Conference Report: Across Cultures and Species
In late June, the Centre co-sponsored a two-day pre-read workshop at Honolulu on new histories of pacific whaling. Participants were invited to think about animal-human interactions, as well as the intersection between environmental and cross-cultural histories. The workshop was led by Ryan Tucker Jones (University of Oregon) with support from Centre member, Angela Wanhalla, and generously supported by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.
The workshop opened with a paper by Susan Lebo (State Historic Preservation Office, Hawaii) that made a case for newspapers as integral, but overlooked, sources for revealing Hawaii’s whaling history, particularly Hawaiian-language newspapers, which feature Indigenous narratives. Lissa Wadewitz (Linfield College) examined the paradox of the violence involved in hunting and processing whales and their sometimes professed sentimentality for the animals, which she set within a context of a growing animal welfare movement in the United States. Vicki Luker (ANU) narrated the story of whaling in Fiji through the experiences of a chief and chiefly politics, while Adam Paterson (South Australia Maritime Museum) discussed a collaborative project on whalers and cross-cultural history at Encounter Bay, South Australia, emphasising Ngarrinderjeri perspectives about whales. Kate Stevens and Angela Wanhalla (University of Otago) took us to southern New Zealand where they used kinship as a framework of analysis to explore Kāi Tahu women’s participation in the shore whaling industry and their association with the sea. We concluded the first day with Nancy Shoemaker‘s (University of Connecticut) paper on the global trade in whale products and Akamine Jun‘s (Hitotsubashi University) interrogation of coastal whaling in Japan and how this shaped particular food cultures.
Day two opened with a session on Japan. Jakobina Arch (Whitman College) discussed the role of pelagic whaling in advancing Japan’s territorial expansion in the Pacific, while Noell Wilson (University of Mississippi) considered whaling cultures in the 19th century Hokkaido maritime region, focusing on the Ainu. In the second set of papers, Bathseba Demuth (Brown University) addressed capitalism in the early north pacific through the perspective of bowhead whales, inserting whale agency into human history. Jason Colby (Victoria) turned to the capture of grey whales for Seaworld in California, how this shaped scientific research and influenced human understanding of whales during an international movement focused on conservation and protection. The workshop closed with two papers that considered whaling and whales within contemporary Indigenous contexts. Jonathan Clapperton’s (Independent historian) paper addressed Puget Sound Salish Culture and legal claims to being whaling people, while Billie Lythberg (Auckland University) and Wayne Ngata (former Chair of the Māori Language Commission) told the story of Paikea, a whale and human ancestor, embodied by a tekoteko (carved human form) held by the American Natural History Museum in New York, who they hope to return home to his people. The workshop closed with a keynote address from Joshua L. Reid (University of Washington) at the Bishop Museum that centred Indigenous experience and perspectives at the heart of new histories of Pacific whaling.
Held in Trust: Curiosity in Things Conference
Call for Papers
HELD IN TRUST: CURIOSITY IN THINGS
A conference co-sponsored by Otago Museum and the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture, University of Otago
24-25 January 2019
Barclay Theatre, Otago Museum
The history of museums has largely been framed under the rubric of colonial domination or building cathedrals of science. But what are the bigger stories that motivated the creation of the collections?
Objects have the capacity to tell stories of lives and communities that are interconnected over space and time. Objects are the tangible material world of scientific endeavour and during the nineteenth century trade in them boomed, yet accounts of the political context surrounding their discovery and translocation are overlooked.
Looking beyond object biographies, tales of eccentric collectors, acquisition and institutional histories, this conference foregrounds the global context of commercial trade and exchange networks that contributed to the patterns of knowledge discovery and creation. What then are the bigger stories of culture, economics and politics that formed our colonial museums?
We invite contributions that address the broad theme of knowledge production in the colonial museum.
Keynote speakers:
- Professor Tony Ballantyne FRSNZ Co-director Centre for Research on Colonial Culture and Pro-Vice Chancellor Humanities, University of Otago.
- Professor Simon Ville, Senior Professor of Economic and Business History, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts, University of Woollongong.
- Associate Professor Conal McCarthy, Director of the Museum and Heritage Studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington.
Please send your abstract (max. 250 words) and one-page CV to crocc@otago.ac.nz by September 15th, 2018.
For further information, please contact Rosi Crane (Rosi.Crane@otagomuseum.nz).
Angela Wanhalla keynote speaker at Law & History Conference
The next Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society conference is meeting at the University of Wollongong in December hosted by that university’s Centre for Colonial and Settler Studies. Its theme is “Exclusion, Confinement, Dispossession: Uneven Citizenship and Spaces of Sovereignty”, with the call for papers closing on 20 July. It’s great news that Angela Wanhalla, CROCC co-director, will be a keynote speaker at this conference, drawing on her Rutherford Fellowship research on marriage in conjunction with the conference themes.
Click on image to enlarge.
CFP: Nga Taonga Tuku Iho 2018
The 2018 National Conference of the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand will take place from 25-28 August at Rotorua.
The theme of the conference is Māori archives and records. This theme and kaupapa allows for an exploration of the discovery, preservation, description, record keeping, interconnectedness and meaning of Māori records, archives and taonga. The 2018 conference looks to explore opportunities for researchers, communities and organisations to collaborate in the guardianship of knowledge, facilitate researcher engagement and help safeguard our collective past in perpetuity.
Areas of focus, and possible topics, could include:
- Iwi and community archives
- Conservation and preservation of collections
- Preventing and managing disasters
- Documenting heritage collections and taonga
- Collection descriptions for indigenous designed databases
- Record-keeping standards and authority headings
- Digitising collections
- Cultural sensitivities and archival ethics
- Research into Māori collections and archives
- Displacement of collections and repatriation
- Collecting archives in a post-Treaty environment
- Resourcing and funding challenges
- Ownership and kaitiakitanga
- Te Reo as part of the record
- Distributed collecting across institutions and iwi archives
- Connecting communities through records and archives
Proposals for 20 minute papers are invited. Abstracts of 450-500 words and a short bio should be submitted via email to Tiena Jordan (threejordans@xtra.co.nz) by the 31st March 2018.
Forthcoming Conferences: Law, History, Film
A number of associations have released CfPs in the past month, including the New Zealand Historical Association, the Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society (ANZLHS), plus the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ).
From 28 November to 1 December, the Biennial New Zealand Historical Association Conference will be held at the University of Auckland on the theme: Tāmaki Herenga Waka: Where Histories Meet, celebrating Auckland as a meeting place of people, of culture and of ideas from throughout New Zealand and across the world. The Call for Papers and details about the keynote speakers can be found on the conference website. Do note that the submission deadline for abstracts is 28 July.
The University of Otago’s Legal Issues Centre is co-hosting LSAANZ this year in association with Te Pokapū Take Ture and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. The Call for Papers closes on 14 July and the conference will take place from 6-9 December in Dunedin.
A few days later the ANZLHS Conference will take place at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch on 14-16 December. The conference theme is: “Legal and social change – gradual evolution or punctuated equilibrium?” This conference theme draws on evolutionary theory about how species form, and asks whether changes in the law and in the effects of particular laws on society occur through a gradual process of incremental change or through periods of relative stasis with intervening major shifts.
Inquiries or submissions of papers should be accompanied by a brief abstract and biography and sent to the programme co-ordinator, Professor Jeremy Finn jeremy.finn@canterbury.ac.nz by 21 August. Keynote speakers for the conference include Professors Charlotte McDonald (Victoria University of Wellington); Kjell Modeer (Lund University), and Amanda Nettelbeck (University of Adelaide) and Dr Te Maire Tau (Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, University of Canterbury).
CRoCC is also running a symposium on colonial film in association with Ngā Taonga, Wellington, from 13-14 July.
Call for Papers Closing Soon
If you want to present at the Centre’s Filim in the Colony Symposium (co-hosted with Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision), then you have until the end of the week to submit your abstract. Details of how to submit are provided below. Make sure you don’t miss out on what promises to be an exciting interdisciplinary event.
https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/crocc/film-in-the-colony-symposium/
Connecting the Colonies: Empires and Networks in the History of the Book
The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Inc (BSANZ) Annual Conference 2017
Connecting the Colonies: Empires and Networks in the History of the Book
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
22-24 November 2017
Call for Papers
Empires of all kinds – commercial, geo-political, bureaucratic – are defined by their peripheries as well as their centres, by the flows of information that maintain or destabilise their structures of authority and control.
BSANZ, in collaboration with the Society for the History of Authorship Reading and Publishing, invites scholars and researchers to consider the printed word, the book, and texts of all kinds, as both mechanism and matter of transmission.
We invite proposals for 20-minute papers on any matters of bibliographical interest, traditional and contemporary. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Commercial empires: the book as a commodity in colonial contexts
- Across boundaries: print networks across geo-political, commercial or bureaucratic borders
- The trans-temporal: the afterlife of books and re-imagining of ideas
- Indigenous cultures, frontier encounters, and the presence or absence of print
- The stuff of legend: the role of print in constructing colonial and imperial consciousness
- The book as treasured possession: emotion, ownership and display
Proposals for three-person panel discussions are also welcome.
Some financial assistance towards travel costs may be available for postgraduate students who are presenting papers. Please enquire when submitting your proposal, and include a brief budget outlining your anticipated travel costs.
Proposals – including, a 250-word abstract title of paper, name and institutional affiliation of each author, a brief biography of each author, email address of each author, and 3-5 keywords – should be sent to the convenor, Ian Morrison ian.morrison@education.tas.gov.au.
Presenters must be members of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand. The deadline for submissions is Friday 31 March 2017.
New Historians Conference
Call for papers: The history postgraduate students at Victoria University of Wellington, Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui, warmly invite you to the 2016 New Historians Conference, to be held on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 October.
First established in 2006 by Professor Melanie Nolan and postgraduate students, the conference attracts MA and PhD candidates and others who have recently completed their research.
It is an excellent opportunity to discuss current work and to share ideas.
Expressions of interest and 200 word abstracts are due 1 September.
Registrations are due by 15 September.
Keynote speakers will be confirmed shortly. Registration costs $25, to be paid on arrival at the conference. There will be an optional conference dinner on Monday night, costing $28-$35 per person.
Further details are available at: www.victoria.ac.nz/hppi/about/events
Please follow the event via Twitter: @HistoryatVic and use the hashtag #NewHist16.
NZ Women’s Studies Association Conference 2016
Call for Papers for the Women’s Studies Association Conference (WSANZ) 2016
“Re/generation: New Landscapes in Feminism and Women’s Studies”.
2nd-3rd September at the Owen Glenn Building, The University of Auckland, Main Campus.
Please note that the deadline to submit an abstract is 30 June 2016.
The Conference keynote themes and speakers include:
- Conference Inauguration: Prof. Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (University of Waikato)
- Inaugural Margot Roth Lecture : Prof Priya Kurian (The University of Waikato)
- Panel on New Directions in Justice: Prof. Rosemary Hunter (Queen Mary University, London), A/P Elisabeth McDonald (Victoria University, Wellington) & A/P Tracey McIntosh (University of Auckland)
- Panel on Gender, Generation and Care : Prof. Ngaire Kerse (School of Population Health, University of Auckland); Dr Katherine Ravenswood (AUT), Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell (University of Auckland)
Proposals in the following categories are welcomed: (a) 20 minute paper presentations (b) One hour panels (c) Soapbox sessions: (for undergrads and high school students; 3-5 minutes on a relevant theme) (d) Posters and (e) Performances (poetry, art).
Limited scholarships available for undergrads and high school students.
Apply by JUNE 30th !!!! (100 words on why you want to come PLUS name of a teacher or lecturer for reference)
For more details, see http://www.wsanz.org.nz/events.htm
Space, Race, Bodies II: Sovereignty and Migration in a Carceral Age
Our colleagues in Media Film and Communications at the University of Otago are sponsoring a conference on sovereignty and migration, which will take place in early May. The Call for Papers is below.
Space, Race, Bodies II: Sovereignty and Migration in a Carceral Age
University of Otago
May 6-8th, 2016
Featuring:
Fadak Alfayadh (RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees)
Tracey Barnett (Independent Journalist)
Mengzhu Fu (Shakti Youth)
Associate Professor Stephanie Fryberg (University of Washington)
Tame Iti
Moana Jackson
Crystal McKinnon and Emma Russell (Flat Out)
Suzanne Menzies-Culling and Marie Laufiso (Tauiwi Solutions)
Professor Margaret Mutu (University of Auckland)
Emilie Rākete (No Pride in Prisons)
Annette Sykes
Teanau Tuiono
Space, Race, Bodies II: Sovereignty and Migration in a Carceral Age is an academic and activist conference featuring workshops that address the intersections of criminal justice movements around the incarceration of migrants and communities of colour and Indigenous sovereign movements. SRB II builds on the momentum and opportunities enabled by the first Space, Race, Bodies conference in publicising and disseminating scholarship and activism on the intersections between geography, racism and racialisation.
Presentations and panels are invited to address, but are not limited to, the following:
surveillance and imprisonment in settler colonial and imperial histories
detention and surveillance of migrants and refugees
racial profiling and state violence towards ethnic and marginalised communities
geographies of torture in the ‘war on terror’
the geopolitics of homonormativity and pinkwashing
hate crimes and the role of imprisonment as a key modality through which rights protections are secured
intersectionality and social and political forms of exclusion
community and activist challenges to state violence and detention
Indigenous sovereign protest movements
corporeality, race and biometrics
capitalism, race and incarceration
the prison industrial complex
digital forms of enclosure and surveillance
race, racialisation and geography
climate change, migration and asylum
protest camps and state surveillance
Please note that general submissions on the theme of space, race, and embodiment are welcome. We also invite workshops, creative performance and other community forms of participation.
For more information about the conference and the SRB collective, please visit our website: http://www.spaceracebodies.com.
Abstracts of 200w with an accompanying 50w bio can be sent to: Space.Race.Bodies@otago.ac.nz
We will accept abstracts on a rolling basis until April 1, 2016.
