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