===================================== MONASH ASIA INSTITUTE BULLETIN 6/2005 18 May 2005 - Special Bulletin ===================================== In this bulletin 1. Research on Indian Students in Melbourne 2. Seminar: Radio stations in Java and Book Launch: Sundanese English dictionary 3. Seminar: Social and Political Responses to Tsunami in Sri Lanka 4. MAI Postgraduate Seminar: Sri Lankan IT students in Australia 5. Book Launch: Chinese Indonesians 6. Seminar: Kashgar Cultural Monuments and Spaces 7. Petition for a safe campus ------------------------------------------- Item 1. Indian Students Research Project: Flexible Transnationalism: Indian students in Melbourne, Australia - LOOKING FOR OVERSEAS INDIAN STUDENTS - My name is Michiel Baas and I am a PhD candidate from the University of Amsterdam, doing research on Indian students in Melbourne. If you are an overseas Indian student completing a diploma, bachelor or master degree in Melbourne, I would like to meet you to talk about: - your reasons for coming here; - the life you live here; - and also your plans for the future. For more information about this project see: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/indianstudents/ If you have any questions, please contact me at: michielbaas@yahoo.com NB. This project confirms to the ethical guidelines of Monash University and the University of Amsterdam. Thus all confidentiality and security of data is guaranteed. Enquiries: Michiel Baas, Monash Asia Institute, Monash University Email: michielbaas@yahoo.com ------------------------------------------- Item 2. CSEAS Seminar and Book Launch The Centre of Southeast Asian Studies (MAI) and the Indonesian Studies program (School LCL) are delighted to announce a visit by Prof Ben Arps, Professor of Javanese Linguistics and Literature, Leiden University; Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, The ANU (May-July, 2005). This Thursday, 19th May 2005, 11.00am - 12.30pm in Manton Room SG02 Menzies building (11), Monash University Clayton campus Prof Ben Arps will present a seminar on research for a book to be titled 'Audio discourse and its allure: making sense of media sounds in Indonesia' Seminar topic: "Radio stations and music shows as meeting-places in Java" Prof Arps will then launch our colleague Rabin Hardjadibrata's 900-page "Sundanese English dictionary", compiled by R.R. Hardjadibrata; based on Soendanees-Nederlands woordenboek by F.S. Eringa. Jakarta: Published for Yayasan Kebudayaan Rancage by PT. Dunia Pustaka Jaya; Bandung: Distributed by Kiblat Buku Utama. About the seminar: In this paper Prof Arps will talk about the creation of a space and locality in DJ talk and phone-in on the radio, based on material from fieldwork in Banyuwangi, Cirebon and Cilacap in East and Central Java. About the speaker: Ben Arps has been Professor (Chair) of Javanese Linguistics and Literary Studies at Leiden University since 1993. He has lectured in Indonesian and Javanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1988-1993) and been a Fellow-in-Residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2001-2002). He is currently a Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University, in the Faculty of Asian Studies (February-April 2005) and in the Humanities Research Centre (May-July 2005). Arps's research and teaching are about discourse and language, conceived largely from an anthropological-linguistic point of view. On the theoretical side he is especially interested in mediation, performance, thematics and thematization, and control over language. His descriptive interests are in the changing positions of the so-called regional languages and cultures under Indonesian governance, the peculiarities of Javanese colloquial speech, and literature, drama (not least puppetry), religious thought, and ritual in their socio-historical contexts. Since 1979 Arps has conducted a total of four years of fieldwork in different parts of the Javanese-speaking area, principally in Surakarta and Yogyakarta in central Java and Banyuwangi on the eastern tip of the island. In 2002 he started research in Cilacap on the south coast. ALL WELCOME Enquiries: Dr Penelope Graham Senior Lecturer and Head of Anthropology, School PSI, Faculty of Arts Director, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash Asia Institute Email: penny.graham@arts.monash.edu.au ------------------------------------------- Item 3. Development Studies Seminar School of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies University of Melbourne Seminar on the 'Social and Political Responses to Tsunami in Sri Lanka' When: 5pm, Monday 23 May 2005 Where: Room B1.06, 221 Bouverie Street, Carlton Speaker: Professor Siri T. Hettige, Department of Sociology, University of Colombo About the speaker: Professor Hettige is involved with civil society groups monitoring the disbursement of aid to tsunami affected areas in Sri Lanka Contact: Dr Salim Lakha, (Coordinator, Development Studies Program) Email: salim@unimelb.edu.au ------------------------------------------- Item 4. Monash Asia Institute Postgraduate Seminar Friday 27 May 2005, 10.00 am Room S822, Level 8 South, Menzies Building (11) Monash University Clayton campus Deputy VC Research, Professor Edwina Cornish, is our keynote speaker next Friday 27 May 10am to 11am on the university's research agenda. This provides staff and students of MAI with an opportunity to explain the nature of their research and future plans. There will be an hour's break after this meeting. We resume at 12.00 noon with a light lunch to be followed by a confirmation seminar by Kim Styles on 'Sri Lankan IT students studying in Australia: those that return home and those that stay'. The confirmation seminar will begin at 12.30 sharp. Enquiries and RSVP to Juliet Yee ------------------------------------------- Item 5. Book Launch You are invited to attend the launch of "Chinese Indonesians: remembering, distorting, forgetting" edited by Tim Lindsay and Helen Pausacker a festschrift for Charles Coppel co-published by Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, and Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore When: Thursday 2 June 2005, 6.00 pm Where: Yasuko Hiraoko Myer Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, University of Melbourne The book launch is hosted by Monash Asia Institute Asia Law Centre, Melbourne University RSVP by 25 May 2005 Email, with 'book launch' as the subject, to sanjeev.veloo@adm.monash.edu.au, or telephone 9905 4991. Bookings will be automatically accepted without confirmation. ------------------------------------------- Item 6. Seminar: Kashgar Cultural Monuments and Spaces Melbourne Chinese Studies Group KASHGAR: CULTURAL MONUMENTS AND SPACES: A cooperative project to heighten international awareness of China's Xinjiang region When: 6pm Friday, 3 June 2005 Where: Museum of Chinese Australian History, 22 Cohen Place Melbourne 3000 (off Little Bourke St, between Lonsdale/Russell) Tel: (03)9662 2888 Speaker: Professor Marika Vicziany On Friday 03 June 2005, Professor Marika Vicziany, Director of Monash Asia Institute, will revisit the Melbourne China Studies Group to give us an update on the latest phase of her continuing work in China's far western Xinjiang region. This is an international research project, titled "Kashgar: Cultural Monuments and Spaces", undertaken in 2005 through collaboration among Monash Asia Institute, Xinjiang University, and the Foreign Relations and Trade Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Professor Vicziany is director of this project, which includes various Australian, Chinese, and American scholars working closely with the renowned photographer John Gollings. The project seeks to bring the famous but much ignored city of Kashgar into international awareness, by publication of a photographic essay covering a range of historical, cultural, social, and environmental sites. The expertise of the project's team embraces history, religion, culture, archaeology, Persian and Buddhist literature, and social and economic development. The team visited, recorded, measured and photographed some of the most important sites in this region (and, indeed, in all of central Asia and western China) including the Mauri Tim stupa, the ancient city of Hannoyi, the cemetery of laddered tombs, Kashgaria, the old city of Kasghar itself in all its complexity, Yarkand, Yengisar, Yopur, Artush. The team also photographed local residents, cultural objects (such as the tall hats of Yarkand), trees, natural sites and animals including the giant donkeys of Yopur, the diversiform poplars of the Taklimakan, the Pamirs, and the houses of the old and new rich merchants of Kashgar and Artush. The talk will be followed by an informal, inexpensive meal, at own cost, in a nearby restaurant. Please RSVP by return email Talk Only OR Talk+Dinner to Sophie Couchman (sophiec@smartchat.net.au) Admission Free. All Welcome. ------------------------------------------- Item 7. Petition Open Letter to Delhi University Authorities and Administration Appealing for a safe learning environment for female students. To view the petition in full see: http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/826763265 Please help by signing this petition. The system centralizes signature collection to provide consolidated, useful reports for petition authors and targets. Please forward this email to others you believe share your concern. To add your name to this petition go to: http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/826763265 *Signers may choose to hide their identity to the public. Such names will appear as "Anonymous" on the Site.com and advocacy emails similar to this. (The signature number above may not match the number assigned to your signature on the first page of the petition.) ======================================================================== The Monash Asia Institute Newsletter incorporates news items from the six research centres of the Monash Asia Institute, partner organisations and other groups working to promote Asian Studies in Australia. For further information about the Monash Asia Institute and this newsletter: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/ To unsubscribe, please send an email to: monash.asia.institute@adm.monash.edu.au ========================================================================