AHRC report now published

Australian Human Rights Commission 2008-09 Annual Report tabled

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2008-09 Annual Report has been tabled in federal Parliament and is now available on the website at: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/about/publications/annual_reports/2008_2009/

The report outlines the diverse range of activities undertaken by the Commission in pursuit of its statutory responsibilities and its vision of an Australian society where human rights are enjoyed by everyone, everywhere, everyday.

One of the Commission’s roles is the investigation and conciliation of complaints of alleged discrimination in the areas of sex, race, age and disability, as well as breaches of human rights. In summary, during 2008-09 the Commission received:

• 20 188 enquiries, an 8 per cent increase in comparison with the number of enquiries received in the last reporting period. There has been a 103 per cent increase in number of enquiries received over the past five years.
• 2 253 complaints – an 8 per cent increase in complaints received in 2007-08. There has been an 81 per cent increase in complaints received over the past five years.
• 48 per cent of finalised complaints were resolved through conciliation. Case studies that illustrate the types of matters resolved through conciliation are detailed in the Annual Report and cover issues that are often raised in complaints, such as alleged pregnancy discrimination, discrimination against students with disabilities, race discrimination in accommodation, racial hatred in the workplace and discrimination against older workers.

MENZIES CENTRE FOR AUSTRALIAN STUDIES, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON

Menzies Lecture :

Narrating the Nation in Australia

by Professor Graeme Davison, Monash University

18.00 Tuesday 20 October 2009

The Old Anatomy Theatre, Strand Building, King’s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS

RSVP to Kirsten McIntyre Menzies Centre, The Australia Centre Strand, WC2B 4LG

Tel 020-7240 0220 Email: menzies.centre@kcl.ac.uk

The Menzies Lecture is one of two major public lectures organised each year by the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies. It is designed to provide an opportunity for a distinguished person, of any nationality, to reflect on a subject of contemporary interest affecting Britain and Australia.

Graeme Davison is a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor at Monash University. He is a graduate of the universities of Melbourne and Oxford and of the Australian National University, and has held visiting positions at Harvard, Edinburgh, the Australian National University, and King’s College London. He has written extensively on Australian history, especially on urban history, technology, national identity and public history. His book The Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne (1978 and new edition 2004) won the Ernest Scott Prize and his most recent, Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities (2004) won the Nettie Palmer Prize in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. His long involvement in heritage, museums and other aspects of public history is reflected in The Use and Abuse of Australian History (2000, and his co-editorship of the Oxford Companion to Australian History (1998 and later editions). He is currently working on a book on Australian nationalism and beginning a history of Monash University.


Phone: +44 (0) 207 557 7162

Fax: +44 (0) 207 240 8292

frank.bongiorno@kcl.ac.uk / www.kcl.ac.uk

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/menzies/who/bongiorno.html

16 October 1943 - Anniversary : Herman Kappler accomplishment: Roman Jews Deported

More than 1000 Roman Jews were taken from their houses on October 16th 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Rome: they were deported in Auschwitz concentration camp. Only 16 of them, and only one woman, came back to their homes.

In Robert Katz' site ( http://www.theboot.it/sedici_ottobre.html)
introducing

Black Sabbath

his book recalling the holocaust

Torn from their homes on a Sabbath day of October, then sent on a journey to oblivion, a thousand victims form a single history that by the power of remembrance lives on in the hearts of millions. Less remembered, however, is their second Sabbath, one week later, the day of their oblivion.
One reason may be that only 15 men and one woman lived to tell of their ordeal. "I made a promise to God," the woman admitted late in her life. "I didn't know whether to curse God or pray to Him, but I said, 'Lord, save me; save me so that I can return and recount.” Her name was Settimia Spizzichino, and from 1945 – when she was found by the Allies in a pile of death-camp corpses – until she died more than a half-century later, she never stopped recounting.
Her recollections along with other survivors were a major source for the reconstruction rendered in Robert Katz's Black Sabbath: a Journey Through a Crime Against Humanity.

A new journal- Proposal

Proposal for New Scholar:

Emerging Research in Humanities and Social Sciences

Expressions of interest are invited for a new, online, peer-reviewed journal to be launched in late 2010. New Scholar will showcase an exciting range of emerging interdisciplinary scholarship from the humanities and social sciences, with a particular focus on new Australian researchers and new work. The journal will be semi-annual. Submissions from early career researchers will be encouraged, but not to the point of exclusivity.
New Scholar is an initiative of early career and established researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. Although the journal will be based in Australia, we intend to include a substantial amount of international scholarship.
The functions of this proposal are a) to formally introduce New Scholar and b) to garner expressions of interest from colleagues and associates regarding their potential level of contribution. There are three specific levels to choose from: Editorial Board (6-10 people): Highest level commitment, involving strategic meetings, planning, discussion and production. Advisory Committee (20-30 people): A pool of reviewers, networkers and promoters for the journal on a less constant basis. Interested Parties (unlimited): Those who wish to remain in contact with New Scholar and informed by email announcements of upcoming issues and events.
Movement between levels is of course inevitable given teaching, research and family commitments.
Please contact Dr Bridie McCarthy (bridie@deakin.edu.au) at your convenience to provide us with your response and any feedback or queries you may have, which would be most welcome. Our thanks for your attention and your time.

Australian Cultural Diversity e-Forum

16 October 2009

Come together online, discuss our multicultural society

From today, Australians will have the opportunity to contribute to the growing conversation about our multicultural society by logging onto the Human Rights and Cultural Diversity e-Forum, which will be launched at Customs House at Circular Quay in Sydney at 4pm.

Through an online community and a variety of portals, the Human Rights and Cultural Diversity e-Forum will enable registered users to choose how they wish to engage with cultural diversity issues – from blogs and closed or open forums, to formal consultation processes.

“For a great many people in this country, cultural diversity, and the human rights issues associated with it, are a part of their day to day experience, yet discussion of these issues is often absent from political debate in Australia,” said Race Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes. “The Human Rights and Cultural Diversity e-Forum aims to fill this gap by enabling all people to participate in sustained and informed debate about cultural and religious diversity, racism, the promotion of human rights, human development, freedom, harmony and social inclusion.”

Located on the Institute for Cultural Diversity’s newly established website at www.culturaldiversity.net.au, the Human Rights and Cultural Diversity e-Forum establishes an electronic forum and clearing house for communication across the community, government, service provision, non-government/advocacy, academic and other relevant sectors.

“As the e-Forum grows, we anticipate that community members, professionals, researchers, artists, students and people from all walks of life, will add ideas, events, resources, comments and web links,” said Commissioner Innes. “The e-Forum will thus enable the construction of a national network of research and researchers who commission, publish and review articles that will support cultural diversity in our country.”

The Human Rights and Cultural Diversity e-Forum, an initiative of the Australian Human Rights Commission in partnership with the Institute for Cultural Diversity, is financially supported by the Australian Government.

When: 16 October 2009 from 4pm – 6pm
Where: Barnet Long Room, Customs House, 31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay
Speakers:
The Hon Bruce Baird, Chair, Institute for Cultural Diversity
The Hon Laurie Ferguson MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services
Mr Graeme Innes AM, Race Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
Ms Lisa Harvey, Community representative on the Government Web 2.0 Taskforce and
Ms Samah Hadid, Young Muslim Australian.

Spheres 2009

At the Galleria Continua / Le Moulin
Opening during the FIAC, on Saturday, the 24th of October 2009. Preview from midday to 2.30 pm, brunch on the river bank

> Next edition of Sphères 2009:
For the second edition, the Spheres project re-involves the participation of several contemporary art galleries of international dimensions prompted by one desire: to join their diverse forces and energies to develop a shared exhibition - a new kind of exhibition experience - with no submission to any restricting theme. The Galleries will present artists from the five continents, whose works will be installed in and will relate to various parts of the exceptional complex. In doing so, they will engage with the rich history of the site.

- Air de Paris (Paris) - Galleria Continua (San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin) - Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg / Cape Town) - Galerie Krinzinger (Vienne) - Kamel Mennour (Paris) - Almine Rech Gallery (Bruxelles / Paris) - Esther Schipper (Berlin)

Joel Andrianomearisoa - Kader Attia - Willem Boshoff - Chris Burden - Angela de la Cruz - Carlos Garaicoa - Claire Gavronsky - Kendell Geers - Liam Gillick - Frances Goodman - Mark Handforth - Camille Henrot - Carsten Höller - Ann Veronica Janssens - Christoph Keller - Joseph Kosuth - Ange Leccia - Claude Lévêque - Pierre Malphettes - Thomas Mulcaire - Hans Op de Beeck - Nathaniel Rackowe - Anselm Reyle - Ugo Rondinone - Bruno Serralongue - Rose Shakinovsky - Sudarshan Shetty - Nedko Solakov - Katja Strunz - Mikhael Subotzky - Sun Yuan & Peng Yu - Gavin Turk - Minnette Vari
Free transport by bus from Paris: departure at 11 am from Petit Palais (75008), alongside the Seine, Cours de la Reine (Metro: Champs-Elysées Clemenceau, lines 1, 13) and back to Paris around 4 pm. Seats are limited, please book at: lemoulin@galleriacontinua.com

Exhibition from October 24th 2009 to May 30th 2010.

--------------------------------------
Galleria Continua / Le Moulin
46 rue de la Ferté Gaucher 77169 Boissy-le-Châtel (France)
T +33 (0)1 64 20 39 50
Open from Friday to Sunday, from midday to 6 pm
www.galleriacontinua.com

The open mind and its enemies: Anthropology and the passion of the political

The Australian Anthropological Society
Inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Anthropology
A public lecture to be delivered by Ghassan Hage
Future Generation Professor in Anthropology and Social Theory at the University of Melbourne.

Ghassan Hage is an internationally acclaimed thinker, both as an academic and an arresting public intellectual. He is the author of many works on nationalism, racism, multiculturalism and migration from a comparative perspective. The
most well-known is White Nation (2000)examining White experiences of Australian
Multiculturalism, and his latest is Waiting(2009). Prof. Hage taught Anthropology at
the University of Sydney for fifteen years until 2007. He has held many prestigious
visiting professorships including at Harvard University, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales in Paris, the University of Copenhagen and the American University
of Beirut. His provocative, insightful and sometimes moving press and radio
discussions have been a valuable part of public life in Australia during the last decade.
Tuesday 8th December 2009 State Library of NSW Macquarie Street, Sydney Metcalfe Auditorium - Free Admission
Program:
6pm Refreshments will be served
6.30 – 7.15 Lecture
7.15 – 7.45 Questions from audience
8pm Finish
Please Visit www.aas.asn.au

Conference Report on the AILAE Research Forum

Conference Report on the AILAE Research Forum
Submitted by gespak on Fri, 25/09/2009 - 09:59. Report on the ‘Second Imagined Australia International Research Forum’, Bari, Italy, 2009

By Oliver Haag

(http://www.australianstudies.hu/node/150 )
Excerpt of the article:

Some Australian Studies and Literatures conferences held within Australia suffer from a glaring dilemma: they fail—for several different reasons—to attract a significant number of Indigenous intellectuals. This is true despite the fact that most conference organisers do seek to actively include Indigenous themes. The ‘Association for the Study of Australian Literature’, for example, holds excellent annual conferences, but in the last two years’ conference programmes one can find the names of only a few Indigenous presenters, and not a single as keynote speaker among them. ‘This is because there are not many Indigenous academics, and those few have made their degrees outside the humanities’, as one (white) delegate said to me in Canberra this July. Is this really a sufficient explanation? Not if one leaves the Australian shores: in June 2009, the second ‘Imagined Australia Research Forum’ was held in Bari, Southern Italy. The forum was organised by AILAE (Académie Itinérante des Échanges Arts et Langues Européennes) (...)
The theme of the research forum (..) revolved around ‘borders, theory, art and power in the reciprocal construction of identity between Australia and Europe’.
Although the conference theme had no explicit emphasis on ‘race’ and ‘Indigeneity’, the bulk of papers reflected cross-cultural subjects such as the constructions of whiteness, aspects of the relations between Jewish and Indigenous Australians, and a revisiting of Russel Ward’s The Australian Legend in a post-colonial and post-imperial context. Not all, but certainly more than half, of the thirty or so talks involved Indigenous themes; also, there were comparatively many Indigenous presenters, including a keynote.
The keynote lecture, delivered by Aileen Moreton-Robinson, analysed the notions of white possession of Indigenous lands, using the example of white (and, in the end, male and heterosexual) Australian beach culture. Jonathan Kimberley and puralia meenamatta (Jim Everett) shared their perspectives on artistic collaboration between Aboriginal Country and Western landscape.

At the risk of over-generalising:
Why, then, does a research forum—that takes place on the other side of the world—attract comparatively more Indigenous intellectuals, and non-Indigenous presenters working on Indigenous topics than conferences at home, at more prestigious universities, and, above all, at far lesser travel expenses?I cannot fully answer this question. Much depends on the organisational skills, connections, and merits of individual persons working tirelessly on the inter-cultural connections between both regions—(..)
Much may also be attributed to coincidence; much, however, is also because of the ethical debates on speaking positions, which are far more evident in Australia than in Europe: Who speaks about (or even for) whom, from what perspective, with what intention?
These questions have been frequently addressed in the context of the representation of Indigenous heritage and cultural property within Australia. In the European academy, these issues, though far from completely new, are nevertheless less dominant. This makes it thus much easier for white Europeans than for white Australians to work on Indigenous issues. This alone is already problematic. What is more, in some of the presentations delivered by Europeans, one could detect a tendency to ‘fetishise’ Indigenous cultures to the extent that they had been considered as the ‘true-blue’ epitome of Australia.

In the end, what does it mean to praise this research forum as having attracted so many Indigenous themes and presenters? Does it make me a ‘fetishist’? Does it mean falling into the ‘authenticity’-trap? All I can say is that, as seen from the view of (intrinsically white) power-relations within the academy, Indigenous perspectives and presenters are sorely needed. Not because of being Indigenous per se, but because the plurality of perspectives and worldviews enhances our understanding of the complexity of human interactions. It is from this angle that I wish to bestow my accolade on the conference organisers to have attracted so many Indigenous themes and a respectful number of Indigenous intellectuals to come over to Europe.

The First Annual Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand

Call for Papers
The First Annual Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (PopCAANZ) will be held June 30, July 1, 2 in Sydney.

This interdisciplinary and transnational conference is accepting proposals on ALL aspects of popular culture including but not limited to:
• Graphic Novels, Comics and Visual Cultures (Dr Paul Mountfort paul.mountfort@aut.ac.nz)
• Popular Design (Dr Derham Groves, derham@unimelb.edu.au)
• Popular Romance Studies (Dr Glen Thomas, gjthomas@qut.edu.au)
• Popular Fiction (Dr Toni Johnson-Woods, t.johnsonwoods@uq.edu.au)
• Film and TV (Dr Rebecca Beirne, Rebecca.Beirne@newcastle.edu.au )
• Fashion (Dr Vicky Karminas, Vicki.Karaminas@uts.edu.au)
• Popular Science (Dr William Lott, b.lott@qut.edu.au)
• Linguistics (Alan Libert, Alan.Libert@newcastle.edu.au)
• Queer Studies (Dr Samar Habib, S.Habib@uws.edu.au)
• Journalism and Popular Culture (Dr John Cokely, j.cokley@uq.edu.au)
• Popular History (Dr Hsu-Ming Teo, Macquarie University)
• Food Studies (Toni Risson, t.risson@uq.edu.au)
• Philosophy and Popular Culture
• International Popular Cultures
• IT, Gaming, New Media, Internet and Popular Culture
• Popular Performance/Entertainment;
• Popular Music
• Indigenous Cultures
• Green Issues and Popular Culture
• Writing (Creative/Non Fiction)
• Libraries, Archives, Museums and Popular Research
• Sports and Popular Culture
Proposals for panels are encouraged.

Planned events include a poster session (especially aimed at postgrads and undergrads but open to all) and a Wine and Sign cocktail hour. Please mark abstracts Poster Session and send to t.johnsonwoods@uq.edu.au. The Wine and Sign cocktail hour will include editors from academic and non-academic publishers.

The deadline for submissions is 30th November, 2009. Abstracts (max 200 word) should be sent as e-mail attachments to the area chairs, if no area chair is designated please forward to Dr Toni Johnson-Woods, t.johnsonwoods@uq.edu.au. Include your name, affiliation, mailing and e-mail address, and the title of your presentation. E-mails should be entitled: PopCanz Conference. If you do not receive an acknowledgment within one week, please resend your submission. Accepted presenters will be notified via e-mail by January 2010.

A selection of papers from the conference will be solicited for publication in the association’s (new) journal. Additional information will be available on the PopCanz blogsite: http://popcanz.blogspot.com/. A website is forthcoming.

WOMEN'S TRAVEL AWARDS - BERLIN SCHOOL OF MIND AND BRAIN

WOMEN'S TRAVEL AWARDS - BERLIN SCHOOL OF MIND AND BRAIN

Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin
Berlin School of Mind and BrainWeb: www.mind-and-brain.de
Email: admissions@mind-and-brain.de

The Berlin School of Mind and Brain is an international research school,
which was founded in 2006 as part of Germany's Excellence Initiative. The
School offers a unique three-year interdisciplinary doctoral program in
English in the mind and brain sciences.As part of the Berlin School of Mind and Brain's commitment to supporting
women in science and the humanities, the School is delighted to announce a
limited number of travel awards for female students who are interested in
exploring the possibility of doctoral studies at the School.

Successful applicants will receive reimbursement for accommodation, travel
costs, plus a per diem to cover living expenses during their visit.
Candidates will be invited to visit the School during the week of the 7-12
December 2009, and will have ample opportunities to meet with faculty and
students relevant to their research interests, as well as have a chance to
view the School's facilities, and to get a better sense of city itself. In
addition, they will be encouraged to participate in Berlin Brain Days (9-11
December 2009), an annual event that brings together more than 200 doctoral
students from across the neurosciences to discuss and present their work
with senior international faculty.

In order to be eligible for this award you need to meet the basic
eligibility criteria for applying to the School's doctoral program in 2010
or 2011 (in particular you need to have completed or be in the process of
completing a Master's or equivalent degree in an area of study relevant to
the School). Further details about eligibility criteria for study at the
School can be found at: http://www.mind-and-brain.de/63.0.html. Applications
(and questions) should be made to admissions@hu-berlin.de; please include a
short 1-2 page letter of application (detailing your reasons for applying
for the travel award, your background and research interests), your academic
CV, as well as a letter of recommendation.

The deadline for applications is 1 November 2009.

Further details about the School and its program can be found below. We look
forward to hearing from you soon!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Research within the School focuses on the interface between the humanities
and the neurosciences. Of particular interest are research areas that fall
on the borders between the mind sciences (e.g., philosophy, linguistics,
behavioral and cognitive science, economics), and the brain sciences (e.g.,
neurophysiology, computational neuroscience, neurology, and neurobiology).
Major topics of research within the program include: 'conscious and
unconscious perception', 'decision-making', 'language', 'brain plasticity
and lifespan ontogeny', 'mental disorders and brain dysfunction', and the
'philosophy of mind'. However, research is not limited to these areas, and
students are strongly encouraged to develop and work at their own initiative
on any projects that are relevant to interdisciplinary questions relating to
mind and brain.

The School accepts eight-to-twelve doctoral candidates into its program each
year. Here are some excellent reasons why students might wish to be
considered for one of these highly sought after positions at the Berlin
School of Mind and Brain:

* The School has a faculty comprised of 60 distinguished researchers,
including four Max Planck directors, which cover the gamut of research
within the mind and brain sciences.

* Research within the School is strongly embedded in the basic and clinical
research conducted within the region allowing for strong synergistic
research initiatives and opportunities. Hosted by the Humboldt University,
the School's research program includes scientists from the Free University,
the Technical University, the Bernstein Center for Computational
Neuroscience, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Berlin), the
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig), and
the nearby universities of Potsdam and Magdeburg.

* Students acquire a strong foundation for interdisciplinary work by
attending eight one-week classes during the first half of their doctoral
program, which cover all fields relevant for mind/brain-related research,
and allow students to explore research methods and topics that they have not
been previously exposed to. Each doctoral candidate is assigned two
professorial advisors - one from the brain sciences, one from the mind
sciences - in order to maximize the interdisciplinary impact of their work.

* Students meet with leading international researchers via the School's
Distinguished Lecture Series, interactions with its senior visiting faculty,
as well as by attending international workshops and meetings. As part of the
School's commitment to maximizing students' research opportunities, the
School also encourages and provides assistance for students to spend time
studying and conducting research abroad during the course of their doctoral
candidacy.

* Extensive practical services to international doctoral candidates are
available, including assistance with visa applications, matriculation,
health insurance, local authorities, scientific soft skill courses, and
language classes.

Finally, there are good financial reasons for studying at the Berlin School
of Mind and Brain:

* There are no tuition fees associated with the program.

* Administrative fees are very low. Administrative fees for attending the
Humboldt University come to only approximately 250 Euros per semester.

* The School offers generous scholarships to the best applicants. Students
who were not successful in winning one of the school's own scholarships will
receive support in obtaining alternative sources of funding (e.g. a research
post within a university department or with one of the School's research
groups, or help in finding alternative funding sources for a scholarship).

Recent progress in the neurosciences has opened up new and exciting avenues
for research that raise challenging conceptual and ethical questions calling
for an interdisciplinary approach. The Berlin School of Mind and Brain
offers a unique research and training environment for doctoral candidates to
work at this exciting interface between the sciences and the humanities.

--
Patrick Wilken, PhD

Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin
Berlin School of Mind and Brain
Luisenstra?e 56
D-10099 Berlin

www.mind-and-brain.de

Cultural Studies Review

Cultural Studies Review
Edited by John Frow and Katrina Schlunke

Cultural Studies Review 15.2 (September 2009)
Critical Indigenous Theory, co-edited with Aileen Moreton-Robinson,
is now available for $29.95.

This is the final print edition of Cultural Studies Review. From March 2010, the journal will be available as an open access e-journal, published by the UTSePress. The editors would like to thank contributors and subscribers for their support of CSR and look forward to their continued support in this new phase of the journal’s existence.
Please visit the Cultural Studies Review website
or email the managing editor at
for more details or to place an order.


Current issue

Cultural Studies Review vol. 15 no. 2 September 2009
Critical Indigenous Theory
—co-edited with Aileen Moreton Robinson
Critical Indigenous Theory

Jodi A. Byrd, ‘“In the City of Blinding Lights”: Indigeneity, Cultural Studies and the Errants of Colonial Nostalgia’

Bronwyn Fredericks, ‘“There is Nothing that Identifies Me to that Place”: Indigenous Women’s Perceptions of Health Spaces and Places’

Irene Watson, ‘In the Northern Territory Intervention What is Saved or Rescued and at What Cost?’

Aileen Moreton-Robinson, ‘Imagining the Good Indigenous Citizen: Race War and the
Pathology of Patriarchal White Sovereignty’

Chris Andersen, ‘Critical Indigenous Studies: From Difference to Density’

Brendan Hokowhitu, ‘Indigenous Existentialism and the Body’

Robert Warrior, ‘Native American Scholarship and the Transnational Turn’
Essays

Nikos Papastergiadis, ‘Wog Zombie: The De- and Re-Humanisation of Migrants, from Mad Dogs to Cyborgs’

Maria Angel, ‘Seeing Things: Image and Affect’

Reviews

Joan Kirkby on Jacques Derrida, Learning to Live Finally: The Last Interview and Linnell Secomb,

Philosophy and Love: From Plato to Popular Culture

Jason Tuckwell on Anna Hickey-Moody and Peta Malins (eds), Deleuzian Encounters: Studies in Contemporary Social Issues

Julie Marcus on Jon Altman and Melinda Hinkson (eds), Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise,Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia

Vicki Grieves on Martin Nakata, Disciplining the Savages, Savaging the Disciplines

Anna Hickey-Moody on Ato Quayson, Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of
Representation

Holly Randell-Moon on William E. Connolly, Capitalism and Christianity, American Style

Forthcoming
Cultural Studies Review 16.1, March 2010
Rural Cultural Studies: Research, Practice, Ethics
co-edited with Emily Potter, Clifton Evers and Andrew Gorman-Murray,.
Submissions

Cultural Studies Review (formerly The UTS Review) is a refereed journal
published twice a year in March and September. The editors welcome
submissions of essays and innovative writing within the general realm of
cultural studies of between 6000 and 9000 words in length (including all
references). Submissions should be emailed to csreview@unimelb.edu.au

Berlusconism , Ivory Towers and political engagement as an aristocratic pursuit.

The article I paste at the end of this post is from India News of all press and dates back to 2008 when the current Italian Prime Minister gained back its lost grounds. However how interesting all this still sounds.

It refers to Alexander Stille "Citizen Berlusconi" book,( Stille is a former Italy correspondent and currently a professor of international journalism at
New York's Columbia University, he published his book in 2006 when Berlusconi was already one of the world's most talked-about politicians).

By the way whilst the book was widely available and encountered interest, the documentary with the same title, "Citizen Berlusconi", has been banned in Italy.
( please find here the link to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhOJc1JBpKI)

This is only one of the many stories that characterise the current situation in Italy: serious and poses dramatic challenges to every Italian but particularly to public intellectuals and artists. Lately some Italians at least, are finally responding in a visible and audible way.

In France it was possible to write a book like "The Meaning of Sarkozy", the first English translation of Badiou's angry meditations after Sarkozy's election, and it was possible for Badiou to be interviewed widely on national television, it was possible to be written about. The "Rat Man", as he calls Sarkozy in the book, did not necessarily lashed out at Badiou, nor did his party.

It has not been so in Italy.
Recently one of the most outspoken and intelligent Italian journalists, Santoro has risked to have his successful current affairs analysis program, Anno Zero, not just questioned but shut down by the Italian RAI and more menacingly one of his main collaborators , Ruotolo, has received credible death threats on the 6/10/2009( three groups have already formed on Facebook to support him with a total of over 15.000 people in only 4 days).

I guess the time has come for Italian and not only Italian, intellectuals to begin systematically addressing the void that indeed calls for theorizing and therefore for a presence that is just not occurring now.

Lucy Wandham -again of all references- writes in another conservative journal, New Statesman,that Badiou's book reveals his " rather aristocratic tastes, combined with his passion for equality",and that this leads Badiou " to an inevitably quixotic conclusion: forget elections, forget direct action, just hold on to the Platonic idea of revolution, "the communist hypothesis".

I have been accused to have locked myself in a contraddiction by founding the type of non profit organization I have founded and to be pursuing a rather aristicratic exercise with it.

The reality is that if engaging in society has become an aristocratic exercise, than the sinister alternative is to stay still and aloof,( ironically the old fashioned stereotype for aristocracy)and possibly alone, but-attention- well kneeding within the doughy mass, hypnotised by media and mass culture and as immobile as possible.
This surely is the fluidity citizens Sarkozy and differently Berlusconi want to see running. Well what about launching a rare stance?

ARTICLE

'Berlusconism' fast becoming a universal phenomenon
Rome, April 3 (DPA) Most analysts expect Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to meet defeat in Italy's
April 9-10 general election. Even so, 'Berlusconism' is alive and well and no country should feel
entirely immune from it, an American journalist and author warns in his latest book, tracing the life of
the media mogul-turned-premier.
Alexander Stille, a former Italy correspondent and currently a professor of international journalism at
New York's Columbia University, has published a new book on one of the world's most talked-about
politicians titled 'Citizen Berlusconi'.
The book retraces the life and achievements of Berlusconi, from the uncertain origins of his $12
billion fortune to his controversial performance as prime minister over the past five years.
While foreigners often tend to brush off the Berlusconi phenomenon as 'folkloristic' - by focusing on
his recent promise to give up sex or his tendency to compare himself to the likes of Jesus Christ or
Napoleon - Stille argues that it would be wrong to dismiss Italy's premier as an isolated clown on the
world's political scene.
'At first glance, Berlusconi may appear a bizarre, incomprehensible and strictly Italian phenomenon,'
Stille writes in his book, 'but if looked at more closely, he appears as an avant-garde figure, who
embodies many of the main trends present in modern-day politics.'
These include money, control of the media, celebrity status and an uncanny ability to be liked. In
fact, Stille believes there are signs of Berlusconism creeping in several other countries around the
world, including Venezuela, Russia and the US.
'Take (US Vice President) Dick Cheney, in spite of the fact that he represents the exact same
policies of George W. Bush, he could never have been elected president. Why? Because Cheney is
unpleasant while Bush is seen as a nice guy,' remarks Stille.
Research into recent US elections has shown that the nice candidate, the one who comes across
better on television, wins virtually every time.'
In fact, the roots of Berlusconism can be traced back to the US of the 1980s, when former
Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan stormed to power thanks to his charm and fame.
The other essential ingredient of Berlusconism, control over the media, can be found in the
modern-day Russia of Vladimr Putin.
'What is the first thing that Putin does after winning the elections? He uses the power of the state to
intimidate the oligarchs, he kicks out independent journalists, takes over the television stations and
then holds an election with almost no critical voices heard,' says Stille.
Another follower of Berlusconism is Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who Stille says has 'changed
Venezuelan laws and the constitution to gain more power, intimidates the opposition media and has
his own television programme, Alo' Presidente! (Hello, President!), in which he is a combination of
TV host and prime minister.'
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Berlusconi's 'post-modern' style of politics relies on another key factor: an ability to communicate
easily and directly to all, regardless of their culture or education.
'Berlusconi communicates in a human, appealing way. While others use a vague, abstract language
that is difficult to follow, Berlusconi utters short, easy to understand concepts like 'meno
tasse per tutti' ('less taxes for all'),' Stille notes.
So what are the signs that a country may be at risk of Berlusconism?
'The most obvious one is lack of pluralism in media ownership. The other is the absence of checks
and balances and conflict of interest rules that prevent, say, a media owner from running for office.'
( © IANS / India eNews)