Centre for 21st Century Humanities Newsletter - June

WEB VERSION

Welcome to our June newsletter

Copley Bequest funds project that tells marriage equality stories of Newcastle and Hunter

Centre for 21st Century Humanities Deputy Director Professor Margurite Johnson is on a team of researchers who have been awarded $10,000 Copley Bequest grant funding for a project that will capture and share Newcaste and Hunter locals’ lived experiences of the marriage equality debate and postal survey.

The major aim of the project is to help to tell a story yet to be told at an international, national and local level. The stories will be interpreted through a public exhibition to be held at Watt Space Gallery. The project will produce a detailed analysis of the postal survey vote; impacts on LGBT+ mental health; lobbying to bring about change, and the panoply of responses from both LGBT+ individuals and social groups.

Humanities in the region symposium

The Centre for 21st Century Humanities and the School of Humanities and Social Science hosted the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres’ (ACHRC) Humanities in the Regions symposium on 30 – 31 May at New Space. The theme of the symposium was ‘Renewal - Regional humanities research in the 21st Century.

The event brought together humanities academics from around the country to discuss strategies and developments in humanities research in the regions.

A number of Centre members were involved in the event including Prof Ros Smith who (as Acting DVC-R and former Centre director) gave a keynote speech, Emeritus Prof Hugh Craig and Dr Elizabeth Roberts-Pedersen spoke about their ARC grants, Dr Hedda Askland, Assoc Prof Bill Palmer, Prof Lyndall Ryan and Prof Victoria Haskins hosted a panel on new methods in the humanities. Dr Julie McIntyre organised the event with Assoc Prof Nancy Cushing. The event also featured a range speakers from cultural institutions including the Newcastle Museum and the NSW State Library, as well as from universities, including Flinders University of South Australia, the University of Queensland, and Southern Cross University.

Journal article reveals truths about Australian prisoners of war

Centre for 21st Century Humanities member and historian Dr Kate Ariotti has published a co-authored journal article with Dr Aaron Pegram of the Australian War Memorial, titled Australian POWs of the First World War: responding to the challenges of captivity and return in the History Australia journal.

Dr Ariotti’s research brings into focus the experiences of Australian prisoners of war during the First World War. This article explores some of the challenges the prisoners of war (POWs) faced both during and after the war, and how they responded to these challenges.

Prof Haskins interviews Casey Donovan

Centre Director and historian, Professor Victoria Haskins has appeared on the SBS television show "Who do you think you are?" She interviewed singer Casey Donovan who was being featured on the show. Professor Haskins spoke to Casey about her 3x grandmother who was an Irish orphan girl brought to Australia in the colonial period to be a domestic servant.

This is Professor Haskins' second time to appear on the show as a historical expert, having previously been featured in an episode with Jacki Weaver.

Watch the episode...

Seminar: the intimacy of digital mapping

The Centre for 21st Century Humanities invites you to attend our free seminar series for 2019. In this forth seminar, Professor Lyndall Ryan will speak about The Inimacy of Digital Mapping: The Frontier Massacre Mapping Project and the Connection to Regional Australia. The seminar is on Wednesday 5th June 2 - 4pm at the Treehouse, Callaghan.

Professor Ryan will speak about how digital maps can not only help to make the past visible, they can reconnect in intimate ways regional and urban Australians in their understanding of the past.

Wine history talk with Dr Julie McIntyre

Join Centre for 21st Century Humanities Wine Historian, Dr Julie McIntyre, as she delves into the history of wine in the Hunter Valley at a talk on Wednesday 19th June at 6pm-8.30pm. Hosted by Maitland Gaol in conjunction with Maitland Library, the talk will be combined with a wine tasting and seasonal supper.

Co-author of Hunter Wine: a history, Dr Julie McIntyre will talk about the Hunter wine industry from 1828 through six generations uncovering the historical and technological developments that have culminated in today’s thriving local community. Visit the Maitland Gaol website to book your seat at the talk.

Dr Arrighi's new book chapter

Theatre studies scholar, Dr Gillian Arrighi has published a chapter in the book Performing the Progessive Era, published by University of Iowa Press. Her chaper “Celebrating Childhood on the Vaudeville Stage” covers the American Progressive Era, which spanned from the 1880s to the 1920s, is generally regarded as a dynamic period of political reform and social activism.