School of Political Science, Criminology & Sociology POSTGRADUATE BULLETIN 22 March 2004 1. Research to assist International Student Support: Interviewees Needed 2. Call for Papers: Migration, Affect and the Senses 3. Global Political Theory Reading Group 4. Feminist Forum 30 March: Women and Reality Television 5. CERC Seminar: 23 March 6. Social Sciences Seminar 25 March: The Globalisation of Nothing 7. The Australian Institute of International Affairs Seminar: 25 March Issues of this bulletin are archived on the web at: http://www.politics.unimelb.edu.au/courses/postgraduate/bulletin.html *********************************************** 1. Research to assist International Student Support: Interviewees Needed This year a team of Monash University researchers is talking to international students in Australian universities about the most important issues and problems facing them from housing, health, transport and finance to work issues, academic issues, visa problems and other matters. When students leave their home countries, their families and their own systems of social protection to study in another country, there are risks involved. Problems arising in the country of study can affect academic progress. The purpose of the research is to gather data for a report that will advise governments and universities on how to provide the best possible social and economic security for international students. If you take part in the interviews there will be no direct reward, but you will help present and future students. 150 students from 10 Australian universities, postgraduate and undergraduate, that have completed at least one semester of study in Australia, are being interviewed. The interviews are being conducted by a former international student, Dr. Erlenawati Sawir, for the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements. The privacy of students taking part is fully respected. All interview data will be kept on a confidential basis. In the reporting of statements, neither the names of interviewees nor the names of universities will be identified. Interviews with University of Melbourne students will be conducted up to 31 May this year. Interviews will normally take 45 minutes and can be arranged at a University or city location of your choice. If you want to take part in the interviews please contact the project researcher as follows: erlenawati@education.monash.edu.au phone 03-99052828 or 0414952116 *********************************************** 2. Call for Papers: Migration, Affect and the Senses Thurs 17th & Fri 18th June 2004 Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University Sensuality, sound, sight, smell, touch, taste, breath, hear, feel, synaesthesia, proximate, vertigo, experiential, material, ritual, flesh, bones, possession, nerves, nausea, fear, love, hate, faith, belief, comfort, hope, joy, despair, longing, trauma, guilt, shame, pride, habitus and habituation. This is the stuff of affect and the senses. Although scholars are increasingly aware of embodied experience, little is yet known about how sensory and affective bodies articulate with cultural difference, migration and experiences of displacement. This two day conference explores how the sensory and affective registers of experience articulate with: 1) Migration and transnational lives. 2) Living with difference in culturally diverse cities. We invite proposals that engage with the bodily, sensory and affective dimensions of either of these streams. Possible topics include but are not limited to: * Affect, embodiment and sensibility in the multicultural city * Affect, the senses and intercultural relations * Habitus and diversity * Habitus and migration * Migration and food * Migration and music, aural cultures, dance * Migration and love * Ritual, faith and migration * Migration emotion and affect * Migration and sensory recall/memory of the homeland * The senses and affect in dis and em/placement Please submit abstracts of 250 words or less with a short biographical paragraph by Friday 23rd April 2004 to adam.chapman@anu.edu.au Registration details at www.anu.edu.au/culture Enquiries to: amanda.wise@anu.edu.au *********************************************** 3. Global Political Theory Reading Group USA Secretary of State, Colin Powell on American diplomacy: "We're selling a product. That product we are selling is democracy." The GPTRG is a fortnightly gathering of pol. sci. postgrads with an interest in global politics, contemporary international relations and political economy, and political theory in general. Next meeting Fri 19 March, 4:30pm in Postgrad Room - we'll be discussing: Peter van Ham, Branding territory: inside the wonderful world of PR and IR theory(2002) 31(2) Millennium Available electronically at: http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/534/649/72275370w3/purl=rc1_EAIM_0_CA99279238&dyn=3!xrn_1_0_CA99279238?sw_aep=unimelb All welcome - any questions, please contact Jarrod Lenne, jlenne@unimelb.edu.au For more information on the GPTRG, including a list of previous readings and a link to the mailing list, go to: http://www.politics.unimelb.edu.au/gptrg/ *********************************************** 4. Feminist Forum 30 March: Women and Reality Television This is the latest in a series of sessions presented by the School of Political Science, Criminology & Sociology, in which feminist staff and postgraduate students from across the Arts Faculty can present and discuss their work in progress. Venue: Room 519, Fifth floor, John Medley Building, Gate 10, Grattan St., University of Melbourne. Tuesday 30 March, 5.30 to 7.00 pm. Professor Iva Deutchman (Hobart and William Smith College, US. Visiting Professor in the School of Political Science, Criminology & Sociology): "Why We Watch, and Why it Matters: Women and Reality Television". All staff and postgraduate students interested in feminist ideas and research are welcome. *********************************************** 5. CERC Seminar: 23 March What makes Putin so Popular? Unriddling the enigma of the Russian Presidential Election Mr Tony Phillips (The University of Melbourne, CERC Fellow) Tuesday 23rd March , 1.00-2.00pm CERC, Room 212, Level 2, 234 Queensberry Street, Carlton The Russian presidential election has taken place in an unreal (read unpolitical) atmosphere. The re-election of President Putin has seemed as inevitable as that of the Communist party in Soviet times. This paper examines the possible reasons for this, including those posited by Putin and his supporters and those by critics concerned with a turn towards authoritarianism in Russia. It also advances structural arguments for Putins sterngth based around institutional and cultural aspects of Russian politics that inhibit alternative leadership options from arising. Finally it makes some observations, in both comparative and theoretical terms, on the nature of political rule that appears to be emerging under Putin. Tony Phillips is a research fellow at the Contemporary Europe Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. He specialises in Russian political-economy, East European transition and Australian political-economy and public policy. He has written and published on the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian transition, Nationalism and Australian politics. All welcome. Enquiries: 8344 9502; cerc@cerc.unimelb.edu.au *********************************************** 6. Social Sciences Seminar 25 March: The Globalisation of Nothing Thesis Eleven Centre - School of Social Sciences PUBLIC SEMINAR GEORGE RITZER (University of Maryland) with Dennis Altman, Peter Beilharz, Trevor Hogan, Beryl Langer THE GLOBALIZATION OF NOTHING La Trobe Bundoora HUED Lecture Theatre Thursday 25 March 3-6 pm George Ritzers work is amongst the most influential in global sociology. After The McDonaldization of Society, Expressing America and various collections and books of essays, his latest is The Globalization of Nothing. George will talk about his project, followed by La Trobe commentators and general discussion. ALL WELCOME *********************************************** 6. The Australian Institute of International Affairs Seminar: 25 March "Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia's Policy Shift" Dr Elsina Wainwright, Strategy and International Program Director, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Thursday 25th March 2004 5.30pm - 7pm At: Dyason House 124 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne Dr Wainwright is the Strategy and International Program Director at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. She is the principal author of ASPI's papers on Solomon Islands, East Timor and Iraq. Prior to joining ASPI, she was as Associate with the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. She also worked as a consultant political analyst for the International Crisis Group in Bosnia. She is a Queensland Rhodes Scholar, completing both her Masters and Doctorate in International Relations at Oxford University. While at Oxford, she was a Stipendiary Lecturer in Politics at Oriel College and a tutor in Politics at Christ Church. She also has a Bachelor of Arts (History Major) and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Queensland. After finishing her law degree, she was Associate to Mr Justice Mackenzie of the Queensland Supreme Court. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) marked a pronounced shift in Australia's policy towards the South Pacific. Towards the end of last year, the Australian Government announced an Enhanced Cooperation Package including 230 police to assist Papua New Guinea address its law and order and governance challenges. How did this policy shift come to pass, and what are the implications for the broader region? How is RAMSI progressing, what are the key issues facing PNG, and what are some of the challenges ahead in both Solomon Islands and PNG? If you plan to attend this function, kindly assist with the catering by informing the AIIA at least 2 days before the event by: Phone: (03) 9654 7271; Fax: (03) 9654 6605; Email: aiiavic@bigpond.net.au. Contribution at the door: AIIA members $15; non-members $20; student member $8; student non member $10. Snacks and drinks will be served.