Next Week In Focus Diary

Next Week In Focus
Weekly newsletter for University staff | 27 October 2014
Diary
Monday 27 October
Labour Day holiday
Tuesday 28 October
Inaugural lecture
Professor James Wright, School of Chemical
Sciences, the University of Auckland: Research
in inorganic chemistry: From fundamental
studies through to green chemistry. 5.306.30pm, Medium Chemistry Theatre, Building
301, 23 Symonds Street.
Modern inorganic chemistry covers a broad
range of topics and our research interests
reflect this. In some cases, such as our studies
of metallabenzenes and compounds with bonds
between main group elements and transition
metals, we investigate the fundamental
properties of new materials with
unprecedented structures, bonds or reaction
chemistry. In other cases our research is more
practically orientated, for instance in the
development and study of new catalysts for
simple organic transformations and oxidation
reactions. The concepts of green chemistry
provide powerful guiding principles for our
research in these latter areas.
In this lecture I will present an overview of our
research that emphasises the underlying
themes and connections between the different
areas of study, and how the ideas behind the
science developed.
Rewind: throwback movie
10 Things I Hate About You, (1999). Based on
William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the
Shrew. Starring Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and
Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 7.30pm, Maidment
Theatre, Alfred Street.
Cost: $8. Telephone bookings and enquiries:
(09) 308 2383.
Wednesday 29 October
Politics and International Relations
lecture
Associate Professor Priya Kurian, University of
Waikato: Transnational feminist networks and
on-line struggles around gender-based violence.
12noon-1pm, Federation of Graduate Women’s
Suite, Old Government House.
Transnational feminist networks use the
internet to mobilise people as well as create
spaces to debate global and local issues.
Despite their success in networking feminists,
they remain fraught spaces where global
agendas may trump local articulations of
issues. This paper explores the uses of virtual
spaces by TFNs and local activists on the issue
of violence against women, which invoke
notions of gendered citizenship. It studies the
response to the issue of violence against
women by two TFNs – Women Living Under
Muslim Law and 50 Million Missing. It then
examines ideas of citizenship in social media
postings on the gang-rape and murder of a
young woman in India in December 2012 and
shows how diverse networks of women and
men simultaneously negotiate “the cultural
politics of cyberspace” (Escobar, 1999, p. 32)
alongside the place-based politics of gender
and cultural violence.
Priya Kurian is an Associate Professor of
Political Science and Public Policy at the
University of Waikato. She has written
extensively on the World Bank’s policies and
their impacts on Third World social, cultural
and environmental contexts. More recently, she
has written on sustainable development,
ecological modernisation, and the politics of
immigration and genetic engineering in
Aotearoa New Zealand. In the area of
development studies, she has co-edited (with
Kum-Kum Bhavnani and John Foran) Feminist
Futures: Re-imagining women, culture, and
development (Zed Books, London, 2003;
Zubaan Press, Delhi, 2005) which offers a
‘women, culture and development’ perspective
for development studies. Most recently, she
and Dr Debashish Munshi of the Waikato
Management School were awarded a
prestigious Marsden Grant by the Royal Society
of New Zealand for a study on Sustainable
Citizenship: Transforming Public Engagement
on New and Emerging Technologies.
New Zealand Law Foundation 2014
Distinguished Visiting Fellow lecture
Professor Jane C. Ginsburg: Copyright: From
Hypatia to Victor Hugo to Larry & Sergey: “All
the world’s knowledge” and Universal Authors’
Rights. 6-7pm, Old Government House Lecture
Theatre, Corner of Princes Street and Waterloo
Quadrant, Auckland.
The rise of digital publishing has brought into
sharp relief the clash of two ideals: universal
authors’ rights and universal access to
knowledge. Does the universal digital library of
the near future threaten copyright holders,
particularly book publishers? Can solutions to
this ongoing skirmish be found from the Google
book-scanning programme and the legal
responses it has inspired?
Jane C. Ginsburg is recognised internationally
for her expertise in copyright law. She is the
Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and
Artistic Property Law at Columbia University
School of Law, and Faculty Director of its
Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts.
Jane teaches legal methods, copyright law, and
trademarks law.Drinks and canapés from
5.15pm, VC Suite, Old Government House.
Please RSVP to lawevents@auckland.ac.nz or
(09) 923 7149.
Friday 31 October
Inaugural lecture
Professor Jack Richards, Honorary Professor of
Education: What does it take to be a language
teacher? Exploring teacher knowledge skill and
cognition. 4-5pm, J1 lecture theatre, Gate 3,
Faculty of Education, 74 Epsom Ave, Auckland.
Teacher education for language teachers is
predicated around assumptions concerning
what teachers need to know, how they acquire
knowledge and skills, and how they access their
knowledge and skills in their practice. Professor
Jack Richards will present a number of core
dimensions of teacher knowledge and skills and
explore the implications for teacher
professional development in language
teaching.
Professor Jack Richards has worked throughout
the world and is internationally recognized as a
specialist in second and foreign language
teaching. He is the author and co-author of
more than 150 books and articles on language
teaching methodology and teacher training.
Many of these have been translated into a
number of languages including Korean,
Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. Professor
Richard’s popular classroom texts Interchange
and the Four Corners series have sold more
than 50 million copies worldwide.
Born and raised in Gisborne New Zealand,
Professor Richards completed his PhD at Laval
University in Quebec, and has taught in
Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong, where
The University of Auckland |
1
he was awarded a chair professorship in 1989.
In 1996 Professor Richards returned New
Zealand to develop the Master of Arts in
Applied Linguistics at the University of
Auckland.
He has been bestowed numerous academic
and personal accolades for his continued work
in the field of applied linguistics and education
including Honorary Professor at Sydney
University, Adjunct Professor at the Regional
Language Centre in Singapore and visiting
Distinguished Professor at City University,
Hong Kong. In 2011 he was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate of Literature at Victoria
University of Wellington for his services to
Education and, at this event, he will receive an
Honorary Professorship at the University of
Auckland in recognition for his outstanding
contribution to linguistics and education
globally.
Please join us in recognising Professor
Richards’ significant and sustained contribution
to language and linguistics education.
Public lecture followed by refreshments in
A201. RSVP to
jackrichards.eventbrite.co.nz
ACTION: Dance Studies 2014
7-8.45pm, Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred Street.
Action showcases the choreographic works and
performances of undergraduate and
postgraduate Dance Studies students. Through
diverse creative processes investigating a
range of concepts, student choreographers are
taking “action” to ask questions and make
statements about their perspectives on the
world.
Cost: $16/$12.50. For bookings phone
(09) 308 2383.
Queries to dancestudies@auckland.ac.nz
Saturday 1 November
Sainan: Discourses of disaster in
Japanese media over time
8.30am-5pm, Room 325, Owen G Glenn
Building, 12 Grafton Road.This workshop
explores the various ways by which the
medium of expression can form and delineate
the parameters of discourse regarding
disasters in Japan. More than three and
one-half years after the events of March 2011,
this forum brings together scholars from
Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and
New Zealand to share and exchange
perspectives regarding the various discourses
that have arisen in the aftermath of disastrous
events, including, but emphatically not limited
to, the 2011 disasters.
Presenters and their topics:
Associate Professor Bettina Gramlich-Oka,
Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan): Disaster
descriptions and socialevents: Kanagaki Robun
and his reports of the 1850s.
Associate Professor Jinhee Hong, Kyonggi
University (Suwon, Republic of Korea) &
University of Auckland: A personal nuclear
matter: Kenzaburō Ōe, Hiroshima Notes, and
Fukushima.
Dr Akiko Horita, University of Auckland:
Symmetries of human-caused disasters and the
spirit of volunteerism in Japan’s foreign aid.
Dr Lawrence Marceau, University of Auckland:
One flood, two ‘saviours’: Takebe Ayatari’s
changing discourse concerning the Kanpō
Floods of 1742.
Dr Mawo Masumitsu, Hanazono University &
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (Kyoto,
Japan): The great Tenmei conflagration and the
rescue of cultural properties in Kyoto.
Dr Yuko Shibata, University of Otago: Writing
colonialism, the atomic bombing and incest:
Hayashi Kyōko and gendered violence.
Special guest speakers:
Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, The Australia
National University, Canberra; Associate
Professor Roy Starrs, University of Otago.
RSVP to asianstudies@auckland.ac.nz (please
include ‘Workshop: Sainan’ in the subject line).
Artist talk
1pm, Gus Fisher Gallery, 74 Shortland Street.
Megan Jenkinson will discuss her Antarctic
experience, which gave rise to the work
Atmosphere Optics XI.
DMA recital
Olivier Holland. 2-4pm, Studio One, Kenneth
Myers Centre, 74 Shortland Street, Auckland.
Come and witness the big one! Featuring the
‘DOG’ [+/- 1; +2]. The BIG line-up: Callum
Passels – alto | Ron Samsom – drums | Kevin
Field – pianos; Pablo Ruiz – trombones | Kenji
Iwahitsu-Holdaway – guitars; Oli (-vier Holland)
on bass, plus special guest.
Warning: AO - Repertoire contains frequent
use of polyrhythm, chromaticism, ‘outside’ lines
and bass solos that may not be suitable for the
ears of a younger or harmonically sensitive
audience. We recommend the guidance of an
adult or jazz musician, which can be arranged
at the entrance.
Admission is free.
Queries to concerts@auckland.ac.nz
ACTION: Dance Studies 2014
7-8.45pm, Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred Street.
Action showcases the choreographic works and
performances of undergraduate and
postgraduate Dance Studies students. Through
diverse creative processes investigating a
range of concepts, student choreographers are
taking “action” to ask questions and make
statements about their perspectives on the
world.
Cost: $16/$12.50. For bookings phone
(09) 308 2383.
Queries to dancestudies@auckland.ac.nz
The University of Auckland |
2