[csaa-forum] News + Issues in CS

[Melissa Gregg]

Hi list,

The Association for Cultural Studies newsletter is due to publish its next
online edition shortly. The newsletter is much like the CSAA one but global,
featuring news, events, book reviews, conference reports or ads, short
debates and provocations about the state of the field in different regional
locations. The newsletter is a widely read resource and obviously with the
Crossroads conference coming up in July there will be plenty of new ACS
members reading too. It's a good publicity opportunity, basically. So if you
would like to send short pieces to me to pass on as Australia and New
Zealand rep, please do - I'll accept them until the end of next week (May 5)
and then bundle them up for the editor.

On another matter, I am also participating in a panel discussion as part of
the Crossroads conference on current trends in cultural studies'
institutional practice. I'll be speaking with two hats on: as regional rep
but also as a younger academic. As it's been a bit quiet here lately, I'd
like to hear the views of people on this list on what you'd like me to say,
as it is important in such a public setting that I represent the situation
here with as much information and accuracy as I can. Things I envisage being
of interest to an international audience include:

-emerging strengths in Australian cultural studies research, eg. new centres
for funded research & new projects
-the effect of government funding and/or rhetoric on cultural studies
research 
-changing employment trends post- 'work choices' and pre-RQF
-what the RQF will actually involve 
-what all of these things mean for younger academics - from their
perspective, right now, and from those who are good at reading tea leaves 

Hopefully if people are interested in talking about this issues more we
could also take them up in Canberra at the end of the year. At recent CSAA
conferences I have noticed a regular lament that there aren't enough
opportunities to discuss industrial issues amongst our colleagues nationally
and regionally. 

Happy to receive thoughts on this on or off list.

Cheers
Melissa

Dr. Melissa Gregg
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies
and
Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies 
School of English, Media Studies and Art History
The University of Queensland QLD 4072
CRICOS provider number: 00025B
 
phone    61 7 3346 9762
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