Congratulations to Dr Angela Wanhalla
Great news for CROCC member, Dr Angela Wanhalla, for being awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship to develop her research, “Marriage: The Politics of Private Life in New Zealand”. This award, administered by the NZ Royal Society, is designed to recognise, and help foster the careers of future research leaders. Since its inception in 2010 the RDF has been largely the preserve of scientists, so this is great news not just for Angela, the University of Otago, but also for the Humanities in New Zealand. Congratulations, Angela. Read the initial press release and more details on Angela’s project here
Inaugural Mary Boyd Prize
The New Zealand Historical Association is calling for submissions to be considered for the inaugural Mary Boyd Prize. This award is for the best article on any aspect of New Zealand history published in a refereed journal between April 2011 and April 2013. It will be presented at the NZHA’s biennial conference to beheld in Dunedin this November.
Please visit the New Zealand Historical Association webpage for full details.
Research Talk by Samia Khatun
Dr. Samia Khatun, who is a guest of the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture, will give a research presentation to the Department of History and Art History on Wednesday 18th September.
The title of her talk is ‘Placing Indian Ocean Travellers: Aboriginal Language Stories about South Asian Workers in the Australian Interior, 1860-1930’.
ABSTRACT: Late on a Tuesday afternoon in c.1895, two young Aboriginal sisters were waiting at Alberrie Creek railway siding in the South Australian desert, when two Muslim men on camels rode past on their way to the nearby dam. Upon sighting the waiting girls, the men brought their beasts to a sudden halt. To the dismay of the sisters, ‘the train was running late.’ The story of what happened that evening at Alberrie Creek railway siding remains in the oral records of Arabunna people today and is a tale of two intersecting geographies rarely examined together: An Indian Ocean world peopled by itinerant peddlers and princes and arid Australian deserts criss-crossed by paths of Aboriginal mobility. With close attention to Arabunna language tales of sexualised encounter between distinct subject peoples of the British Empire, I examine the space/place politics that belie Arabunna memories of Indian Ocean travellers in Australian deserts.
Samia’s talk will take place in Burns 5, Arts Building, University of Otago starting at 3.30.
See you there!
James Cowan Symposium
A reminder that abstracts for the James Cowan Symposium (to be held in early 2014), co-hosted by the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture and the Alexander Turnbull Library, are due by 30 September. More details about the event can be accessed here: Cowan Symposium ePoster
Warm Welcome to Dr. Samia Khatun
The Centre for Research on Colonial Culture is pleased to announce that Dr Samia Khatun will be based in Dunedin from September 2013 to February 2014 as a guest of CRoCC.
Samia completed her PhD at the University of Sydney, where her research examined cultural encounters and translation in the Australian interior using both Aboriginal and South Asian language materials. She has held a postdoctoral fellowship at Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin and has recently completed a residency at the Asian-American Writers Workshop, New York, USA. Samia is also an accomplished film maker.
While in Dunedin she will be completing her book manuscript Camels, Ships and Trains: Australia in an Indian Ocean Context.
Visiting Speakers
This week CROCC is co-sponsoring two visiting speakers. The first is Professor A. R. Venkatachalapathy (Madras Institute of Development Studies), who will deliver an open lecture entitled, “The Birth of the Tamil Author” today (September 2) at 5.15pm (Archway 2). Professor Venkatachalapathy is a leading expert on print culture in south India.
On Thursday 5 September we are co-sponsoring a lecture by Professor Luke Gibbons (NUI Maynooth), a leading Irish cultural critic and literary scholar. Professor Gibbons will be speaking on “Limits of the Visible: Representing the Great Irish Famine” at 5.15pm in Burns 5.
Please do come along!
