[csaa-forum] csaa-forum Digest, Vol 131, Issue 35

[Jon Stratton]

 Dear Andrew and List members,
      Thank you, Andrew, for your cogent response to my emails and their concerns.  Above all I want to make the point that I did not ever mean to impugn the good-will and sincere efforts of Timothy and Rimi in putting together this year's conference.  It has always been hard finding people prepared to put in the time and effort to run the conference and I am sure that we are all grateful to Rimi and Timothy for taking on this onerous task.  
 
I would never suggest that there has been any 'cynical intent'.  Rather, my point, and I have explained this to Timothy in a private email, is that there is a long history in Australian cultural studies of tensions between a Sydney and Melbourne focus and the feeling that those of us have who work elsewhere that we are being peripheralised and to a lesser or greater extent excluded.  The problem, then, is one of naturalised assumptions not conscious discrimination.  It is now accepted that the history of Australia has been written from the south-east of this large island outwards.  This is replicated in the ways Australians have been taught to think about culture.  I remember back in the early 1980s working at a university in Brisbane with what we then called junior staff who had been appointed from the southern cities.  They were horrified at what they saw as the provincialism of Brisbane and they were vocal in their desires to return to the southern cities as soon as possible.   In classes in Perth I have often challenged Perth students' inherited perceptions of Perth as peripheral and provincial by suggesting that think of Sydney and Melbourne as a single conurbation and reminding the students that Perth is closer to Indonesia and closer to Europe than that conurbation. Sydney and Melbourne are close to each other.  In this way of thinking, Darwin is not a long way from anywhere but actually an incredibly cosmopolitan city where, from East Point on a clear night, it is just possible see the lights of Kupang twinkling in the far distance.  Darwin is the closest city in Australia to Indonesia and to Europe and much of the city's culture is shaped by its proximity to south-east Asia.  
 
There are now versions of Australian history written from the point of view of, for example, the region above the Tropic of Capricorn.  I think, perhaps, in Australian cs we might do better to think of the country in terms of a rhizome.  
 
I have concentrated here on Australia.  For a conference like the one being developed we absolutely must remember that the association includes Aotearoa/New Zealand.  Within the association there is also a long history of the unintentional peripheralisation of A/NZ.  Australia is the geographically larger country with a much larger population spread across its cities.  Indeed, the entire population of A/NZ is just smaller than that of Sydney.  It is understandable but unfortunate that the concerns of A/NZ sometimes get marginalised.  However, as anybody who knows A/NZ appreciates, within that country the cities are very different from each other and there are complexities around the relationship between Auckland and Wellington and between each of these cities and, say, Dunedin and Christchurch. My point here is that as an association, and especially when considering a topic such as Minority Culture--a great topic by the way--we need to be sensitive to all the chapters of the association.  
 
Having had emails explaining them, I do now better understand the financial constraints within which Rimi and Timothy are working.  At the same time I think it is worth exploring other avenues of funding--and, indeed, it is certainly worth asking academics from elsewhere if they would be prepared to come to the conference and deliver major presentations without being funded.  I have suggested a number of senior and not-so-senior academics to Timothy who might be asked and I am happy to work further with him and Rimi on other academics who might be asked and on further ideas for funding.  The association's liaison with Continuum could be explored further.  Associate Professor  Panizza Allmark of Edith Cowan University in Perth, who is the journal's senior editor, has presented on matters related to the journal at at least the two most recent conferences and has, I believe, not been funded by the conferences.  
 
As for the matters raised in my second email, I can only say that I was voicing publicly experiences and perceptions put to me in private emails by academics lower down the food chain.  I thought it appropriate to raise the matters.  Andrew, you may be right that many people on the list have not responded because they are simply too busy.  It is certainly the case that with increased workloads and increased surveillance academics at all levels are finding it difficult to find the time to do any more than keep on top of their allocated work.  Perhaps, as you request, some may now find that time and contribute to the discussion.  
 
I will end by just repeating that it has never been my intention to criticise particular people.  I recognise the hard work that goes into putting on a conference, and that it is impossible to please everybody, and I recognise  the hard work that is put in by the association's executive.  I thank all for their efforts.  My contributions here have been intended to help and support the conference's development.
 
with best wishes,
Jon
 
> From: Andrew.Hickey at usq.edu.au
> To: csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
> Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 21:12:32 +0000
> Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] csaa-forum Digest, Vol 131, Issue 35
> 
> Dear Jon,
> Your earlier notes regarding the seeming incompatibility of the list of
> keynote speakers for this year's CSAA Conference have indeed resonated,
> even though visible posts in response may not have been forthcoming. While
> some genuine debate is nice to see on the List, perhaps it is a
> combination of factors, and not just 'the neoliberal turn' (as clumsy as
> that concept is) that have led to a silence on this issue.
> 
> The nature of Australian Cultural Studies is, as you keenly note, one of
> distance and outliers. This has resulted in something unique in the way
> that Cultural Studies comes to be done in Australia and the sorts of
> topics of inquiry it finds itself confronting. It also occurs that
> Cultural Studies' dynamism has often come from Australia's regional and
> non-metroplitan Universities and is the work of scholarly Œtroublemakers'.
> This is something that should be remembered, and just as with the
> formation of British Cultural Studies, Australian Cultural Studies has a
> distinction of having had prominence within and access to sites of
> scholarly interest other disciplines have ignored. But it should also be
> noted that dynamic and important work is continuing to be done by
> emerging and talented newer voices in Cultural Studies. That familiar
> modes of address and sites of discussion aren¹t as prolific as they
> perhaps once were isn¹t a sign of waning interest or neglect. (From the
> Association¹s perspective, the Intermezzo Symposia convened through
> 2013-14 stand as testament to the talent that younger members of
> our community possess. There was some genuinely inspiring leadership and
> scholarship provoked by ECRs during these events).
> 
> It also occurs that these are 'tough times' for universities (and
> academics in the humanities) and like previous tough times, uncertainty
> around the position Cultural Studies scholars hold in the academy surfaces
> in the form of some of the things you highlight below. I would like to
> think though that it isnt solely through a sense of fear or reverance (or
> whatever this might be) that newer members of the Cultural Studies
> community have 
> chosen not to respond; if this is the case, we most certainly have
> a problem for what might continue to be called Cultural Studies and how it
> is we might regard our community¹s Œelders'. Perhaps it is more through
> just being plain 'flat out', focussed on research and teaching targets and
> increasing pressure to engage with community in defined ways and undertake
> service that leaves most of us with precious little time to engage in
> discussion such as this (and if this too is the case, we still have a
> problem, but one that presents on different terrain). In short; this is a
> moment of 
> intensity and uncertainty in the academy that I think can be extrapolated
> to the list of keynotes for this year¹s conference, but not for the reason
> you identify. 
> 
> To get to the point; I am quite sure that there has been no cynical
> intent on behalf of this year's conference organisers to exclude or
> marginalise. All are 'good folk' (to use a phrase I think is one of the
> best endorsements one can make of a colleague), with a genuine desire to
> do something interesting and innovative. The people involved are aware of
> the nature of Cultural Studies, the place of the periphery in Cultural
> Studies' history and how this relates to the theme for this year's event.
> That the speakers list includes people from a couple of close-by locations
> primarily is, I gather, largely one of pragmatism; having spoken directly
> with the organisers I know that the cost of having people from further
> away has been an issue, but this aside, the list of speakers is regardless
> a good group, well qualified to speak on the topic of 'minor culture'.
> 
> The CSAA has engaged in a productive discussion with our colleagues at the
> University of Melbourne in planning for this year's conference and the
> sorts of themes it might cover. The announcement of the theme for the 2015
> Conference noted during last year's conference in Wollongong was met with
> significant interest, and the reception of this topic since has been
> highly positive. I realise that this isnt the point of your concern, but
> note that it isnt through any attempt to enforce a division that this
> year's conference or list of speakers has been determined. From the CSAA's
> perspective, it should always be the prerogative of the convenors of
> the conference to determine who will be invited to deliver keynote
> addresses and why. As the individuals responsible for conceptualising the
> theme, identifying expertise for potential addresses and (as is becoming
> increasingly significant) cobbling together the funds to convene these
> events, perhaps it should be respected that there are some very good
> reasons for why things are being done the way they are.
> 
> On a final note; this dialogue is a very positive dialogue and discussions
> like this should feature within this listserv more regularly. I hope that
> members and list subscribers will take on the points noted here and reply.
> I also note that a sigificant mark of distinction in the CSAA is that of
> its 'care' and collegiality. The Association has worked very hard to
> ensure that a sense of collegiality is present amongst the membership, and
> in this regard I hope that dialogue such as this will indeed continue,
> without fear of offence or ridicule, regardless of the reputation of the
> discussants and their status.
> 
> Andrew Hickey 
> President of the CSAA
> 
> 
> 
> Dr Andrew Hickey, Ph.D
> Senior Lecturer (Communications)
> School of Arts and Communications
> Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts
> University of Southern Queensland
> Toowoomba | Queensland | 4350 | Australia
> Ph: +61 7 4631 2337 | Fax: +61 7 4631 2828 |
> 
> Email: Andrew.Hickey at usq.edu.au <mailto:XXXXXXX at usq.edu.au>
> 
> - President, Cultural Studies Association of Australasia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 27/03/2015 1:54 pm, "csaa-forum-request at lists.cdu.edu.au"
> <csaa-forum-request at lists.cdu.edu.au> wrote:
> 
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> >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> >than "Re: Contents of csaa-forum digest..."
> >
> >
> >Today's Topics:
> >
> >   1. Re: Call for Papers: 'Minor Culture' CSAA Conference 2015
> >      (Jon Stratton)
> >
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Message: 1
> >Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:54:34 +0800
> >From: Jon Stratton <jon_stratton22 at outlook.com.au>
> >Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] Call for Papers: 'Minor Culture' CSAA
> >	Conference 2015
> >To: "csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au" <csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au>
> >Message-ID: <SNT150-W85D903407C19E5D0E8F753C7090 at phx.gbl>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Dear List members,
> >
> >
> >       This is
> >really a musing about the reaction to my email expressing concern about
> >the
> >geographical focus of the speakers listed for the upcoming conference.  I
> >have had a number of responses to my email,
> >all supportive; but none publicly on the List. These responses have come
> >from
> >people I know in academic capacities, people who trust that I would not
> >pass on
> >their emails or publicly reveal their names.  There have been no public
> >responses at all. 
> >
> >
> >
> >I wondered about this and so started asking why it might
> >be the case that people were not prepared to publicly endorse the
> >comments in
> >my email.   The replies were always the
> >same: that academics down the food chain were worried about offending
> >senior
> >academics who had power over their jobs, or potential employment.  The
> >neoliberal turn in higher ed, which has
> >seen tenure all but disappear, which has seen many universities revising
> >their
> >staff lists through ?spill and fills?, and which has generally made
> >academic
> >work increasingly insecure not least with the spread of contracts over
> >continuing positions, seems to have had an unedifying effect on
> >disciplines.  
> >
> >
> >In Australian cs, at least, it seems that hierarchy has
> >become entrenched, certainly in the understanding of postgrads and ECRs.
> >People fear upsetting senior academics and
> >worry that other ECRs will be given preference if they speak out of turn.
> > I don?t know if this is the fear of the
> >powerless or if there is actual practice that feeds this fear.  Either
> >way, it is a troubling phenomenon.
> >
> >
> >Not least because
> >of the history of cs, because of what cs always prided itself as being.
> >For me, anyway, Stuart Hall and the work of
> >the BCCCS, was central to my understanding of what cs is.  For Hall and
> >his colleagues, cs was a
> >situated practice, an ongoing work which critically engaged with daily
> >life.  CS addressed the issues and
> >silences of minorities, espoused values of egalitarianism and democracy
> >in the
> >face of those who attempt to minoritise and exclude.  CS has a tradition
> >of a generation or more
> >now of critiquing class and race, and the subordination of women, and more
> >recently those minoritised for other reasons such as disability.
> >
> >
> >But I?m sure that I am telling you things you all already
> >know.  What I have watched happening to
> >Australian cs over the last ten and more years has been a loss of a
> >political
> >edge.  Now, it seems, this is coming home
> >to roost in unfortunate ways.
> >
> >
> >I have always thought of cs academics as trouble makers?or
> >seen as trouble makers by those who hold power.
> >We trouble their sense of rightful power and their easy assumptions of
> >what in their eyes the world should look like.
> >It worries me that, at least in the perceptions of postgrads and ECRs,
> >the traditional hierarchical structure is being replicated in Australian
> >cs.  It would seem that neoliberal
> >practices have dealt a crucial blow to people?s confidence to speak out
> >and
> >that, perhaps, senior cs academics have not realised this.  Perhaps this
> >is a situation we should strive to rectify?
> >
> >
> >Personally, if their work was of an appropriate standard
> >I would prefer to employ a trouble maker because they are the people that
> >get
> >things done.  They are the people who
> >kick back against the impositions of the powerful.
> >
> >
> >Anyway, just a few thoughts.
> >
> >
> >Thanking you all for your time,
> >
> >
> >Jon.          
> >
> >
> > 
> >From: jon_stratton22 at outlook.com.au
> >To: timothy.laurie at unimelb.edu.au; csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
> >Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2015 16:45:52 +0800
> >Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] Call for Papers: 'Minor Culture' CSAA
> >Conference 2015
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Dear Rimi and Timothy,
> >     Thank you for organising this conference and for the splendid list
> >of speakers. My apologies for not having attended the annual conferences
> >recently. If I had I may already know the answer to my concern. It is
> >that all the speakers, with one exception, come from universities in
> >Sydney and Melbourne--unless there are some changes in affiliation of
> >which I am not aware. To put it differently, there are, I think, no
> >speakers listed from Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, or, with the very
> >honourable exception of Graeme Turner, from Brisbane. Nor are any
> >speakers listed from Aotearoa/New Zealand. This makes the conference
> >appear terribly Sydney/Melbourne-centric. I am sure that the two of you,
> >with degrees from a Perth uni and an Adelaide uni, can aapreciate how
> >this feels to those of us who live and work outside of the traditional
> >core nexus. This seems to me an issue of particular relevance given the
> >exciting topic of the conference. Minor Culture, related to matters of
> >place, ident
> > ity and marginality, are of great importance to those of us in places
> >still identified as peripheral to the old Australian core. Is there a
> >reason that I don't know about why the conference has been configured in
> >such a traditional and exclusive a way?
> >
> >To remind list members of a small portion of a complex and diverse
> >history; Perth figured large in the early development of Cultural Studies
> >in Australia not least because the city's historically marginal status in
> >Australia replicated the early concerns of Cultural Studies with
> >marginality. The Australian Journal of Cultural Studies was founded in
> >Perth. The journal's home subsequently shifted to the United States and
> >it became the journal we know of as Cultural Studies. Continuum: Journal
> >of Media and Cultural Studies, which I believe still has a link with
> >CSAA, was founded in Perth and its senior editor still works in Perth.
> >
> >With best wishes,
> >Jon
> >
> >From: timothy.laurie at unimelb.edu.au
> >To: csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
> >Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 02:06:39 +0000
> >Subject: [csaa-forum] Call for Papers: 'Minor Culture' CSAA Conference
> >2015
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Call
> > for Papers:
> >
> > 
> >
> >MINOR CULTURE
> >
> >Conference of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia, Dec 1-Dec
> >3, 2015 
> >
> >
> > 
> >
> >Minor Culture
> >creates a space for inter-disciplinary dialogues around the study of
> > place, identity and marginality, and addresses research on everyday
> >cultural productions and media texts, cultural policy and discourses of
> >sustainability, digital life and creative industries, and public cultures
> >in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference
> > also invites responses to the following questions:
> >
> > 
> >
> >?               
> >How are minor cultures inhabited? When do minor cultures become
> > uninhabitable? 
> >
> >?               
> >Is the concept of minority still useful in explaining contemporary
> > forms of cultural marginality?
> >
> >?               
> >How do categories such as indigeneity and Aboriginality, gender
> > and sexuality, class, disability, race and citizenship produce
> >minoritising effects? How might these categories change when mobilised
> >through governmental discourses, newsmedia, and everyday usage?
> >
> >?               
> >Who narrates experiences of minoritisation? For whom are these
> > narratives produced? How is minoritarianism articulated through film,
> >music, television, literature, performance, and digital cultures?
> >
> >
> >?               
> >In what ways do practices of government and cultural policy
> > shape relationships between local, national and transnational cultures?
> >To what extent are legal regulations implicated in the formation of
> >minoritarian practices?
> >
> >?               
> >How do new minor or major cultural formations emerge? Through
> > which means do political practices resist or intervene in these
> >formations?
> >
> >?               
> >Do minor cultures require novel theoretical tools or research
> > methodologies? What do experimental approaches to cultural research look
> >like? What alternative kinds of knowledge could such approaches make
> >available?
> >
> >
> >?               
> >Is minority a humanist concept? What place could majority and
> > minority have within post-anthropocentric thinking?
> >
> >?               
> >And when do minor cultures cease to be minor?
> >
> > 
> >
> > 
> >
> >Time & Location
> >
> >University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
> >
> >Nov. 30: Prefix Postgraduate Day (incl. workshops on theory and
> >methodology from senior cultural studies researchers)
> >
> >Dec 1-3
> >Minor Culture conference
> >
> > 
> >
> >Keynote Speakers
> >
> > 
> >Distinguished Professor Ien Ang (Professor of Cultural Studies,
> > Institute for Culture and Society)
> > 
> >Professor Jose Neil C. Garcia (Professor
> > of English, Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at the
> >University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City)
> >
> > 
> >
> >Professor Meaghan Morris (Professor
> > of Gender & Cultural Studies, University of Sydney)
> >
> > 
> >
> >Invited speakers also include
> >Dennis Altman, Tony Bennett, Catherine Driscoll, Ghassan Hage, Koichi
> >Iwabuchi, Peter Jackson, Stephen Muecke, Greg Noble, Elspeth Probyn,
> >Katrina Schlunke,
> > and Graeme Turner.
> >
> > 
> >
> > 
> >
> >Abstracts
> >
> >Please send an abstract (250 words max), a title for the presentation (15
> >min max), and a short bio (30 words max) including your name, email
> >address, degree level
> > and institutional affiliation to: csaa2015 at lists.unimelb.edu.au
> >(both in the body of the email and as an attachment) by June 1, 2015.
> >
> >
> >Presenters will be notified of their acceptance no later than July 1.
> >
> > 
> >
> >Conference Co-convenors
> >
> >Dr. Rimi Khan & Dr. Timothy Laurie (Screen & Cultural Studies, University
> >of Melbourne)
> >
> > 
> >
> >Conference Organising Committee at the University of Melbourne
> >
> >Assoc. Prof. Chris Healy (Screen & Cultural Studies)
> >
> >Assoc. Prof. Fran Martin (Screen & Cultural Studies)
> >
> >Assoc. Prof. Scott McQuire (Media and Communications)
> >
> >Professor Angela Ndalianis (Screen & Cultural Studies)
> >
> >Professor Nikos Papastergiadis (Director of the Research Unit in Public
> >Cultures)
> >
> >Assoc. Prof. Audrey Yue (Screen & Cultural Studies)
> >
> > 
> >
> > 
> >
> >Feel free to email any questions about the conference to
> >csaa2015 at lists.unimelb.edu.au
> >
> > 
> >
> >Website URL tbc, but for general information about CSAA, see
> >www.csaa.asn.au
> >
> > 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Dr. Timothy Laurie |
> >Lecturer in Cultural Studies
> >
> >Room 237
> >John Medley Building
> >
> >The School of Culture and Communication
> >
> >THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________
> >
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