ARTS  UPDATE

   3  November  2017  

News  

English/Cultural  Studies    This  week  Erin  Harrington  gave  a  public  talk  on  witches  and  popular  culture  at  Tuatara  Open  Late,  a  monthly  late  night  event  held  at  City  Gallery  Wellington.  The  talk  was  to  celebrate  the  gallery’s  exhibition  Occulture:  The  Dark  Arts,  which  runs  until  November  19,  and  came  before  a  screening  of  the  legendary  1922  horror  film  Häxan,  accompanied  by  a  new  score  performed  live.  Erin  was  also  featured  in  an  article  on  the  appeal  of  contemporary  horror  that  appeared  in  the  Sunday  magazine  section  of  last  week’s  Sunday  Star  Times,  and  spoke  on  Radio  Live  with  Lisa  Owen  about  why  it  is  (some)  people  love  to  watch  scary  movies.  Happy  Halloween!    Congratulations  to  Kim  Parrent,  who  successfully  defended  her  PhD  last  week  in  her  Viva.    Kim’s  project,  titled  “Holo-­‐Pursuits:  Holographic  Identity  and  Agency”,  focussed  on  series  from  the  Star  Trek  franchise  (especially  The  Next  Generation  and  Voyager)  to  interrogate  relations  between  the  dominant  and  marginalised  in  this  speculative  domain.    Professor  Henrietta  Mondry  (also  Russian  and  Human  Animal  Studies)  has  been  admitted  in  an  official  ceremony  as  Visiting  Fellow  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge.  Peterhouse  is  the  oldest  college  at  Cambridge,  founded  in  1280.  Henrietta's  activities  include  research  seminar  presentations,  addressing  a  multidisciplinary  postgraduate  group  discussion  on  Humanity  and  Animality,  consulting  students  on  their  final  year  research  essays,  and  teaching  a  module  on  Chekhov's  tragedy  in  the  undergraduate  course  "Tragedy  Circus".  The  Fellowship  gives  Henrietta  a  wonderful  opportunity  for  under-­‐  and  postgraduate  benchmarking  and  sharing  research  findings  with  renowned  academics  across  disciplines  as  well  as  finding  new  avenues  for  research  collaboration.      

Philosophy   Two  philosophy  PhD  students  successfully  took  their  vivas  in  the  same  week,  James  Schofield  (supervised  by  Jack  Copeland,  Diane  Proudfoot,  and  Doug  Campbell)  and  Michael  Couch  (supervised  by  Jack  Copeland).  Congratulations  James  and  Michael!    The  recent  restoration  by  Jack  Copeland  and  Jason  Long  of  the  earliest  known  recording  of  computer-­‐generated  music  is  part  of  the  recently  opened  exhibition  at  the  British  Library  in  London  LISTEN:  140  Years  of  Recorded  Sound.    

Jack  and  Jason's  article  "Alan  Turing:  How  His  Universal  Machine  Became  a  Musical  Instrument"  has  just  appeared  in  the  IEEE  online  magazine  Spectrum:  https://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-­‐life/history/alan-­‐turing-­‐how-­‐his-­‐universal-­‐machine-­‐became-­‐a-­‐musical-­‐instrument.  Spectrum  has  a  regular  readership  of  400,000.     School  of  Fine  Arts    

   UC  Arts  at  the  Arts  Centre    While  regular  weekly  concerts  have  finished  for  the  year,  a  number  of  students  have  recitals  that  are  open  to  the  public.    Today  (Friday  3rd)  you  can  see  Grace  Millar  (voice)  perform  at  1.10pm  and  Angus  Simmons  (voice)  at  7.30pm.  

Tomorrow  (Saturday  4th)  come  along  to  a  concert  of  early  music  featuring  staff  and  students  at  5pm.  All  of  these  programmes  are  being  presented  in  the  Recital  Room  at  the  Arts  Centre  location.    Human  Services  and  Social  Work    Cindy  Zeiher  attended  and  presented  at  the  LACK  II:  Psychoanalysis  and  Politics  conference  in  Colorado  Springs  (19-­‐21   Oct).   Her   paper,   "The   Problematic   Politics   of   Nostalgia   and   the   Tenacity   of   the   Neighbour"   generated  much  discussion  and  was  well  received  by  those  who  attended.  The  conference,  lasting  for  three  days,  brought  together   those  who   are   exploring   questions   of   politics   as   intersecting  with   the  work   of   French   psychoanalyst  Jacques  Lacan.    Cindy  Zeiher  has  also  co-­‐edited  a  collection,  'Can  Philosophy  Love?'  with  the  convenor  of  the  LACK  II  conference,  Professor   Todd  McGowan   (University   of   Vermont)   now   available   from  Rowman   and   Littlefield   publishers.   The  collection   includes   essays   considering   the   question   of   love   alongside   key   thinkers   such   as   Hegel,   Freud,  Kierkegaard,  Kant,  Jacques  Lacan,  Slavoj  Zizek,  Alain  Badiou,  Gianni  Vattimo  and  Alenka  Zupancic.  The  collection  includes   chapters   from   three   University   of   Canterbury   scholars:   Professor   Henrietta   Mondry   (Russian);  "Ideological   Love:   Russian   Conservative   Thinkers   of   the   Fin-­‐de-­‐siecle";  Assoc.   Prof  Mike   Grimshaw   (Sociology):  "Weak  Love?";  and  Dr  Cindy  Zeiher  (Human  Services):  "Struggle  as  Love  par  excellence:  Zupancic  avec  Badiou"    The  collection  has  received  positive  endorsements  from  Joan  Copjec,  Alenka  Zupancic,  Mladen  Dolar  and  Adrian  Johnston.  (https://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/can_philosophy_love/3-­‐156-­‐f6ae9aa9-­‐6377-­‐4718-­‐aecd-­‐da2f374ff684)  

       Canterbury  School  for  Continental  Philosophy    CT&T:  Continental  Thought  and  Theory  is  delighted  to  welcome  renowned  philosopher  and  cultural  critic,  Slavoj  Zizek  to  the  editorial  board.    

National  Centre  for  Research  on  Europe  (NCRE)    Near  EU  project  The  NCRE  is  a  proud  member  of  the  new  NEAR-­‐EU  project,  an  international  academic  network  that  brings  together  prominent  academic  centres  in  the  field  of  European  Studies  in  EU  and  non-­‐European  countries  (Israel,  New  Zealand,  Canada  and  Singapore).  The  project  aims  to  further  deepen  the  academic  discourse  on  European  higher  education  policy  and  the  European  Higher  Education  Area.  Find  more  information  about  the  NEAR-­‐EU  project  here.    Successful  Conference  in  Melbourne    

 Conference  participants  

 The  conference  "Fulfilling  the  Vision:  European  Union  futures?"  in  Melbourne  on  16–18  October  2017  brought  together  EU  centres  from  across  the  Asia  Pacific.  The  conference  addressed  the  challenges  the  EU  faces  internally  and  externally  as  well  as  the  possible  paths  going  forward.  NCRE  staff  and  students  took  part,  including  some  young  Masters  students  who  presented  their  budding  research  in  this  international  setting.    Franzisca  Doser  (MA)  presented  her  research  on  refugee  integration  through  early  education  in  German  primary  schools.  Contrasting  the  experiences  of  Eastern  and  Western  regional  states,  she  looks  at  the  implementation  of  German  Federal  and  EU  guidelines  on  refugee  integration.      Alex  Tardi-­‐Zuch  (MA)  presented  on  Nationalism  in  Hungary  and  Poland.  His  objective  is  to  bring  further  depth  to  the  existing  studies  of  nationalism  in  Hungary  and  Poland  from  a  historical  background  aiming  to  analyse  the  idiographic  nature  of  events  such  as  the  Hungarian  uprising  of  1956  and  the  Polish  Solidarity  movement  of  the  1980’s.  The  research  includes  analysis  of  present  day  immigration  policy  and  refugee  quotas  to  examine  the  effects  of  historical  sentiments  in  a  modern  context.    Bérengère  Greenland  (PhD)  presented  her  research  on  the  projection  of  Strategic  Narratives  on  Global  Energy  Governance  in  France  and  in  the  EU.  France  is  a  particular  energy  actor,  with  very  different  energy  interests  than  other  European  countries.  As  such  there  are  areas  of  external  energy  policy  in  which  its  national  interest  differs  from  the  interests  of  the  EU  as  a  whole.  Her  research  looks  at  how  the  EU’s  external  energy  policies  and  narratives  about  energy  may  impact  the  communication  of  France’s  narrative  about  global  energy  governance.    Daviti  Mtchedlishvili  (PhD)  presented  on  the  Europeanisation  of  the  South  Caucusus.  He  argues  that  while  the  EU’s  Eastern  Partnership  Program  has  been  the  main  instrument  of  Europeanisation  process  in  the  region,  it  has  been  failing  to  manage  the  developments  of  the  South  Caucasus  in  a  systematic  and  decisive  manner.  As  a  result,  the  process  of  Europeanisation  has  divided  into  trichotomous  branching  with  all  possible  scenarios,  while  the  “Golden  Carrot”  –  accession  –  is  missing  from  the  picture.  

Doctor  Serena  Kelly  also  presented  on  the  media  framing  of  Brexit  in  New  Zealand.  Contrasting  NZ  and  UK  authored  articles,  she  and  her  co-­‐authors  Natalia  Chaban  and  Franzisca  Doser  focus  their  analysis  on  the  chronological  attitudes  and  emotionality  towards  Brexit.  Drawing  on  the  psychological  change-­‐curve  model  (Kubler-­‐Ross  1969),  they  argue  that  because  of  the  huge  change  implied  by  Brexit,  the  acceptance  of  the  event  will  occur  in  emotional  stages,  with  the  change  curve  model  serving  as  the  ideal  process  of  acceptance.  According  to  the  model,  New  Zealand  remains  stuck  in  the  stages  of  pre-­‐acceptance  and  grief,  while  sources  printed  in  the  analysed  NZ  media,  originating  from  the  UK  indicate  that  Britain  has  reached  the  acceptance  phase.    Professor  Natalia  Chaban  presented  in  the  first  plenary  session  of  the  conference  on  the  role  of  the  EU  in  a  multipolar  world  order.  Her  presentation  focussed  on  the  normative  role  the  EU  plays  and  the  ways  in  which  it  is  perceived  in  third  countries.    

Professor Natalia Chaban (and others) during first plenary session.

Global,  Cultural  and  Language  Studies    

Masterclass  for  ikebana  On  Wednesday  last  week  the  Japanese  Programme  hosted  a  masterclass  for  ikebana  -­‐  the  art  of  traditional  Japanese  flower  arranging  -­‐  with  New  Zealand's  top  Sogetsu  School  ikebana  teacher,  Takako  Martin.  Members  of  several  Canterbury  ikebana  groups,  including  the  UC's  own  ikebana  class,  spent  a  wonderful  evening  being  put  through  their  floral  paces  and  critiqued  by  Takako-­‐sensei.      If  there  are  any  more  budding  ikebana  students  out  there  who  want  to  learn  with  us,  please  contact  Gloria  Evans:    gloria.evans@otago.ac.nz,  021  0352875.    

   

     

Japanese  essays  by  students  published    Short  essays  in  Japanese  by  Geordie  Rodda  and  Krystal  Long  (JAPA  326  Advancing  Japanese  B)  have  been  published  in  the  Kiwi  Time  Magazine.  They  are  fantastic  pieces  of  work  that  talk  about  their  encounters  with  Japan  and  Japanese  culture,  and  how  they  inspired  them  to  explore  their  career  path  with  a  new  perspective.  Link  to  Krystal’s  essay:  https://www.kiwitime.org/current-­‐issues/  (p.35).      

         

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