‘Population’ has been an abiding preoccupation in the settlement of the Australian continent. It has never been a fixed concept, but one capable of promiscuous connotations and discursive articulations. It has featured in debates about the balance between the City and the Bush; the appropriate ‘racial’ composition of the nation; about fertility, families and the role of women; about development and economic growth; and, in particular, about the rules around immigration and the nature and prerogatives of the nation state.
Globalization and the rise of the environmental movement, however, have changed the terms in which we discuss the idea of population. It is a key concept in global debates about planetary sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation, the curtailment of human freedoms in response to uncontrolled population movements and potential struggles over resources. In Australia recent asylum seeker debates and the emerging issue of environmental refugees have sparked conflicts over the question of what is an optimal national population with regard to economic growth and the continent’s carrying capacity.
In recent times, in Australia as elsewhere population has become associated with urban problems and their management. It is a key concept in expert debates about desirable models of urbanity – low density urbanism, consolidation, sustainability and so on – and about patterns of urban consumption and infrastructure such as transport, water, energy and food security and carbon emissions. The prospect of increased population sparks populist defences of the suburban dream and the ‘Australian way of life’ and triggers fears about the impact of demographic change on housing, on traffic congestion, and on environmental resources. Those seeking to challenge parochialism argue for a human rights perspective and a recognition that climate change is a global issue that refuses the notion of national borders and protectionist mentalities and is one that necessarily requires urban solutions to adjust humanity to its new biospheric conditions.
Centrally important in contending with Australia’s urban future, the notion of population serves at once as a statistical object of social scientists, a field of intervention for urban planners, a rhetorical resource for politicians and activists, and a spectre haunting a popular imaginary concerned with the imperilment of the suburban everyday. This conference asks: What is the future of the low density city? What are its prospects in a context in which ecological and population pressures make the infrastructure that under-grid such cities no longer sustainably, if it ever was? In the wake of these intersecting pressures, how are alternate futures for this urban form to be imagined and governed? How are its populations to be managed? Individual lives conducted? Resources circulated? How do these questions impact of relations of gender, ethnicity, and class and those between City and Bush? In addressing these questions this conference will bring together international and Australian academics, politicians and other expert speakers and commentators in the fields of cultural studies, urban sociology, urban infrastructure and population to discuss the future of the low density city in an era in which climate change and the prospect of population increase operates as a major challenge to established forms of urban life.
Keynote Speakers
Andrew Ross – Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University
Michael Neuman – Professor of Sustainable Urbanism, University of New South Wales
Abstract Submissions
Conference Themes
climate change
population
immigration
urban densification
urban environmentalism
urban planning
gender
ethnicity
City and Bush
Paper and Panel Proposals
Paper and panel proposals addressing the conference themes are invited. Those spanning one or more themes are especially welcome. Please send abstracts (up to 300 words), your affiliation, and a biography (up to 150 words) to Ben Dibley
Deadline for submissions is 31 March 2012.
Conference Convenors
Dr Fiona Cameron and Dr George Morgan with Professor Helen Armstrong, Dr Amanda Third and Dr Ben Dibley, Centre of Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, Australia
The Global Viet Diaspora is excited to announce the launch of its e-journal called the Journal of the Global Viet Diaspora. Hosted a http://blogs.bauer.uh.edu/vietDiaspora/, this peer-reviewed journal is currently considering manuscripts for inclusion in its first issue launching in the summer of 2012.
The Journal of Global Viet Diaspora is edited by Long Le (University of Houston) and co-edited by Yuk Wah Chan (City University of Hong Kong) and Mark A. Ashwill (Capstone Vietnam). The Journal of Global Viet Diaspora promotes the publication of high-quality research on Vietnamese diasporic experiences, broadly defined.
Our Advisory Board reflects this commitment. Members of the Advisory Board include:
Carl Bankston, Tulane University
Le Dang Doanh, Former President of Vietnam’s Central Institute for Economics Management
Nguyen Manh Hung, George Mason University
Nguyen Thanh Viet, University of Southern California
Carl Thayer, Australia National University
Together, we are looking for manuscripts which make a significant contribution in understanding the dimensions, the characterizations, and/or the trajectories of Vietnamese diasporic experiences across time and space.
Aside from research articles, we welcome resource papers that introduce and articulate new data not readily accessible to our readers; methodologies that can be used by community groups and other researchers to study and document Vietnamese diasporic experiences; and/or relevant teaching pedagogy that enhance courses covering Vietnamese diasporic experiences.
We also welcome practitioners' essays that articulate the challenges, opportunities, and accomplishments facing Vietnamese diasporic groups or communities. A practitioner’s essay draws on his or her experiences in order to offer effective strategies, policies, and/or programs. The editors maintain an efficient review and publication process.
The turnaround time is on average 4-5 weeks from submission to a first decision.
Length
Manuscripts, including footnotes, must not exceed 14,000 words. The minimum length is 3,000 words, not including footnotes. An abstract of approximately 100 words should accompany each manuscript.
Style
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically as a Word Document in double-spaced typescript with 1 ½ inch margins all around. Authors must follow the style manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) (6th edition). For reference, see http://umclibrary.crk.umn.edu/apa6thedition.pdf.
Illustrations
The editors encourage the author to enhance the article with illustrations. Digital images should be high resolution. If you use illustrations protected by a copyright, you will be responsible for securing permission rights.
Unpublished
Authors should not submit a manuscript that has been published or that is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Submit
All papers should be submitted via email attachment in one single MS Word format file to Melissa Luna.
The 19th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) will be held on the Parramatta Campus of the University of Western Sydney, 11 to 13 July, 2012, hosted by the University’s Institute for Culture and Society, the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, and the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies. The theme is ‘Knowing Asia: Asian Studies in an Asian Century’.
Possible themes include (in no particular order):
‘Chindia’ in the 21st century: myth or reality?
New Asian hegemonies?
Transnational Asia: the role of English
Transport, mobility and tourism
Australia – Asia interactions
Translating texts, translating culture
Nations and their boundaries in a global age
Gender, sexuality and queer studies
The politics of heritage, nature and the environment
Sport and society in Asia
Urban cultures and social transformation
Asian regionalism
Race, ethnicity and multiculturalisms
Technology and society
Media and popular culture
Asian modernities
Cultural diplomacy and cultural policy
Religion and secularism
Asian Studies in Australian universities.
Confirmed Keynote Speakers
Professor Lily Kong – Vice-President (University and Global Relations), and Acting Exec Vice-President (Academic Affairs), Yale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Professor Ji-Hyun Lim – Professor of History, Director of the Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture, Hanyang University, Seoul
Professor Prasenjit Duara – Raffles Professor of Humanities, Director, Asia Research Institute, and Director of Research, Humanities & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Paper and Panel Proposals
Paper and panel proposals addressing the conference themes are invited. Proposals spanning one or more themes are especially welcome.
Individual paper proposals (200-300 words)
Panel proposals (200 words for the panel concept and 200-300 words on each panel paper)
Please submit your abstract online. Should you have any problems submitting your abstract online, forward to s.martinez@uws.edu.au
The deadline for abstract submissions is 28 February 2012. Notification of acceptance will be 15 March 2012.
Image on left: Song Ling- Beauty and the Beast 2, acrylic on canvas- 140 x 110cm- 2011 ‘Courtesy of the Artist and Niagara Galleries’
CHINESE AUSTRALIA
Exhibition Opening 6-8pm, Wednesday 15 FebruaryClosing on Friday 10 March
164 High Street, Prahran, Melbourne
This group show brings together eleven prominent Australian artists of Chinese heritage whose work has not before been shown together. The exhibition is a diverse collection of works of artists from a common background and explores how their experience in Australia has influenced their art.
The exhibition will be opened by Aaron Seeto, Director of 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, Australia’s peak national body for contemporary Asian art and culture.
The Australian China Art Foundation warmly invites you to join us for the opening.
Artists Pei Pei He, Song Ling, Zhou Xiaoping, Kordelya Zhansui Chi, John Young, Lindy Lee, Chonggang Du, Owen Leong, Cyrus Tang, Zhong Chen and Robin Eley comment on issues such as physical identity and duality of culture, dislocation and belonging, and loss and renewal within the context of their Chinese heritage.
The exhibition is curated by Venita Poblocki.
The opening will be followed by a panel discussion between the curator and artists on Thursday 16th February from 6-7pm. All are invited to attend.
Persian International Film Festival is a cultural film event that will bring together screen stories of diverse global Persian communities to Sydney from 23rd to the 26th of February 2012, with ongoing programs and forums throughout the year. It is a one of a kind festival that will showcase films from Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and from the global Persian community across the globe to celebrate their similarities, diversities and complexities through film for both Persian and Australian audiences.
The festival aims to be a leader in shifting views and misperceptions in Australia by creating spaces for and supporting new and alternative voices of Persian-Australians by being a forum for dialogue between and amongst Persian communities.
To represent a diversity of the cross-section of Persian communities both in their home countries and across the globe, Persian International Film Festival will screen films of various genres and lengths created by those of Persian background, or those in which a key creative, such as writers, producer, or director is of Persian descent.
So, if you are a filmmaker of Persian background, submit your film to be considered for screening in Sydney, and a chance to win exciting prizes during the festival.
At Persian International Film Festival we also want to create discussion between people with varying expertise, opinions and ideas on the cinema and culture of the region. So, if you have anything to say, email us with your original contributions.
Also, don’t forgot to subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date on all the latest news.
We look forward to seeing you and your movies at the festival!
An information session will be held at 6pm on Monday 13 February at the Library’s Village Roadshow Theatrette.
What is a Creative Fellowship?
The State Library of Victoria’s Creative Fellowships support original use of the Library collections for new work in all areas of enquiry. They aim to:
promote the State Library as a centre of creative activity
give fellows the time and space to undertake their work
create a community of fellows who can promote the Library and its collections through their work and their advocacy
What does a Creative Fellowship offer?
Fellows become part of the Library community, with access to a study for the period of the fellowship, which may be used outside normal opening hours of the Library. Librarians familiar with the collections
that form the focus of projects are assigned to assist each fellow.
Fellows also have access to the Foundation members lounge for the duration of their fellowship.
Creative Fellowships include grants and are awarded for periods of three, six and 12 months. Grants are: $12,500 for three months, $25,000 for six months, and $50,000 for 12 months. These grants apply at these levels regardless of whether the projects are undertaken by individuals or as a collaborative partnership.
Honorary fellowships may be awarded, which accord all the benefits of the fellowship without the grant.
Australian Book Review seeks applications for the ABR Copyright Agency Fellowship.
This Fellowship – the fourth to be offered by ABR – is proudly supported by ABR’s generous Patrons.
We are seeking a substantial non-fiction article with an Asian focus – either a profile of a major Asian literary/cultural figure or a discursive essay with Asian literary/cultural themes.
The Fellowship is worth $5000.
Any Australian writer with a significant publication record (books, creative writing, essays or journalism) is eligible to apply. Applications close 20 March 2012.
The ABR Fellowships are intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of major works of literary journalism, and to advance the magazine’s commitment to critical debate.
Segment blurb: Calls for more diversity on Australian television
Updated February 17, 2012 10:01:00
