard at Australian universities, and subjects therefore require a shorter time commitment and scope.
The administrative demands associated with the subjects are not onerous.

The Visiting Professor is also expected to provide guidance and assistance to undergraduate and postgraduate students upon request.

Research The Visiting Professor is expected to conduct research during their time in Tokyo. In particular, the Visiting Professor is required to present a lecture for CPAS and to publish in the CPAS journal during the course of their stay.

There is also the potential for the Visiting Professor to organise a symposium on an issue of relevance to Australian scholarship at CPAS. An agreement is now in place for the Visiting Professor to submit an article for publication to the Journal of Australian Studies on an aspect of their research at the conclusion of their term at CPAS (see http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjau20).

Promotion of Australian Studies in Japan The Visiting Professor will be expected to develop and expand academic networks across Japan, working with the Australia-Japan Foundation (AJF) and the Australian Studies Association of Japan (ASAJ). This will include promoting the development of institutional links between Japanese institutions (especially in the Tokyo region) as well as institutional and academic relationships between Japan and Australia. The AJF actively supports the study of Australia in Japan and has for many years provided financial, administrative and other support to the Australian Studies Association of Japan. The ASAJ is a network for teachers of Australian studies in Japan with over 200 members throughout the country covering a broad range of fields of study. The ASAJ provides a solid basis for understanding Japanese approaches to teaching about Australia. In conjunction with both the AJF and ASAJ the Visiting Professor is expected to develop a program of Australian Studies activities, which may include a symposium, workshops, seminars, and some possible contributions to Japanese academic journal(s).

Open to: Australian citizens and permanent residents

Location: Centre for Pacific and American Studies, University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus

Salary: Starting Salary ¥600,000 per month (before tax). See also section 5.

Duration: Approximately 10 months

Commencement of position: Early September 2018 or early September 2019. Applicants may apply for either term or both terms. This must be indicated clearly on your application.

Applications are due 5:00 pm, Friday 29 September 2017

For more information, and to see the selection criteria, see: http://inasa.org/blog/tokyo-chair-of-australian-studies/

Job: Full-time RA (Media & Communications) at Swinburne University

Posted August 26, 2017 by CSAA

Research Assistant, Media & Communications

RSCHA Level 3, $60,816 plus super
Full time contract, 3 years, Hawthorn campus
Applications close at 5pm, Tuesday 5 September 2017

The primary focus of this Research Assistant, Media & Communications role is to support the research activities of senior staff as directed, conduct research that aligns with a nominated research team, and work on research grants and projects.

The primary areas of research will focus on users’ everyday experiences of online and mobile media, with an emphasis on practices of self-representation; and perceptions of safety, risk, pleasure, identity, feeling and embodiment. Projects will also focus on formal and informal practices of learning and pedagogy relating to online and mobile media practice.

The appointee will be expected to function as a member of both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teams in order to help the faculty to achieve its objectives. The appointee will be expected to carry out appropriate activities that will maintain and develop their scholarly, research and/or professional expertise.

The appointee will work with Professor Kath Albury on a range of projects, including research events and publications. A key focus will be research assistance for a two-year ARC LInkage partnership investigating user’s perceptions of safety, wellbeing and risk in dating apps and associated platforms. The Linkage project draws on qualitative and quantitive methods (including participatory research workshops) to produce both scholarly research papers and accessible research reports for health professionals and educators. The project findings will provide an evidence-base for future health promotion activities and programs.

For the full position description, and to apply, go to the Seek website here.

Event Announcement: “Gender Matters in TV Industries”

Posted August 16, 2017 by CSAA

Presented by Monash University’s School of Media, Film and Journalism as part of the TV Bites Industry Panel Series

Does gender matter? The issue of gender bias in the screen industry is back on the agenda. Are women adequately represented in key creative roles and positions of influence in the Australian screen industry? Why are women screen creatives faring better in television than film? How does this compare internationally? How does gender equity in production affect content?

DATE: Monday, 28 August 2017 TIME: 5.00pm – 6.30pm VENUE: Monash University, S901, Caulfield Campus

GUEST PANELLISTS:

Panel Chair: Associate Professor Therese Davis, Monash University

Amanda Lotz (University of Michigan), Tessa Mills (Screen Australia) and Claire Perkins (Monash University)

Amanda Lotz (University of Michigan): Amanda Lotz is Professor of Communication Studies and Screen Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan and Fellow at the Media Centre at Peabody. She is the author of five books including Portals: A Treatise on Internet- Distributed Television and The Television Will Be Revolutionized, and co-author of Understanding Media Industries and Television Studies. Her new book, We Now Disrupt This Broadcast: How Cable Transformed Television and the Internet Revolutionized It All, will be released in March 2018.

Tessa Mills (Screen Australia): A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, Tessa Mills is Senior Manager, Policy and Research at Screen Australia. She has overseen the production of some of the industry’s most valued resources including the annual Drama Report. The Policy and Research Department is responsible for several milestone reports expected this year including the Gender Matters first anniversary update and the Producer Offset Ten Years On study.

Claire Perkins (Monash University): Claire Perkins is Senior Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies at Monash University. She researches primarily in the areas of American Independent cinema and contemporary ‘quality’ television, with a particular focus on the gendered discourses of each. She is the author of American Smart Cinema (2012) and co-editor of collections including Indie Reframed: Women’s Filmmaking and Contemporary American Independent Cinema (2016), Transnational Television Remakes (2016) and US Independent Film After 1989: Possible Films (2015).

RSVP: TV Bites Coordinator, Dr Tessa Dwyer, Tessa.Dwyer@monash.edu

CfP “Imagineers in Circus and Science” Conference (abstract deadline 15 September)

Posted August 13, 2017 by CSAA

Humanities Research Centre (Australian National University) – April 2018

Scientists seek to investigate the ways in which nature works and to ask how humanity can best comprehend different aspects of the universe. By challenging conventional wisdom, scientists can act as rebels against the status quo and common sense. In cultural and fictional contexts, they may appear and behave like artists: creative, skilled craftsmen; ‘imagineers’ and bewildering performers. These fictional scientists do not merely domesticate the unknown and the uncanny, they also invent and stage it.

One of the most productive breeding grounds for the invention, amalgamation, and staging of scientific knowledge and creative imagination has been the circus and related cultural phenomena, such as freakshows, carnivals, and 19th-century ‘scientific’ museums. These sensational, kaleidoscopic institutions present(ed) manifold wondrous exhibits, including automatons, wax figures, and mummies, but they also presented scientific discoveries. Barnum’s American Museum, for example, made hundreds of previously unseen specimens accessible to a broad audience.

Exhibitions and shows of this type united science with mystery, acted as mediators of knowledge, and were often the primary public source of information about the current state of scientific research. They are reminders that science and its pursuits are matters of perspective, and the product and producer of good stories. What do these stories tell us about the “two cultures” of the humanities and science?

Keynote speakers

Professor Rosemarie Garland-Thomson (Emory University)
Professor Jane Goodall (University of Western Sydney)
Professor Richard Weihe (Accademia Teatro Dimitri/SUPSI Verscio, Switzerland)
Professor Peta Tait (La Trobe University)

Focus

We welcome proposals for individual, 20-minute papers addressing any aspect of science and the circus (and related phenomena) including:

Cultural and literary studies
Circus studies, Theatre and performance studies
Indigenous literatures from around the world and their relation to science and performance
Posthumanism
Zoopoetics, animal art and critical animal studies
Intersections of aesthetic and scientific treatments of cultural issues
Imaginaries of technology and performance (e.g. in films)
Museology, and applied art and science

While this conference is concerned primarily with culture and literature, we envisage it as a multi-disciplinary event and will welcome proposals from any disciplinary perspective.

Abstracts are due 15 September. Please see the conference website for more information.

Feel free to circulate madly.

Thank you.
Very best wishes,
Anna-Sophie Jürgens

—

Dr. Anna-Sophie Jürgens

Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Fellow (Humboldt Foundation)

Early Career Fellow, University House

National Library of Australia Fellow
Humanities Research Centre – Australian National University

Office 3.46, Sir Roland Wilson Building, 120 McCoy Circuit, Acton, ACT 2601
Australia

CFP: Queer Contexts in Australian and NZ Media Cultures

Posted July 25, 2017 by CSAA

Special Issue of Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture

Edited by Catherine Hoad and Rachael Gunn (Macquarie University, Sydney)

Scholarship on LGBT+ experiences, narratives, and representations has grown in recent years, but regional studies on queer media cultures, particularly in Australian and New Zealand contexts, remains under-researched or fragmented across myriad fields. This special issue seeks to consolidate research on Australian and New Zealand queer contexts, where the regional nuances of colonialism, indigeneity and globalisation have held specific implications for LGBT+ communities. It aims to incorporate papers that interrogate the nuances and manifestations of regional sexual and gender politics, and the concurrent dynamics between media and popular culture and queer contexts in Australia and New Zealand. Through drawing attention to the importance of place, ethnicity and regionality in discussions of LGBT+ media and popular culture, this special issue of Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture will offer a cohesive volume that gives insights into innovative and timely LGBT+ research within the region.

We invite papers that pay critical attention to LGBT+ experiences, narratives and representations in the Australia-New Zealand nexus. This may include explorations of how the intersecting trajectories of marginality and (in)visibility shape queer experiences of, and representations within, media and popular culture in Australian and New Zealand contexts, or examinations of the localised complexities and contestations of queer representations in popular cultures. We invite submissions in the areas of queer geographies, regional media studies, and popular culture, and also the often overlooked complexities and inter-regionalities of queer studies within Australian and New Zealand paradigms. We invite proposals which explore, but are not restricted to, the following areas:

Queer representations within Australian and New Zealand popular music, fiction, film and television
Australian and New Zealand queer identities, colonialism, inter-regionality and globalisation
Censorship and marginality of queer politics in regional cultural industries
Queer creative contexts and cultures of resistance
Queer histories – political, social, cultural
Indigenous experiences, representations and narratives of queer identity
Queer experiences within religious communities
Diasporic queer experiences, practices and cultures
Queer materialities, technologies and autoethnographies

Proposals which fall outside these areas but are still connected to Australian and New Zealand queer cultures will also be considered. Please note that select proposals may be nominated for publication in future issues of Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture.

Proposals (400 words), alongside affiliation and contact details, are to be emailed to queerstudiesanz@gmail.com by Monday September 4th, 2017. If successful, full draft articles of 6,000 words (including notes, references, and figures) will be due in July of 2018.

We are also seeking reviews of related academic and popular media texts within the realm of Australian and New Zealand queer contexts. These may be texts that form the canon of queer representation and discourse in Australia and New Zealand, or emergent work in this area. Please email queerstudiesanz@gmail.com if you are interested in contributing a short review of this nature.

For further information on the journal, including archived issues and style guides, please visit https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=245/

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any queries or concerns – we look forward to hearing from you.

Dr Catherine Hoad

Sessional academic in Media and Cultural Studies
Dept. of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies
Macquarie University, North Ryde NSW 2109

Revised CFP: Fan Studies Network Australasia 2017

Posted July 19, 2017 by CSAA

30 November – 1 December 2017, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Matt Hills, University of Huddersfield

We are pleased to announce a CFP for the first Fan Studies Network Australasia conference to be held at the University of Wollongong, Australia from 30 November – 1 December 2017, hosted by the Research Centre for Culture, Texts and Creative Industries (CTC). As research and interest on fandom gather momentum in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia at large, the Fan Studies Network is very keen to foster new connections and resources. This inaugural conference for scholars based in the region is the first step in establishing an Australasian branch of the FSN.

We invite abstracts of no more than 300 words for individual 20 minute papers that address any aspect of fandom or fan studies. We also welcome submissions for pre-constituted panels (for 3-4 speakers/papers). We encourage all of those engaged in fan studies as well as those existing members of the network to submit proposals for presentations on, but not limited to, the following possible topics:

– Fandom in Asia, Australia and/or New Zealand

– Non-Western fan cultures

– Producer-audience interactions

– Activism and fandom

– Ethics in fan studies

– Defining fandom

– Anti-Fandom and Non-Fandom

– Fan use of social media platforms

– Fandom (and) controversies

– The future of fan studies

Please send any inquiries and/or abstracts to fsnaustralasia@gmail.com by 25^th August 2017.

Conference organisers: Dr. Bertha Chin, Dr. Renee Middlemost, Prof. Sue Turnbull, Dr. Ika Willis

W: https://fanstudies.org/ |FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fanstudies/

T: @FSNAusAsia (hashtag #FSNA2017) DL: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/fanstudies

About the Fan Studies Network:

Since March 2012, the Fan Studies Network has provided a friendly space with which scholars from all disciplines who are interested in fans and fan culture can connect, share resources, and develop their research ideas. In June 2017, the network held its fifth annual conference at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Each year has seen the network grow exponentially, as the mailing list and conference attract more scholars interested in fan studies from all over the world.

Krishna Somers Lecturer in English and Postcolonial Literature

Posted June 1, 2017 by CSAA

Continuous role commencing January 2018
School of Arts, Murdoch University
ACLEB | $92K to $109K plus 17% employer superannuation contributions
Salary Packaging opportunities

In order to broaden the focus of the English and Creative Writing Major, the School is now seeking to appoint an endowed Krishna Somers Lecturer in English and Postcolonial Literature who will make a significant contribution to teaching and research, and help implement the School of Arts’ strategy of embedding critical theory in units across the School.

The successful candidate will be required to teach across units offered by the program, develop an active research plan, apply for nationally competitive grants, publish in international refereed journals, and supervise postgraduate students.

The successful candidate should be familiar with postcolonial and diaspora theory, their decisive primary texts as well as with literary theory as a whole. A solid mastery of English literary history is essential, and reasonable proficiency in a language other than English is highly desirable.

Candidates should have a PhD and publications in the field, and will demonstrate a high level of written and oral communication skills. Recent experience in teaching at undergraduate level is essential and highly desirable at postgraduate level.

Position contact: Professor Jenny de Reuck, Academic Chair, (+61) 8 9360 2110, or J.DeReuck@murdoch.edu.au or Professor Vijay Mishra (+61) 8 9360 2323 or email v.mishra@murdoch.edu.

For further information, or to apply, see the Murdoch website here.

Closing date: 22 June 2017 (11:59pm)

NIRAKN Race, Whiteness and Indigeneity International Conference

Posted April 2, 2017 by CSAA

6-8 June 2017, Gold Coast, Queensland

Overview:
NIRAKN is excited and honoured to host twelve of the leading Race and Whiteness scholars at its upcoming conference on the Gold Coast. An unmissable gathering of national and international minds, this forum will feature critical conversations relating to teaching, research and policy. It will be an opportunity to participate in increasingly voluble and global discussion about the denial and significance of race, whiteness and Indigeneity in the 21^st century. There is a call for individual papers and round-table proposals that will feature in addition to the four keynote plenary sessions.

Keynote Speakers:

Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson (QUT)
Professor Steve Larkin (University of Newcastle)
Professor David Roediger (University of Kansas)
Professor Cheryl Harris (UCLA)
Professor Devon Carbado (UCLA)
Professor Angela Riley (UCLA)
Associate Professor Shannon Speed (UCLA)
Associate Professor Hokulani Aikau (University of Hawaii)
Professor Chris Andersen (University of Alberta)
Associate Professor Kim TallBear (University of Alberta)
Professor Brendan Hokowhitu (University of Waikato)
Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith (University of Waikato)

Contacts:

National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN)
nirakn@qut.edu.au

Links:

Tickets and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/race-whiteness-and-indigeneity-an-international-conference-tickets-31983837519

Information and Call For Papers: http://www.nirakn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/RaceWhitenessIndigeneity_flyer.pdf

CFP: Happiness – A special issue of Writing from Below

Posted March 15, 2017 by CSAA

CFP: Happiness – A special issue of Writing from Below

Emergent research into happiness is still largely situated in fields such as sociology, psychology, and neuroscience. Traditionally the uncontested domain of the Humanities, the question of “How should we live?” is too rarely approached in contemporary literary and cultural studies. Indeed, even in a thriving field such as affect studies, research still largely focuses on negative emotions, ugly feelings (Ngai), shame (Probyn), paranoia (Sedgwick), failure (Halberstam), and the cruelty of optimism (Berlant). But perhaps the critical tide is turning. Scholars are beginning to theorise the end of our well-rehearsed “hermeneutics of suspicion,” and conjecturing what comes after (Felski). They are mapping the potential path for a “eudaimonic criticism” (Pawelski & Moore) and an “ethics of hope” (Braidotti), looking towards a more positive future (Muñoz). Critical and historical studies on empathy (Meghan; Keen), joy (Potkay) and happiness itself (Ahmed) are also emerging.

Inspired by the growing body of scholarship on optimistic representations of gender, sexuality, and queerness, Writing from Below enters the fray with this invitation to explore and interrogate positive, successful, fulfilling, life-affirming expressions of gender and sexuality in contemporary or historical literature, culture, and society.

For the full call-for-papers, and to submit your work, visit our website: www.writingfrombelow.org.au

The deadline for submissions is 29 May 2017.

For more information, please contact our guest editor, Dr Juliane Roemhild: J.Roemhild@latrobe.edu.au