Language and Culture issue 8 march 09 - The University of Sydney

Language and Culture
Language and Culture is the quarterly electronic magazine of the School of Languages
and Cultures in the Faculty of Arts at Sydney University. It explores current issues in
the field of languages and cultures and provides updates on the activities of the School.
This issue
From the Head of School
SURCLA
Urbanizing China
About Konrad Kwiet
Research News
issue 8 march 09

head of school
Pictured: Professor Jeffrey Riegel
Photo courtesy UniNews
Professor Jeffrey Riegel
Please allow me to extend to all our readers our School’s warmest wishes for the New Year. I would
also like to take the opportunity to welcome all of our students to the new academic year in the
School of Languages and Cultures.
We are still in the opening weeks of the new academic year and our School is experiencing the
impact of dramatically increased enrolments that are also being seen across the Faculty and,
indeed, across the University. As of last week, there were almost 10,000 students enrolled in junior
and senior units of our various language programs. (2000 of these are studying French!) Overall for
the School, this represents a 16% increase over the final enrolments in 2008 and a 24% increase over
the figures from 2007. The enrolments in some departments are expanding at an especially large
rate, among them Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. While it is gratifying to know that our languageteaching
programs are popular with students, it is at the same time a challenge to figure out how
to cope with crowded classrooms and to ensure that our students are receiving the high-quality
instruction that they deserve and that attracted them to the University to begin with. I am working
closely with department chairs to ensure that things are working smoothly under the circumstances.
In anticipation of this growth I created a language-pedagogy committee within the School and I
look forward to consulting with them in figuring out how to anticipate continuing expansion in future
years.

head of school cont.
I also want to report to our readership some other interesting
developments in language study both within and outside the
University. Over the last several months, together with several
colleagues in the University, I have been involved in drafting
a set of proposals for: 1) encouraging students across the
University to study languages other than English as a way of
enhancing their degree work, and 2) creating opportunities
both within the University and abroad for students to do
immersion language-study courses. In recent weeks, we
in the School have read with great interest the Australian
government’s scheme for increasing and enhancing the
teaching of Asian languages (namely Chinese, Indonesian,
Japanese, and Korean) in the schools. Part of this scheme
involves partnerships between universities and other groups
and organisations in Australia that teach Asian languages. In
response, we are organising a University-wide effort to submit
an expression of interest in this scheme because we believe
ourselves uniquely positioned to play a role in this initiative.
Finally, it is my great pleasure to report that Professor Margaret
Sankey and Dr. Elizabeth Rechniewski have both received high
recognition for their career achievements in our French Studies
department and in the world of French scholarship at large.
Dr. Rechniewski has been awarded the Palmes académiques
title of Chevalier by the French government. The title—given
to both French and foreign scholars in recognition of services
to French culture—is the oldest civil honour in France. Professor
Sankey has been promoted from Chevalier to Officier. The
letter communicating this honour to Professor Sankey reads:
“This distinction, one of the most important in the French
Republic, has been created to honour persons who have
rendered important services in the field of education and
have contributed to the enrichment of the French heritage
and to the place of France in the world.” We in the School
feel extremely proud of our two French Studies colleagues
and congratulate both for this well-deserved recognition of
their scholarship and teaching.
March 2009

Features...
i.
On 10 March 2009, SURCLA marked the official beginning of its research seminar series. The event was an obvious success:
over forty attendees came for the seminar, many staying late in the evening for the wine reception, enthusiastically
supporting the first University of Sydney based formal forum through which common interests in Latin American Studies can
be channeled and shared.
SURCLA
Originally conceived by Fernanda Peñaloza and Vek Lewis from the Department of Spanish
and Latin American Studies as an academic research network, a site of debate where
members share their ideas, strategies and research experiences with the common goal of
advancing knowledge of Latin America, SURCLA has rapidly gained the support of members
of different departments across the Faculty of Arts. Currently, SURCLA membership includes
fourteen academics and eight PhD students from the disciplines of history, sociology,
anthropology, political sciences, gender, media, cultural and literary studies and many
more on the mailing list from within and outside the University. The Academic Coordinator
of SURCLA, Fernanda Peñaloza, coordinates the design and supervision of the program of
activities and projects, planning and development of proposals, and the representation with
other institutions in the public and private sector.
The main aim of SURCLA is to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching on Latin
America as well as establishing the University of Sydney as the leading institution in Australia
for the study of Latin America. Although SURCLA is based at the University of Sydney, the
members envisage that it would foster academic and cultural links with other Australian

.
feature i. cont.
from l to r: Javier Santos Asenci (Spanish Education Office, Embassy of Spain), Jeff Browitt (UTS); Fernanda Peñaloza(University of
Sydney); Justo Díaz & Liliana Correa (UWS); Blanca Tovías , Luz Hincapié & Antonio Castillo (University of Sydney)
institutions as well as bring students and scholars from different Latin
American countries to the University. SURCLA aims to establish links
with professional and community based organisations and institutions
as a means to increase the visibility of the significant expertise on Latin
American Studies in Australia.
From March 10th SURCLA is hosting fortnightly seminars and documentary
screenings every Tuesday afternoon. Confirmed speakers for the first
semester include: Paul Allatson (ITS), Barry Carr (La Trobe), Consuelo
Ahumada (Universidad Javeriana, Colombi), Isidoro Castellanos
(Instituto Cervantes), Diana Palasevich (UNSW), and Fernando García
Selgas (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). Activities are open to the
academic and non-academic public. For more information, visit:
www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/spanishlatino/surcla/index.shtml
In addition to the research seminars, SURCLA is preparing an exhibition on
the Latin American experience of migration to Australia, “Al Sur / Ao Sul
/ To the South,” conceived as a display of personal narratives and family
photographs of migrants who established themselves in Australia in the
1980s and 1990s from different geographical locations of Latin America.
These intimate accounts of the experience of migration will be displayed
alongside historical details that contextualize it within the political and
cultural climate of the period.
The exhibition will be an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional project,
which will involve community-based partners. The project intends to
be educational as well as research-oriented, involving students across
different Schools by asking them to participate collating data, doing
research, and producing photographs on the current daily routine of

i cont.
SURCLA works to:
• host and support public events that
bring leading scholars in our field to
Sydney University;
• create and support faculty and
student research projects;
• facilitate the circulation of
information about Latin America
to a wider audience through our
website and activities;
• create links among Latin
Americanist scholars and students
from Australia and Latin America
and the rest of the world.
SURCLA would like to acknowledge the
support of both the School of Languages
and Cultures and the Faculty of Arts
Institute of Social Sciences.
the Latin American migrants in Australia or even producing a
documentary on such personal trajectories.
The exhibition will also provide an opportunity for exploring
the theoretical framework and the available literature and will
help in identifying how to approach the phenomenon of Latin
American migrants in Australia. This knowledge will give SURCLA
the basis to produce an ARC project application for 2011.
SURCLA is also developing a cultural agenda with a wide range
of events and one main biennial international conference. For
the organisation of these events. SURCLA will seek collaboration
with Instituto Cervantes, consulates and community based
organisations with Latin American connections such as the
Sydney Latin American Film Festival.
In the long term SURCLA would like to offer a Masters by
coursework in Latin American Studies. Meanwhile, the
organisation aims to become the point of reference for research
students seeking PhD/MPhil/MA supervision in the field of Latin
American Studies.
SURCLA members are hoping to see you at their next seminar or
screening.
Until then, hasta pronto! Até breve!
Dr Fernanda Peñaloza and Dr Vek Lewis

feature ii.
China’s urban ‘revolution’ has generated considerable
global interest, with much attention focussed on
prominent sites: Beijing Olympic Park, Shanghai’s Pudong
skyline, or the latest monumental projects of superstar
architects – Foster, Andreau, Koolhaas, KPF, SOM et al.
Comparatively little attention, however, has been paid to
what can be seen as far more significant developments:
the vast suburbanization and expansion of existing cities,
and the urbanization of rural areas. Similarly, few have
noted a central paradox of contemporary China: that the
demise of the planned economy has been accompanied
by an increase in the influence of town planners,
architects and urban designers. In part this is due to the
dramatically enhanced wealth of city governments,
as fiscal decentralization combined with the
commodification of urban land led to vast new sources
of revenue for local authorities. But it also bespeaks an
alignment of governmental and professional commitment
to purposefully shape the urban environment for social
and political ends. Under close governmental guidance,
highly standardized national policies for city ‘master
planning’ and residential property design have emerged
in recent years; moreover, as these policies have been
implemented, the spatial structure of the Chinese city has
been significantly reconfigured as it has been rebuilt.
Urbanizing China:
reflections on fieldwork
During the latter part of 2008 I spent two months as
a Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture and
Urban Planning at Tsinghua University in Beijing to collect
material for a research project entitled ‘Theorising
Community Space in Urban China’. The objective of
this project is to examine the logic behind the design
of the new residential communities that constitute the
main component of suburban sprawl, and through that
to understand how the newly emerging forms of urban
environment are reinventing the practice of everyday
life for China’s urban population. Attached to the design
studio of Professor Zhang Min, I was able to follow the
development of a number of residential design projects
as well as observe how urban planning and housing
design is taught to students in China’s leading university.
From this experience two projects, in particular, stand out
as exemplifications of two key trends in contemporary
urbanization.
Bean Village, located 15 km southeast of Tiananmen
Square, is about to disappear taking with it several
centuries of local history. The village is now engulfed
on three sides by the urban sprawl of Beijing, its former
agricultural land has already been seized for property
development, and the village itself has become little
by David Bray

,
ii cont.
more than a shanty-town where the
now landless villagers make a living
by renting cheap accommodation
to migrant workers. The Beijing
Municipal Master Plan (2004-2020),
released in 2005, had zoned the
Bean Village site for new housing
development and by late 2008
the local government had signed
a deal with a property developer
who, in turn, commissioned
Professor Zhang to undertake the
design work. As with thousands
of similar projects executed
throughout China over recent
years, the existing village will be
demolished and the site cleared
to make way for a contemporary
high-rise apartment complex in a
landscaped garden setting: Bean
Village, with all its rich and complex
history, will be replaced by a
neatly ordered residential estate,
or ‘xiaoqu’, designed according
to a narrow and standardised set
of specifications which govern
the housing industry across China.
For Professor Zhang this was a
very routine design project, but
nevertheless a useful tool through
which to train his graduate
students in the basic principles of
xiaoqu design. But as the project
developed a major problem
emerged: what would happen to
the original villagers? When village
sites are redeveloped in China,
villagers are normally compensated
in one of two ways: either they
receive a one-off payment to
buy-out their land-use rights, or
they are provided accommodation
in the new residential complex.
This was an important issue for the
designers, because if the villagers
were to be re-settled in the new
complex, then a section of lower
quality ‘economic’ housing would
have to be included for their use.
Alternatively, if they were paidout
then the whole site could be
devoted to high quality apartments
for the middle and upper income
earners the developer hoped to
attract. The final decision on this
issue was to be made by local
government in negotiation with
village representatives. But as time
dragged on and a decision failed
to materialise, the students were
forced to develop two alternative
designs. Interestingly, this issue
became a question of considerable
debate within the design group:
some students were sympathetic to
the villagers’ attachment to the site
and felt they should be re-settled
within the new development and
that some architectural traces of the
village (like the old clan hall) should
be preserved. Others believed
that the villagers would not ‘fit-
With students from the design studio inspecting a
new residential complex
“Bean Village with all its
rich and complex history
will be replaced by a neatly
ordered residential estate, or
‘xiaoqu’, designed according
to a narrow and standardised
set of specifications which
govern the housing industry
across China.”

Bean Village “shanty town” A typical xiaoqu (residential complex)
in’ to the new, contemporary-style
residential complex and any attempt
to accommodate them would
compromise overall design integrity.
This debate, of course, reflects a
much larger problem of how China
should deal with the growing material
and cultural disparity between its
urban and rural populations.
While villages on the urban fringes
continue to be bulldozed to make
way for urban expansion, villages in
the rural heartland are taking another
approach. Dragon Village, located
22 km southeast of Nanjing, is also
about to disappear in the face of
urbanisation; but here the situation
is quite different to that faced by
Bean Village. Dragon Village is still
entirely surrounded by rural land
and villagers’ incomes still derive
largely from agriculture. Nevertheless,
the village is about to disappear,
in name, because local authorities
have decided to change its official
designation from ‘Village’ (cun)
to ‘Community’ (shequ). Hitherto
the term ‘community’ has only
been applied as an administrative
designation within urban areas
in China. The adoption of urban
terminology in this context is clearly
an attempt to challenge the semantic
distinctions between ‘rural’ and
‘urban’. But for Dragon Community,
the change in name is only the first
step in a grand program designed
to transform the lives and economic
status of its population. The second
step was to commission Professor
Zhang to design a ‘Master Plan’ which
sets out a radical program for local
‘urbanisation’ and development over
the next 20 years. Under its former
designation, Dragon Village was a
so-called ‘administrative village’
consisting of 13 ‘natural’ villages,
some little more than hamlets.
Under the new Master Plan, the
original 13 natural villages will be
‘consolidated’ into 3 ‘key centres’
(zhongxindian); outlying villages will
be demolished and residents will
be re-located into newly built multistorey
housing estates, the first of
which is already under construction.
The Master plan also provides for
the expansion of infrastructure
(water, gas, electricity, heating)
and services (kindergarten, medical
clinic, nursing home, recreation
club) based on standards applied in
ii cont.
“But for Dragon
Community, the change
in name is only the first
step in a grand program
designed to transform the
lives and economic status of
its population. The second
step was to commission
Professor Zhang to design
a ‘Master Plan’ which sets
out a radical program for
local ‘urbanisation’ and
development over the next
20 years.”

ii cont.
urban areas. Dragon Community is a pilot project in
a larger national program to promote development
and modernisation in rural areas designed to break
down both the economic and the conceptual barriers
that divide rural and urban society. The Master Plan
clearly aims to raise standards of living and improve
the provision of services, but the move from lowrise
to multi-storey housing will also save a great
deal of land that can then be utilised for productive
activities to increase income for the community. If the
Master Plan is realised, Dragon Community will have
become an urbanised rural centre; its population will
enjoy standards of housing, services and facilities
indistinguishable from city residents, yet they will
remain in a rural location where agriculture will still be
a major source of income.
Bean Village and Dragon Community seem
to represent two quite different approaches to
urbanisation: on the one hand, the destruction of a
village to make way for city expansion; on the other
hand, the redevelopment and consolidation of a rural
community. However, it turns out that both projects
are underpinned by the same discourse of urban
design. As Professor Zhang explained to his students,
the two projects simply represent minor variations
on a common set of conceptual principles and
standardised building codes. Indeed, the unification
of urban and rural planning practice was formally
codified in January 2008, when the Urban Planning
Law (chengshi guihua fa, 1990) was revised and
re-enacted as the Urban and Rural Planning Law
(cheng-xiang guihua fa). In short, not only does the
same legal document now govern the urbanisation
process in both urban and rural settings, but the same
professional planners apply the same principles to
designs for urban and rural areas: the conceptual
logic developed within the city context has simply
been adapted and applied to urbanisation within rural
contexts. No doubt it will be some time before we
can judge the results of this development, but at least
we can say that the urban/rural divide is finally being
addressed through systematic and substantive policy
innovation.
Dragon Community: new kindergarten and billboard
showing plans for new residential area.

n
feature iii.
about Konrad Kwiet
In February, Konrad Kwiet attended the
‘War Crimes: Retrospectives and Prospects’
conference at the University of London where he
presented a paper entitled ‘A Historian’s View
– The War Crimes Debate Down Under’. In his
paper, Konrad provided a new critical account
of the War Crimes Debate in Australia. He also did
something unexpected, sharing with conference
participants some very personal memories
starting with childhood and depicting a career
spanning 40 years. Today Konrad is one of the
world’s leading experts in archival research in
holocaust studies and is currently involved in two
international projects.
Konrad’s career has clearly been influenced by
his earliest childhood experiences. He recollects
growing up as a young child in Germany during
the Second World War in a “privileged mixed
marriage”, with a Jewish mother and a Christian
father. According to the Nuremberg Race Laws
Konrad was classified as “a Mischling ersten
Grades – a half- cast of the first degree.” When
the war ended, then aged 5, he walked “through
a landscape of ruins and rubbles littered with
corpses as well as the injured.” He was sent to
Holland to live with the remnants of his mother’s
family traumatised by their experience of
surviving the war in hiding and in Auschwitz. In
1949, he returned to Germany, but continued
to visit Amsterdam where he later conducted
archival research for his doctoral dissertation on
the Nazi occupational regime in the Netherlands.
In 1966, Konrad began his academic career in
West Berlin joining “a handful of young German
historians who were the first in Germany to
research and to teach the history of the Jewish
people, anti-semitism and the Holocaust”.
Konrad came to live in Australia in 1976 taking
up an appointment at the University of New
South Wales where his brief was to assist in
building up German and European Studies, to
introduce Jewish and Holocaust Studies under
the guidance of Professor John Millful, and later
Genocide Studies. In 1987 he was handpicked
Professor Konrad Kwiet
Konrad Kwiet is Adjunct-Professor in
Jewish Studies and Roth Lecturer in
Holocaust Studies in the Department
of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies.
He is also the resident historian of
the Sydney Jewish Museum, Emeritus
Professor in German and European
Studies at Macquarie University and
former chief historian of the Australian
War Crimes Commission.
His work includes supervising research
students on aspects of the Holocaust at
Doctoral, Masters and Honours level.
Projects at the Sydney Jewish Museum
include planning two exhibitions, ‘Arts
and the Holocaust’ and ‘“Amidah” Jewish
Resistance in the Holocaust’.

to serve as the chief historian of the Special
Investigation Unit (SIU), Australian War Crimes
Commission. He also became a historical consultant
to other war crimes offices and an expert witness in
judicial proceedings in Australia, Canada and the
United States.
As a chief historian with the SIU, Konrad “searched
for and evaluated historical records kept in archives
as well as judicial material transmitted in post-war
Nazi war crimes investigations and trials” for each
case under investigation. He was part of a tiny circle
of “in-house” historians and became one of the
first Westerners to gain access to “Secret Archives”
located in the Soviet Block. He made countless
trips to Europe but describes those to Prague as
of particular importance. “On our second visit to
Prague, we were told that there might be some Nazi
records of interest to us. When we returned a few
weeks later, we entered the Secret Military Archives.
I can assure you that opening dusty and sealed
record boxes and discovering a plethora of SS
records which had until then been regarded as lost,
was one of the most memorable moments of my
professional career.”
No convictions were made in Australia as a result
of war crimes investigations. Issues arose for
instance around insufficient testimonial evidence
which led to the acquittal of those that did stand
trial. Konrad has since adopted a more critical
approach to “Oral History” and he is in the process
of collecting accounts which he describes as falling
into the realm of historical legends and fairy tales.
He considers it important to clarify the actuality of
such stories, as Holocaust deniers may use them
adversely.
After leaving the SIU, Konrad returned to academic
life and for the last 15 years, he has continued to
conduct archival studies both in Australia and
abroad. As a result of the findings of various study
trips, Konrad is currently engaged in two important
research projects. The first of these is concerned with
the sources of the Arolsen Archives. In June 2008
the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington
DC set up a small task force to explore the research
prospects of the monumental record collections
housed at the International Tracing Service (ITS)
of the Red Cross in Bad-Arolsen/Germany. Kept
under strict lock and key for almost 50 years, they
feature iii. cont’d.
“This Arolsen material is
of current interest, as it
provides new evidence
that survivors of the
Holocaust did talk about
their experiences in the
first few years after the War.
Konrad believes that these
testimonies challenge the
“Myth of Silence” and will
provide fresh stimulus to
the research on Holocaust
History and Holocaust
Memory.”

feature iii. cont’d.
represent the largest archive of the Holocaust. As team leader for the DP (Displaced Person) record
group, Konrad discovered two source complexes of particular significance. The first comprises a
large number of totally unknown testimonies of Holocaust survivors written up after liberation in DP
camps or in newly established Jewish communities. This Arolsen material is of current interest, as it
provides new evidence that survivors of the Holocaust did talk about their experiences in the first few
years after the War. Konrad believes that these testimonies challenge the “Myth of Silence” and will
provide fresh stimulus to the research on Holocaust History and Holocaust Memory.
The second source complex is made up of the so-called “Hong Kong Files” containing thousands
of personal dossiers and governmental records. Konrad is interested in exploring and researching
further one specific Jewish migration and refugee route. Lasting more than 50 years, the route
started in Czarist Russia in the late 19th century, led to Harpin, from there to Shanghai and, after
World War II, to Hong Kong and from there to Australia.
The second project relates to the Dunera Diary. As former Patron of the Sydney-based Dunera
Association, Konrad obtained a unique diary, written by Dr Kurt Epstein, a Jewish doctor from
Breslau. Epstein was expelled by the Nazis from Germany and then arrested in England as an
“enemy alien” in 1940 and transported on the “Dunera” to Australia where he was interned in the
remote camps of Hay (NSW) and Tatura (Victoria). The diary includes important new details about
these camps. Handwritten in German, it has been scanned and will be complemented by a Hebrew
and English translation as well as historical and bibliographical comments. In addition to Konrad,
editors include Kurt Epstein’s son, Professor Yoram Epstein (Tel Aviv University), Associate Professor
Suzanne Rutland (The University of Sydney), Lee Kersten (The University of Adelaide). The Australian
Jewish Historical Society will publish the tri-lingual diary in 2009.
“Konrad obtained a unique
diary, written by Dr Kurt
Epstein, a Jewish doctor
from Breslau. Epstein
was expelled by the Nazis
from Germany and then
arrested in England as
an “enemy alien” in 1940
and transported on the
“Dunera” to Australia...”

Australian Research Council Discovery
by Michele Ford
Projects, 2009
In 2009, seventeen academics from our School have applied for grants for
Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects, doubling the number
applied for in 2008. The range of topics demonstrates the diversity of research
and teaching that occur within the School.
ARC DP 2009 grant applicants:
Olivier Ansart, Imagining modernity in Eighteenth Century Japan (Department
of Japanese Studies)
Alice Caffarel, Simone de Beauvoir, the Mentor: Exploring the Power of Her
Language (CI 1,with Dr Canzhong Wu from Macquarie University as CI 2;
Department of French Studies)
Yasuko Claremont, Literary Connections: Australians and Japanese in the
Pacific War and Occupied Japan (Department of Japanese Studies)
Kathryn Crameri, Nationalism and self-determination in Catalonia since 2003
(Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies)
Tamara Ditrich, Divine Pairs in Ancient Indian Scriptures: Gender and Stylistic
Expressions of Dual Eeities in the Rgveda, (APD, Currently at the University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia, associates with the Department of Indian Sub-continental
Studies)
Dwi Novi Djenar, When Youth Write: Documenting the Development of
Colloquial Indonesian into a New Written Variety (Currently at La Trobe
University, associated with the Department of Indonesian Studies)
Birte Giesler, Self Performance - Biotechnology and Human Identity in
Contemporary German Drama (Department of Germanic Studies)
Vera Mackie, The Local and the Global: Embedding Human Rights in the Asia-
Pacific Region (APF, associated with the Department of Japanese Studies;
requested 4 PhD scholarships)
Drasko Mitrikeski, Understanding Splits within Buddhism: the Impact of
Nagarjuna’s Dharmadhatustotra (APD, SLC admin, associated with the
Department of Indian Sub-continental Studies)
Fernanda Penaloza, Culture, Political Rapprochement and Borders: Argentine-
Chilean Relations (1978-2008) (Department of Spanish and Latin American
Studies)

ARC applicants cont’d.
Martin Polkinghorne, The Ateliers of Angkor, Cambodia: Chronology, Artistry and Workshops
(7th to 13th centuries CE) (APD, CI 1, with 3 PIs: J. G. Douglas, Smithsonian Institution, P. Pichard,
Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient, and R. L. Brown, University of California, Los Angeles;
associated with the Department of Indonesian Studies)
Jeffrey Riegel, Urban Residence Patterns in Greater Angkor, Cambodia: Ancestry to
Abandonment (CI 2, with Professor Roland Fletcher from SOPHI as CI 1; applying through SOPHI)
Antonia Rubino, An investigation of the Dialect Competence of First and Second Generation
Sicilians in Australia Compared with Sicilians in Sicily (Department of Italian Studies)
Rebecca Suter, Creative Misreadings of Christianity in Modern Japanese Literature and Popular
Culture (Department of Japanese Studies)
Yiyan Wang, Modern Art for A Modern Nation: An Intellectual History of Chinese Art 1900-1949
(Department of Chinese Studies)
Bronwyn Winter, 9/11 Emergency: Has September 11, 2001 Changed the World for Women?
(Department of French Studies)
Ian Young, The Variant Texts of the Bible Found Among the Dead Sea Scrolls: Implications for
Sociology, Linguistics and Canon (CI 1, with Dr Mark Leuchter from Temple University, USA, as CI
2; Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies)

PUBLICATIONS
recent book launches
On the Cultures of
Exile, Translation and Writing
On Friday 20 March at the Istituto Italiano
di Cultura PAOLO BARTOLONI’S recently
published book On the Cultures of Exile,
Translation and Writing (Purdue University
Press, 2008) was launched with a round
table discussion on the subject of the book.
Associate Professor Vrasidas Karalis (USYD),
Associate Professor Brett Neilson (UWS) and
Professor Anthony Stephens (USYD) joined Dr
Bartoloni in the discussion. On the Cultures
of Exile, Translation and Writing is a book of
critical philosophy, an original exploration of
texts by some of the major French, German
and Italian writers of the twentieth century.
Hijab and the Republic:
Uncovering the French Headscarf Debate
Launched by Bronwyn Winter in conversation
with Shakira Hussein at Gleebooks on Friday
19th March.
“The hijab, the head scarf worn by many
Muslim women, has been the subject of
considerable Western attention, curiosity
— and even condemnation. Winter (coeditor
of After Shock: September 11, 2001:
Feminist Perspectives) focuses on the
vociferous debates raging in France, where
an official policy of secularism has made
wearing conspicuous religious attire the
cause for legal battle and the topic of public
discussions drenched in covert racism, classism and paternalism toward
women. In France’s nearly 20 years of argument over hijab, ‘women and
girls were at the center of a debate waged largely by men,’ while ‘the
participation of women themselves in the debate was... more as symbols
than as social actors.’ Winter’s feminist analysis suggests convincingly that
the concept ‘women believe what they wish and wear what they wish...
is one thing. The ways in which these beliefs and appearances are coded
and put to the service of other agendas is another’ — and that all cultures
and societies must address male domination and religious interference
in their own ‘backyards’ rather than treating such issues as the exclusive
province of an exotic Other.” ---Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
(Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

PUBLICATIONS
Babicz, Lionel. Japon, Chine, Corée: vers une conscience historique commune? Ebisu, Vol. 37 (2008), pp.
19-46.
Bandhauer, Andrea. Eine poetologie der Fremde: Emine Sevgi Özdamars transkulturelle Erinnerungen, Limbus:
Australisches Jahrbuch für germanistische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft / Australian Yearbook of German
Literary and Cultural Studies, Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach Verlag, 2008, Issue 1, pp. 199-211.
Bray, David. Designing to govern: space and power in two Wuhan communities, Built Environment, vol 34/4
(2008), pp. 392-407.
Chey, Jocelyn. Chinese “soft power” - diplomacy and the Confucius institutes, The Sydney papers, Vol. 20/1
(2008), pp. 33-46.
Claremont, Yasuko. Shinseinen in the interwar period (1920-30), Proceedings of the 17th Biennial Conference of
the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), Monash University, Vicziany AM (Ed.), http://arts.monash.
edu.au/mai/asaa/index.php
Cockerill, Hiroko. The -ta form as die reine Sprache (Pure Language) in Futabatei’s Translations, Japanese
Language and Literature, Vol. 42/1, pp. 171-195.
Dowling, Jennifer. ‘Oy Gevalt!’: a peek at the development of Jewish Superheroines, The contemporary comic
book superhero, Angela Ndalianis (Ed.), New Yourk: Routledge, 2008, pp. 184-202.
Ebied, Rifaat. An Anthology of Arab Wit and Wisdom, Gorgias Press, 2008.
Ford, Michele. Thinking about Indonesian Women and Work, Women and Work in Indonesia, Michele Ford &
Lyn Parker (Eds.), Routledge / Taylor & Francis Inc, 2008, pp. 1-16.
Ford, Michele. Indonesia: Separate organizing within unions, Women and Labour Organizing in Asia: Diversity,
Autonomy and Activism, Kaye Broadbent & Michele Ford (Eds.), London & New York: Routledge, 2008, pp.
15-33.
Ford, Michele. Indonesian labour since Suharto: perspectives from the region, Labour and Management in
Development Journal, Vol. 9 (2008), pp. 1-5.
Jasny, Sabine. “Klammersprache Deutsch” in der gesprochenen Wissenschaftssprache, German as a Foreign
Language, vol. 2 (2008), pp. 21-42.
Karalis, Vrasidas. Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris, Blackheath: Brandl & Schlesinger, 2008.
Kobayash,i Hiroko. The diaries of Ishikawa Takuboku, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, Vol. 39-40/2,
pp. 285-319.
Kwak, Ki-Sung. Privacy and media in Australia, Privacy and media, Yi-Young Park (Ed.), Seoul: Commbooks,
2008, pp. 294-324.
Kwak, Ki-Sung. Restructuring the satellite television industry in Japan, Television & new media, Vol. 9/1 (2008),
pp. 62-84.
Mohan, Pankaj. Ji Xianlin yu Tai geer, Fan ren wei ye: zhongwai xueren zhong de Ji Xianlin (Chinese and
foreign scholars on Ji Xianlin), Ji Xianlin international cultural institute, Beijing: Zhonguo Wenlian Chuban She,
2008, pp. 253-265.
Newbigin, Nerida. Pirandello, Machiavelli and their Donne di Virtú, Pirandello Studies, Vol. 28 (2008), pp.
48-67.
Newbigin Nerida. Rewriting John the Baptist: building a history of the San Giovanni edifici, Spunti e Ricerche,
Vol. 22 ,(2008), pp. 5-27.
Riegel, Jeffrey. Yuan Mei (1716-1798) and a different ‘elegant gathering’, Arts, Vol. 30 (2008), pp. 54-73.
Riegel, Jeffrey. Eros, introversion, and the beginnings of Shijing commentary in Chinese, Research in the
traditions of Chinese culture, Vol. 1/1 (2008), pp. 23-35.
Royer, Michelle. Féminisme, écriture féminine at féminin dans la parole publique de Marguerite Duras,
Marguerite Duras et la pensée contemporaine, Eva Ahlstedt and Catherine Bouthors-Paillart (Eds.), Goteborg:
Goteborg University, 2008, pp. 149-155.
Rutland, Suzanne and Konrad Kwiet. Australien, Handbuch des Antisemitismus: Judenfeindschaft in Geschichte
und Gegenwart: band 1: Lander und regionen, 2008, pp. 36-42.
Sankey, Margaret. Sense and sensibility: translating the bodily experience, The five senses: a philosophy of
mingled bodies (I), Margaret Sankey and Peter Cowley (Eds,), London: Continuum International Publishing
Group, 2008, pp. vii-xiii.
Suter, Rebecca. Covering Japan: rappresentazioni Angloamericane del Giappone, Ricerando in Giappone,
Valerio Luigi Alberizzi and Marco Montanari (Eds.), Rome: Domograph, 2008, pp. 116-140.
Suter, Rebecca. Modanizumu and science fiction: Naoki Sanjûgo’s Henkaku Tantei Shôsetsu, Proceedings
of the 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), Monash University,
Vicziany AM (Ed.), http://arts.monash.edu.au/mai/asaa/index.php
Tipton, Elise. Cleansing the Nation: Urban Entertainments and Moral Reform in Interwar Japan, Modern Asian
Studies, Vol. 42/4 (2008), pp. 705-731.
Vickers, Adrian. Indonesia’s premier historian, Sejarah yang memihak: mengenang sartono kartodirdjo, M.
Nursam, Baskara T. Wardaya S.J. and Asvi Warman Adam (Eds.), Yogjakarta: Penerbit Ombak, 2008, pp.
53-57.
Vickers, Adrian. Mengapa tahun 1950-an penting bagi kajian Indonesia, Perspektif baru penulisan sejarah
Indonesia, Henk Shulte Nordholt, Bambang Purwanto and Ratna Saptari (Eds.), Jakarta: KITLV Press, 2008,
pp. 67-78.
Winter, Bronwyn. Hijab & the republic: uncovering the French headscarf debate, Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press, 2008.
Yang, Mayfair. A sweep of red: state subjects and the cult of Mao, Religion und Politik in der Volksrepublik
China, W Koening, K Daiber (Eds.), Germany: Ergon-Verlag, 2008, pp. 361-390.
Yang, Mayfair. Goddess across the Taiwan Strait: Matrifocal ritual space, nation-state, and satellite television
footprints, Chinese religiosities: afflictions of modernity and state formation, Yang, Mayfair Mei-Hui (Ed.),
London: University of California Press, 2008, pp. 323-347.
Young, Ian. Linguistic dating of Biblical texts, Vol. 1 – 2, London: Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2008.
Young, Ian. Late Biblical Hebrew and the Qumran Pesher Habakkuk, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Vol. 8
(2008), pp. 1-38.

Beyond the Crisis: Revitalising
Languages in Australian Universities
A Colloquium for Tertiary Language Teachers, Researchers and Planners
was held at the University of Melbourne between 16-18 February. A number
of academics from departments in the School attended. They included:
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Dr Nijmeh Hajjar | Arabic & Islamic Studies
Prof Margaret Sankey | French Studies
Dr Alice Caffarel | French Studies
Dr Andreas Jaeger | Germanic Studies
Yona Gilead | Hebrew Biblical & Jewish Studies
Dr Michele Ford | Indonesian Studies
Ms Seiko Yasumoto | Japanese Studies
Dr Yasuko Claremont | Japanese Studies
Dr Fernanda Peñaloza | Spanish & Latin American Studies
The 3-day Colloquium was sponsored by the Academy of the Humanities
and the School of Languages and Linguistics at Melbourne University and
was held at Melbourne University. It brought together teachers, researchers
and program directors of language departments in universities in order
to set up an organisation of stakeholders who could act as advocates
for the promotion of language studies in Australian universities, as well as
representing the area to governmental agencies who are responsible for
funding.
Sessions included innovative delivery of Languages other than English (LOTE);
TELL in introductory language learning; current research perspectives; and
national convergence for proficiency levels.
The Australian Academy of the Humanities Triebel lecture: ‘Can We Afford
to be without Multilingualism? A Scientist’s Lay Perspective’ was delivered
by Professor Høj, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of South
Australia. Professor Høj spoke on the issues of monolingualism in Australia;
language as cultural vector; disciplinary monolingualism putting humanities
at risk; the crucial role that humanities needs to play in ensuring that
disciplines talk to each other; and the necessity for a collaborative approach
in developing language programs.
An important outcome was the decision to set up an organisation to
be called the Nation Languages Tertiary Network. A steering group was
established to draft a constitution and report back to group. Dr Nijmeh Hajjar
from Arabic and Islamic Studies is among the members of the steering group.

Seminar Series
Chinese Studies
Go to the departmental website for further information
Absent Narratives of Modern Chinese Intellectual History:
Writings of Art
Dr Yiyan Wang | Department of Chinese Studies
5pm | Thursday 26 March | R331 Old Teachers’ College
Abstract : Modern Chinese intellectual history has too often
been written beginning with an assessment of the changes
and achievements in Chinese literature around the May
Fourth period. Scholarship on the subject suggests that art
historical events were not relevant to China’s modernization
process and Chinese intellectuals had little concern for art.
However, this was not the case. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, many intellectuals and writers, aswell
as artists, considered art vitally important to China’s nation
building and were actively initiating changes in art and art
practice. China’s leading intellectuals at the time, including
Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Cai Yuanpei, Chen Duxiu and
Lu Xun, were highly influential in arguing for the case of
modern art for a modern nation. Some prominent writers
were also practicing artists and/or art critics. Similarly, many
artists were influential public intellectuals and their writings
and art works had considerable social impact.
Monumental Memories: A Discussion of Xu Weixin and his
Pedagogic Art (co-sponsored with Asian Studies Program)
Professor Stephanie Donald | Department of Media &
Communication
5pm | Wednesday 6 May | Quad Room S421
Economics, Empire, and Ethnicity: Old Perspectives on China
and Globalisation (co-sponsored with Asian Studies Program)
Professor David Goodman | Director, Institute for Social
Sciences
5pm | Wednesday 13 May | Quad Room S421
Topic: TBA
Dr David Bray | Department of Chinese Studies
5pm | Thursday 28 May | R331 Old Teachers’ College
Asian Studies
Go to the program’s website for further information
Digital Videos and the Emerging Queer Public Sphere: Queer
Film Festivals in China
Hongwei Bao | Ph.D. candidate, Gender & Cultural Studies
5pm | Tuesday 14 April | Quad Philosophy Room S249
2-hour Workshop on In-progress Research: Writing about
Religion and Secularism (co-sponsored with: China Research
Centre, UTS; Asian Studies, University of Sydney; and the Group
for the Study of Religion & Politics, University of Sydney).
5pm | Tuesday 14 April | Quad Philosophy Room S249
Asia Redux: Conceptualizing Asia for Our Times (co-sponsored
with China Research Centre, UTS)
5pm | Wednesday 15 April | Quad Philosophy Room S249
Professor Prasenjit Duara | Director of Research, Humanities
and Social Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore.
The Elephant & the Ant, Modernities Compared: Chinese & Thai
Art in the 1980s & 1990s (co-sponsored with Chinese Studies
Department)
Professor John Clark | Department of Art History & Film Studies
5pm | Wednesday 29 April | Quad Room S421
Monumental Memories: A Discussion of Xu Weixin and his
Pedagogic Art (co-sponsored with Chinese Studies Department)
Professor Stephanie Donald | Media & Communication
Department
5pm | Wednesday 6 May | Quad Room S421
Economics, Empire, and Ethnicity: Old Perspectives on
China and Globalisation (co-sponsored with Chinese Studies
Department)
Professor David Goodman | Director, Institute for Social
Sciences
5pm | Wednesday 13 May | Quad Room S421
“Kissing Is a Symbol of Democracy!” US Popular Culture and the
Emergence of the “New Couple” in Occupied Japan
(co-sponsored with Japanese Studies Department)
Professor Mark McLelland | Sociology Department, School
of Social Science, Media, & Communication, University of
Wollongong
5pm | Wednesday 27 May | Quad Room S421
Agrarian Transitions in Southeast Asia revisited: New Contexts
and Concepts
Professor Philip Hirsch | Director, Australian Mekong Resource
Centre | School of Geosciences
5pm |Wednesday 3 June | Quad Room S421
Italian Studies
Go to the departmental website for further information
Flavio Biondo in his own time
Frances Muecke | Dept of Classics & Ancient History
4.15pm | Thursday 2 April | Room 524 Brennan
MacCallum Building
“He revealed to us the whole world of antiquity.” So said
the humanist Pope Pius II in 1458 (De Europa c. 58) of the
great trilogy on antiquity of his admired contemporary,
Flavio Biondo. Flavio Biondo (Forlì 1392 - Rome 1463) was
one of the most significant of the humanists who viewed
Rome with new eyes in the mid-fifteenth century.
Of his three great works, Roma triumphans (c. 1453-9) is
the least well known – one of the great unread books.
There has been no translation into any language since
Lucio Fauno’s Italian version (Venice 1544, 1548, 1549).
This paper will discuss some passages in Roma Triumphans
Book 2 where Biondo relates ancient Roman religious
festivals to feste he witnessed himself in Rimini and in
Rome. These powerfully illustrate the sense of continuity
between ancient Rome and the present that drives his
work, and have wider ramifications for the setting of
Roma triumphans in its context – the threat of Turkish
conquest of the West in the 1450s.
Frances Muecke is Senior Lecturer in the Department
of Classics & Ancient History. Her research interests
include Greek and Roman Comedy, Horace’s Satires
and Humanist scholarship and antiquarianism in Rome
(1470-1527).

Poesia Visiva: Italian Concrete & Visual
Poetry of the 1960s & 1970s
Giulia Niccolai
Five Colours 1974
silk screen and thread on paper
University of Sydney Art Collection
© Courtesy of the artist
Throughout the sixties and seventies, Concrete and Visual Poetry were one of the most active
and radical movements in the visual arts. Treating the poem as an object, artists combined
language and pictorial elements to create compelling works of art. In Italy it also became an
effective medium to portray political concerns. Using works from the University Art Collection,
this exhibition showcases the medium's key techniques such as the use of collage, the
typewriter, mass media and popular culture.
University Art Gallery 17 May – 28 June
The collection was originally assembled by two Italian
writers, Adriana Spatola and Giulia Niccolai, on the
occasion of the first Frederick May Foundation and
was showcased at an Italian Studies conference
in 1978. 30 years later after, being looked after by
Professor Nerida Newbigin, it passed to the University’s
art collection in February 2008. The gift includes
more than seventy works, each of which was given
to the University by its creator, as well as rare books,
catalogues and cassettes. Connie Tornatore-Loong, a
former student of the Italian Studies Department and
now Assistant Curator of the University Art Gallery,
has been working since the beginning of the year to
catalogue, photograph and conserve every piece,
and a selection will be framed for the exhibition.
The Department of Italian Studies interest in the
work of Adriano Spatola dates back to the late ‘60s,
when Frederick May directed his Dodice Schede e
musica (Twelve Record Cards and Music) in Sydney
and Canberra as part of a program of theatre from
Futurism to the neoavanguardia. May’s interest in
concrete and visual poetry extended from using
visual poetry texts in first year literature classes
to his legendary examination papers, where he
used collage and typography to comment and to
stimulate discussion on any aspect of literature and
contemporary society.
The collection will continue to be available as a
teaching resource.

Dr Peter Skilling, University Buddhist
Education Foundation Visiting Professor
The School of Languages and Cultures is honoured to host the visit of Dr Peter Skilling (Ecole française
d’Extrême-Orient) as the first University Buddhist Education Foundation (UBEF) Visiting Professor.
Peter Skilling is a Canadian citizen (born 1949). He has
been a resident of Thailand for 30 years. He received
a PhD with honours and a Habilitation in Paris (Ecole
Pratique des Hautes Etudes). His main field of research
is the archaeology, history, and literature of Buddhism
in South and Southeast Asia. Other interests include the
early history of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Pali literature of
Southeast Asia, and the history of the Buddhist order of
nuns. He has travelled extensively in South and Southeast
Asia, and been a visiting professor at Harvard University
(2000), Oxford University (2002), and the University of
California at Berkeley (2005). At present he is Maître de
Conférences with the École française d’Extrême-Orient
(EFEO) and Head of the Buddhist Studies Group of the
EFEO. He is also a special lecturer at Chulalongkorn
University (Bangkok).
Skilling’s publications include numerous articles and
several books, the most recent being Mahāsātras: Great
Discourses of the Buddha (2 vols., Oxford, The Pali Text
Society, 1994 and 1997) and the edited volume Wat Si
Chum, Sukhothai: Art, Architecture and Inscriptions (River
Books, Bangkok, 2008).
Dr Skilling will be in residence from the 29 March - 5 June during which time
he will conduct the following lectures and workshops:
| Sydney Ideas Lecture |
Did the Buddha invent Asia? Buddhism, Buddhists, and the ‘very idea’ of Asia 6.30pm
Tuesday 7 April, Seymour Theatre Centre, University of Sydney
The Buddha was born in a small kingdom in the foothills of the Himalayas over two
thousand years ago. Within five hundred years of his death, his teaching has spread far
beyond the confines of India, and were beginning to find a foothold in China and the
Far East. At its height Buddhism flourished across much of Asia. Buddhist monks and nuns
established networks of intellectual exchange that for centuries linked Asian societies,
inspiring literature and philosophy, art and architecture, and social and ritual practice and
affecting conceptions of time, cosmology, and governance.
How did the teaching of one man influence Asia so profoundly? What was the role of
Buddhism in the geography of ideas in the pre-modern period? What were the unifying
principles or ideologies that brought distant cultures into close relation? The fascinating
diversity of Buddhism and its dynamic cultural transformations lead us to examine the
role played by Buddhism in the construction and imagination of an interactive transregionalism.
Was Buddhism in Asia the vanguard of globalisation?
For details, see
http://www.usyd.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2009/did_buddha_invent_asia.shtml

Dr Peter Skilling Visiting Professor cont.
| The Enigma of Si Thep |
Presented by the Australian Centre for Asian Art and Archaelogy, in
association with the University of Sydney’s Buddhist Studies program
Tuesday 21 April, 5.00–6.30pm, The Refectory, Main Quadrangle, University of
Sydney (Access down stairway near Faculty of Arts Office, south-western corner of
the Quadrangle, below MacLaurin Hall)
One of the extraordinary ancient sites of Thailand is Si Thep, a large moated
and fortified city in a commanding position in the Pasak River valley. A major
polity in which Buddhism and Brahmanism flourished, it developed its own
style and produced outstanding images which today count among some of
Thailand’s – and Southeast Asia’s – masterpieces. Recent excavations (2008)
uncovered an immense laterite stupa, one of the largest in Thailand. Despite
the early discovery of several inscriptions, we know little if anything about Si
Thep’s political development, its dynasties, or its relations with other states in
the region and beyond. We do not even know its ancient name. This is the
enigma of Si Thep – a civilization with a face (and a remarkable face at that)
but without a name.
Background Reading
Peter Skilling, ‘L’énigme de Si Thep.’ In Pierre Baptiste et Thierry Zéphir (ed.),
Dvaravati – aux sources du bouddhisme en Thaïlande, Paris: Réunion des musées
nationaux/Établissement public du musée des Arts asiatiques Guimet, 2009, pp.
117-125.
Peter Skilling, ‘A Recently Discovered Sūrya Image from Thailand.’ In Gerd J.R.
Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (ed.), Prajñādhara: Essays on Asian Art, History,
Epigraphy and Culture in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya, New Delhi: Kaveri
Books, 2009, pp. 455–465 and pls. 46.1–10.
| Australian Association of Buddhist Studies Lecture |
Friday 29th May, 6.00–7.30pm,
Rodgers Room, Woolley Building, University of Sydney
Further details: http://www.buddhiststudies.org.au/seminars.htm
| Friday Lecture Series |
Fridays 10.00–11.30am (lecture 7: Tuesday 26th May)
Further details: www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/indian/news/index.shtml
Dr Skilling will present a series of eight lectures held each Friday
(10.00–11.30am) which will deal with the following aspects of
Indian Buddhism: scriptures, writing, councils, schools, Mahāyāna,
and narrative literature.

French Studies
department news
Visiting International Research Fellow, Dr Matthew Graves
For three months over the summer break, the Department of French
Studies hosted Dr Matthew Graves from Aix-Marseille University as Visiting
International Research Fellow. Matthew gave two papers on his research,
one at the day-long workshop held on 24th October 2008: ‘Histories
of Forgetting and Remembering’ on ‘Memory and forgetting on the
national periphery: Marseille and the regicide of 1934’ and ‘Geographies
of Remembrance’ at a special session of the AULLA conference on
5th February: ‘Politics and Practice of War Remembrance’. Papers
from the workshop will be published in a special issue of PORTAL to
appear in January 2010, edited by Matthew and host researcher Dr
Elizabeth Rechniewski. Matthew and Liz will be giving a joint paper at
the Commonwealth Studies Conference in Bordeaux in early May, and
another at the conference ‘Images et pouvoirs dans le Pacifique’ at
Rochefort at the end of May. These and other articles will form part of a
book proposal to be submitted in March.
Matthew and Liz have also contributed to the comparative study of war
memorialism coordinated by Professor Olivier Wieviorka, ENS Cachan,
due out in October.
Matthew has taken every opportunity to meet with members of staff
in this and other Schools and has had particularly fruitful contact with
researchers in the department of History. He hopes to mantain these
close links and to return in 2010 for the Rudé conference, to be held at
Sydney in July of that year.
Matthew also, along with Liz and two Honours students from the
Departments of French and History, participated in the Round Table held
at the Alliance Française in November, coordinated by Professor Robert
Aldrich, to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Fifth Republic.
Congratulations also to Liz Rechniewski, whose recent article: ‘Quand
l’Australie invente et réinvente une tradition: l’exemple du débarquement
de Gallipoli’, published in the Vingtième siècle , n 101, janvier-mars 2009,
pp. 123-132., has been singled out by the ‘Revue des Revues’ as the best
of that issue. The Revue des Revues identifies the best articles in all the
recent journals published in France.

Italian Studies
Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance
In November 2008 Nerida Newbigin travelled to Boston to present
a paper entitled ‘No Imperial Majesty: Frederick III’s visits to
Florence and Rome in 1452’. The event occured in conjunction
with the exhibition ‘The Triumph of Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the
Renaissance’, curated by Cristelle Baskins and Alan Chong (Boston
2008). Frederick’s visits are documented by two extraordinary
Cassoni paintings, one magnificently restored and now in the Ringling
Museum, the other destroyed in the bombing of Bath, UK, in 1942, and
surviving in a single black-and-white photograph. Nerida’s research in
the Florentine archives, which was shared with the exhibition curators
and included in the catalogue, identifies details in the scenes
depicted and explores a range of accounts of Frederick’s visits.
Conferences
Dr Giorgia Alù, Dr Paolo Bartoloni and Dr Antonia Rubino have
recently attended and presented papers at the 5th ACIS Biennial
Conference, Italy and the Great Migration, at the University of
Auckland, New Zealand, 18-21 February, 2009. The Australasian
Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS) conferences are internationally
recognised events, and attract prestigious Italianists from around the
world. Giorgia Alù presented an account of migrant writing through
the analysis of works by Ornella Vorpsi; Paolo Bartoloni investigated
textual practices within migratory experiences through a reflection on
dpt. news
memory and its representations, Antonia Rubino offered insights into
linguistics aspects of new migration from Italy.
A one-day seminar, Love and its Histories: Italian Perspectives, was
organised in tandem with the ACIS conference by two graduates of
the Department, Dr Mark Seymour, now in the History Department at
the University of Otago, and Dr Francesco Ricatti, now Cassamarca
Lecturer in Italian at the University of the Sunshine Coast. In the
opening paper, “The Erotics of Comedy in Sixteenth-Century Italy”,
Nerida Newbigin explored in particular the work of the Sienese
Accademia degli Intronati, whose best-known comedy, Gli
ingannati, is Shakespeare’s source for Twelfth Night. In his paper ‘New
Dimensions of Love at the Threshold of the Inorganic: The Case of
Italy’, Paolo Bartoloni discussed the interface between organic and
inorganic in contemporary Italy.
Together with Dr Jennifer Burns (University of Warwick), Giorgia Alù
is the organiser of the international conference on the relation
between Italian literature and photography, which will take place at
the University of Warwick, March 13-14, 2009. The conference, which
was made possible through a generous donation from the School of
Languages and Cultures, will be attended by scholars from Italy, USA,
Australia, Canada, UK and Poland.

dpt. news
Department of Italian Studies cont’d.
In Service
On Saturday 7 March, the Department held the second part of an inservice
course for Italian teachers. The in-service was held under the
auspices of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Consulate
and the Italian Institute of Culture, and was organised in conjunction
with the Department of Education of New South Wales, and in close
collaboration with the Italian Consultant, Ms Enrichetta Parolin. Given
that technology is integral to the NSW School curriculum, the topic
was “The use of technology in language teaching and its impact
on contemporary Italian language”. The day opened with a warm
welcome on behalf of the Italian Consul by Dr Sergio Rapisardi,
Director of the Education Office at the Consulate General of Italy in
Sydney. Three presentations followed: Matthew Absalom, from the
University of Melbourne, demonstrated how to use WebWiz, a user
friendly software that he developed with Andrea Rizzi enabling the
creation of language tasks using multimedia files. Livio Loi, the Italian
Government ‘lettore’ at the University of Wollongong, demonstrated
how to plan a language unit using written and spoken materials
available online. Antonia Rubino, from the University of Sydney, spoke
about recent developments in the Italian language as a result of the
pervasive influence of technology.
Hebrew Biblical and Jewish Studies
Over the summer break Associate Professor Suzanne Rutland
participated in three conferences in Washington, Jerusalem
and Sydney. During December she presented a paper entitled
‘From Hell to Hope: a comparison of Jewish survivor reception
in the United States and Australia’ at the Association for Jewish
Studies 40th Annual Conference. She then presented a paper
In Washington, D.C. on ‘Developing multiple identities in Sydney
Jewish Schools: An Historic Perspective’ at the conference of the
Israel Research Association in Jewish Education in Jerusalem. This
was part of a panel on ‘Multiple Identities in a Diverse Diaspora’
which analysed the diverse facets of the term ‘Diaspora’ among
Jewish and non-Jewish settings, comparing Jewish and Chinese
diasporas. Professor Wing On Lee, honorary professor in the
Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney, spoke on the
features of the Chinese Diaspora and Dr Zehavit Gross spoke on
Jewish schools in Paris, Brussels and Geneva. There was much
discussion on the issues raised from conference participants
and the panel was reported in the Israeli press. Whilst in Israel,
Suzanne also spoke at the launch of the exhibition: ‘Nationality
Stateless: Destination Australia’ at the Australian Embassy in Tel
Aviv in January.

department
Hebrew Biblical and Jewish Studies cont’d.
In addition, the book entitled What We Now Know About Jewish Education:
Perspectives on Research for Practice, edited by Roberta Goodman, Paul
Flexner and Linda Bloomberg, which includes a chapter by Suzanne on
Australian Jewish schooling, received a 2008 National Jewish Book Award in
the USA for the category of education and Jewish identity.
In February, the 21st annual conference of the Australian Association of Jewish
Studies was held at Shalom College, University of NSW with a high level of
participation from members of the Department. The theme was ‘Thinking
Jewish’ and Suzanne presented a paper with Emeritus Professor Sol Encel on
‘My son the doctor; my son the lawyer: Australian Jewish achievers and their
Jewish heritage.’ Other members of the department who presented including:
• Dr Yael Avrahami : Names in the Bible as a Clue to Jewish Identity
• Simon Holloway (PhD student): “Boundaries and Borders”: Conceptions of
the Other in the Book of Nehemiah
• Michael Abrahams-Sprod (Hon Research Associate): ‘Shoah’ and
‘Holocaust’: The Jewish Expression of the Jewish Catastrophe
• Aryeh Leib Solomon (Hon Research Associate): Is there a Uniquely Jewish
Approach to Education?
• Mariela Sztrum (MA student): “The Good German”: Teaching the
Holocaust through fiction
• Professor Konrad Kwiet: The
Arolsen Archives: Old Records - New Research
on the Shoah
Indian and Subcontinental Studies
Funding raised for lectureship:
news
The Department has received further substantial financial support from
the University Buddhist Educational Foundation (UBEF), an external body
that has been providing major funding to the Buddhist Studies program
at the University of Sydney. The UBEF has given $250,000 to provide a
further two years of funding for the second Buddhist studies lectureship
within the Department, thus making this a three year position in total. The
position was previously occupied by Dr Mark Allon, before he became
Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department. Dr Andrew McGarrity was
appointed to this position in February.
Andrew represented the Department at the Amitabha Buddhist
Association’s Thrice Yearning Ceremony on the 3rd of January when the
Venerable Wu Shin (Pure Land Learning College, Toowoomba) handed
over the cheque for $250,000 to the UBEF on behalf of an anonymous
Taiwanese donor.

“
CONGRATULATIONS!
Ms Irene An, Department of
Chinese Studies, was the recipient
of a Small TIES Grant of $5,200
for ‘Creating Vodcasts for
beginner Chinese’.
Dr Nerida Jarkey, Department
of Japanese Studies, received
a $49,415 grant for the ‘Arts
Network Program 2009’ project.
Dr Jarkey also won, with others,
a grant of $47,643 for the
project ‘A Collaborative Aproach
to Supporting the First Year
Experience Across the University’.
Visiting Professor Jocelyn Chey,
Department of Chinese Studies
has been awarded an Australian
Day Honour – Member of the
Order of Australia.
Indonesian Studies
During the summer break the Department hosted
Nyoman Wijaya, a lecturer in history at Udayana
University, Bali. Wijaya is also completing his PhD at
Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. Gadjah Mada
is one of Indonesia’s highest ranking universities, and
has an exchange agreement with the University of
Sydney. As part of this exchange agreement, Wijaya
was supervised by Professor Adrian Vickers, on the
topic of the politics of identity in Bali. The visit was
sponsored by a special scholarship from the Indonesian
Department of Education, which aims to give its
academics exposure to overseas universities. Wijaya
was particularly pleased to have access to the library
resources at the University of Sydney, which has special
holdings on Balinese culture and history.
A new affiliate of the Department is Professor Heather
Sutherland, the distinguished historian of Indonesia
who has recently retired from the Free University of
Amsterdam. Professor Sutherland is continuing her
research on Sulawesi, and is also working on new ways
to understand Southeast Asian history.
dpt. news
During March and April, Dr Julia Martínez from
the University of Wollongong will be visiting the
Department. Dr Martínez, a labour historian, holds an
ARC Discovery Program Grant with Professor Vickers,
working on the history of Australian-Indonesian
contacts, particularly during the 1930s. During her
time at the University of Sydney, Dr Martínez and
Professor Vickers will plan out a monograph on
Indonesian workers in Australia, migration and the role
of Australians in Eastern Indonesia. The project will also
involve workshops in Broome, Darwin and Jakarta.
Congratulations from the Alumni Office!
Ratih Hardjono, formerly an honours student in the
Department, recently won a prestigious Australian
Alumni Award. Ratih received her award in the
category of Journalism and Media in recognition of
her career as a journalist working to create better
understanding between Australia and Indonesia.
Coming out of her experiences as a Sydney-based
journalist for a leading Indonesian media outlet, Ms
Hardjono produced a book, The White Tribe of Asia
(Suku Putihnya Asia), that many Indonesians still go to
as the best guide to understanding Australia.

Ms Ratih Hardjono accepting
her Australian Alumni Award
department
Indonesian Studies cont’d.
Ms Hardjono has also been a presidential advisor, and
at present is running non-government organisation
called “Sekolah Demokrasi” devoted to creating grassroots
support for democracy through education.
See also The Australian:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
story/0,25197,25101295-12332,00.html
Korean Studies
On 26 May, Dr Pankaj Mohan will give an exhibition talk
on ‘Korea at the Centre: A Fresh Look at the Art and
Literature of Late Choson’. This is part of a series of talks
that will take place as part of the exhibition Korean
Dreams: Paintings and Sreens of the Joseon Dynasty
at the Art Gallery of NSW from 5 March - 8 June. In his
talk Pankaj will demonstrate how Sirhak or Practical
Learning School of the Late Choson period (18th and
19th Centuries) challenged the Sinocentric orientation
of Korean art and culture and used it instead as
a conduit to articulate uniquely Korean cultural
experiences.
Japanese Studies
news
The Department has been involved in a number of
successful events: the Inoue Yasushi Award Ceremony,
the Forum on the Silk Road and the Opening of the Inoue
Yasushi Silk Road photographic exhibition on 20 March.
Canon Australia reproduced 32 clear photographs of the
Silk Road in the 1970s for the exhibition.
Dr Yasuko Claremont, Chair of Japanese Studies received
a Special Award from the Inoue Yasushi Memorial
Foundation for her contribution and effort to promote
research in Japanese literature in Australia through public
announcement, application, selection of award winners
and related events of the Inoue Yasushi Award since
2006. Yasuko accepted it on behalf of the organising
committee in the School of Languages and Cultures.

New staff members...
Andrew McGarrity
Department of Indian Subcontinental Studies
Andrew McGarrity is the new Lecturer in South Asian
and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies. Andrew completed
his undergraduate and postgraduate doctoral studies
in this Department under Dr Peter Oldmeadow and has
been teaching in the Sanskrit, Buddhist Studies, and
Asian Studies programs since Peter’s retirement mid-2008.
Andrew’s expertise is in South Asian and Tibetan
philosophy and history of ideas in tradition and modernity
and Sanskrit and Tibetan language study. With his training in Sanskrit, Tibetan,
and Indian, Buddhist and Western Philosophy, and with his youth, enthusiasm and
cooperative nature, Andrew is a most welcomed addition to the Department.
Enrique Santamaría | Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies
Enrique Santamaría Busto was born in Burgos, Spain. He completed a double
major Arts degree in Applied Languages at the Universidad de Burgos and in
Comparative Literature at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where
he received his MA in Spanish as a Foreign Language. His professional activity
is orientated to the teaching of Spanish language and culture, covering a
wide range of disciplines (Advanced Grammar, Spanish for business, Creative
Writing, Spanish civilization of the 20th century, French-Spanish translation, DELE,
Spanish pronunciation). He has taught and coordinated courses at a number
of universities in the United States and Europe and is currently writing his PhD on
Spanish pronunciation in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language.
Yi Zheng
Department of Chinese Studies
Yi Zheng received her PhD from the
University of Pittsburgh. Since then
she taught modern Chinese literature
and culture as well as comparative
cultural studies in the US, Germany
and Israel before coming to Sydney.
She has also held fellowships from
the Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for
Advanced Studies), Berlin; Collegium
Budapest (Institute for Advanced
Studies), Budapest; and the Porter
Institute for Comparative Poetics, Tel
Aviv. She is completing a monograph
on civility and taste in contemporary
Chinese print media, which is based
on research completed in an ARC
funded discovery project (2006-2008)
investigating the changing structures
of class and taste culture in China, of
which she is co-Chief Investigator.

Issue #7
Language and Culture is an
online magazine published
four times a year
Editorial Staff
Jane Thompson
Michael McCabe
Original design concept
Serene Tay
Layout
Jane Thompson
Michael McCabe
contacts
The following departments and programs are located in
the School of Languages and Cultures
Arabic & Islamic Studies
Asian Studies Program
Buddhist Studies (offered in conjunction with the
Department of Studies in Religion)
Chinese Studies
European Studies Program
French Studies
Germanic Studies
Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies
Indian Subcontinental Studies
Indonesian Studies
International and Comparative Literary Studies Program
Italian Studies
Japanese Studies
Korean Studies
Modern Greek Studies
Spanish & Latin American Studies
MORE INFO
If you would like more information about
the School of Languages and Cultures or
would like to make an editorial enquiry
please contact us on +61 2 9351 4505.
For further information on any of the
articles in this issue, please contact us on:
T: +61 2 9351 2869
E: slc@usyd.edu.au
March 2009