Issue 581 (March 2009) - Office of Marketing and Communications

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INPRINTBook offers aGOODLAUGHHumour is what sets the stereotypicalAussie larrikin apart from his foreigncounterparts, with a newly releasedbook from University of QueenslandPress bringing a bit of laughter to thetable on the topic.Serious Frolic: Essays on Australian humour isa collection of pieces on what makes Australianslaugh, penned by leading scholars of Australianliterature and culture and edited by Fran de Groenand Peter Kirkpatrick.The book looks at the Australian comic spirit,and examines whether there is a distinctive styleof Australian humour, what social and culturalfactors play a part and who decides whensomething is funny.“It’s probably only in Australia that ‘you oldTHE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND PRESSbastard’ could be a term of deep affection,” DrKirkpatrick said.Australian humour has become a brand in itsown right and Ken Stewart, Lillian Holt, ElizabethWebby and Michael Wilding are some of thecontributors who bring it to life in the book.Dr de Groen, an Adjunct Professor inthe School of Humanities at the Universityof Western Sydney, said the contributorswere encouraged to write in an amusing andinteresting way.“There are however many examples ofdifferent kinds of humour in the essays. Whetherthey make readers laugh depends very much onthe taste of the reader,” she said.“What we’ve tried to do is start aconversation. Even though we pride ourselves onour sense of humour in Australia there is not a lotof discussion about it.”Dr Kirkpatrick, who teaches Australianliterature at the University of Sydney, said thebook had helped him better understand the rangeof Australian humour.“In one sense, when you look at the kinds ofjokes and tall stories that circulate in Australianculture, there’s actually not much that’s entirelyunique or indigenous about them,” he said.“Most jokes, for example, circulate globally,with simply the names and local contextschanged. But in another sense, humour inAustralia can be said to differ from that of othercultures simply because it’s so insisted upon.”UQP is giving away threecopies of Serious Frolic to UQNews readers. Simply email yourdetails to communications@uq.edu.auwith “UQP giveaway” in the subject line.Winners will be announced before April 21.GIVEAWAYTHE CO-OP BOOKSHOPCURRENT BESTSELLERSCreative minds combine1 BREAKING DAWN – StephanieMeyer, Little Brown (PB) $29.99YOUNG ADULT2 THE WHITE TIGER – AravindAdiga, Penguin (PB) $32.95FICTION3 THE SLAP – Christos Tsiolkas,Allen & Unwin (PB) $32.95 FICTION4 REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – RichardYates, Random House (PB) $24.95FICTION5 THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITHFIRE – Stieg Larsson, MurdochBooks (PB) $32.95 CRIME6 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGONTATTOO – Stieg Larsson, MurdochBooks (PB) $22.95 CRIME7 THE ELEGANCE OF THEHEDGEHOG – Muriel Barbery,Gallic Books (PB) $19.95 FICTION8 THE AUDACITY OF HOPE– Barack Obama, Penguin (PB)$24.95 Biography9 TWILIGHT SPECIAL EDITION– Stephanie Meyer, Little Brown(PB) $24.99 Young Adult10 DREAMS FROM MY FATHER– Barack Obama, Penguin (PB)$24.95 BIOGRAPHYAs part of a major relaunch of itsacademic publishing list, UQP is proudto announce the arrival of the CreativeEconomy + Innovation Culture seriesthis month.The groundbreaking series brings to a widerreadership fresh approaches to global creativethinking, enterprise and innovation, and examinesnew knowledge for the new economy.The series will feature leading Australian andinternational scholars in the creative industries,selected by UQP in conjunction with serieseditors Professors John Hartley and StuartCunningham.Titles will explore enterprise andinnovation along the dynamic boundarybetween market and non-market, cultural andeconomic, commercial and community, andwill link creative practitioners with businessleaders, policy makers and scholars.UQP is proud to welcome leadinginternational names in creative industriesresearch and practice as the inauguralauthors in the series. John Howkins’ CreativeEcologies and John Hartley’s The Uses ofDigital Literacy will set the agenda for thisambitious project and contribute new thinkingto intellectual debates.Following on from the success of hisprevious book The Creative Economy, ProfessorHowkins draws on new ecological principles toshow why some ideas prosper and others fall bythe wayside.Fifty years after Richard Hoggart’spioneering The Uses of Literacy reshapedthe educational response to popular culture,Professor Hartley’s The Uses of Digital Literacyextends Hoggart’s argument from print to digitalmedia.To celebrate the launch of the UQP CreativeEconomy + Innovation Culture series, ProfessorHartley and Professor Howkins (who will be visitingfrom the UK) will be speaking at the Ideas Festivalon March 29 at the State Library of Queensland.INFO ➔ www.uqp.uq.edu.auTHE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND PRESS
UQNEWS, MARCH 2009 ➔ 21PHOTOS LYLE RADFORDEco art: (clockwise from top) Hideki Okubo listens to the water harp via a length of bamboo, Dr Kato at the opening,and Kubo Yoshinobu and Indigenous elder Uncle Joe Kirk take part in the ceremonyIN BRIEFTOP TEACHERSNominations are beinginvited for The University ofQueensland’s 2009 Awards forTeaching Excellence, Awards forPrograms that Enhance Learning andCitations for Outstanding Contributionsto Student Learning.Information including posters,guidelines and nomination forms isavailable at administration officesacross the University, and online atwww.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning.Entries close on Friday, April 24.INFO ➔ (07) 3365 3206SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONSA UQ public policy expert was the soleAustralian academic invited to take partin a recent think tank held in the MiddleEast.Professor Brian Head, fromthe Institute for Social ScienceResearch, attended the Agenda forthe New Millennium event to discusssustainability issues in Abu Dhabi.The event drew participants from18 countries, with its aim to providesolutions for a broad range of issuesfaced by policy makers around theglobe.MusicalTranquilityVisitors to the Roma StreetParkland witnessed a uniqueceremony taking placerecently, but only if they wereprepared to listen.January saw the Hatsune-shiki (first soundceremony) of a purpose-built Japanese waterharp, also known as a suikinkutsu.The harp is the centrepiece for a “soundgarden” designed by UQ’s Dr Kumi Kato, localarchitect Will Marcus and Mr Kubo Yoshinobu,a specialist suikinkutsu builder from Japan whotravelled to Brisbane specially for the occasion.Once complete the garden will be apermanent feature of the parkland, and hasbeen funded by the Queensland Government’sart+place program.The harp consists of a buried earthenwarepot, which is tipped upside down and has ahole drilled at the top. When drops of water fallthrough onto a permanent layer of water at thebase it creates a subtle musical effect whichdiffers depending on the weather.Mr Kubo also assisted Dr Kato with asimilar installation in a Tasmanian forest in 2005– believed to be the first of its kind in Australia.Dr Kato said the Australian harps were unique,as they weren’t built as part of a traditionalJapanese garden, but instead were created toencourage conservation and the importance ofdialogue across cultures.The sound garden’s design also draws onIndigenous knowledge, and will in time incorporatea design of the Rainbow Serpent in honour of thelocal traditional owners, the Turrbal People.Dr Kato is also gathering the “sounds ofQueensland” for Q150 celebrations later this year,and has encouraged the public to suggest entriesfor the archive.INFO ➔ www.ecco.org.au/150sound/
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