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AHA Newsletter 20: 28 August 2009

Information   |   History Australia   |   Call for Papers: Screening Australian and New Zealand Histories   |   AIATSIS Conference
  |   Survey of Public History Practitioners   |   Photos from the 2009 AHA Regional Conference   |  


Information

Please allow plenty of time, when you send notices for the Newsletter (especially when there is a deadline involved) – at least a month would be ideal. Because Jayne and I work on a part time basis for the AHA and I do not have access to the membership database, it is not always possible to get information distributed quickly.

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History Australia

This is your chance to own a Complete Set of History Australia

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Register Now at www.aiatsis.gov.au

Attached is a poster for display in your place of work or study.

Conference Programme


The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) invites you to register for the National Indigenous Studies Conference 2009 on the theme Perspectives on Urban Life: Connections and Reconnections. The conference will consider a range of questions facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban and semi-urban/regional areas. Themes to be addressed at the conference include:
  • Culture and Heritage,
  • Community Partnerships,
  • Demography,
  • Education,
  • Health,
  • Housing,
  • Language,
  • Cultural Expression,
  • Digital Technologies,
  • Urban Identity,
  • Histories and Experience,
  • Mobility and Migration,
  • Representation and
  • Cultural Expression.
The conference brings together community members and organisations, academics and researchers, consultants, service and industry providers and policy makers to discuss issues of relevance for today’s urban Indigenous population.

Also at the conference: IT demonstrations, Exhibitions, Market and Trade Stalls

Registration
Full conference   Daily attendance (per day)  
Full Fee$340Full fee$170
AIATSIS Members & Conference Presenters$270AIATSIS Members & Conference Presenters$140
Concession *$140Concession *$70
* Concessional registration fees are available for full time students and unemployed. Proof of status may be required.


Phone: (02) 6261 4221 or (02) 6246 1144
Email
Post: GPO Box 553, Canberra ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA


               

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Call for Papers

Anthology: Screening Australian and New Zealand Histories
Editors: Dr James Bennett (History, University of Newcastle, NSW) and Dr Rebecca Beirne (Film and Television Studies, University of Newcastle, NSW)

Individual submissions are invited from both emerging and established researchers working in a range of relevant disciplines for an interdisciplinary anthology called 'Screening Australian and New Zealand Histories.' This volume is designed to place the study of film and television into fresh historical perspectives. It is intended that the volume will be accessible to teachers and students at both a secondary and a tertiary level. In the first instance the editors are seeking submission of abstracts of between 50 and 100 words NO LATER THAN 30 SEPTEMBER 2009.

'Screening Australian and New Zealand Histories' (working title) aims to present a compendium of brief papers on selected Australian and New Zealand films and television programs that can be situated within a clear historical context. Documentaries, docudramas, mock documentaries, dramatic feature films, experimental films, subversions of history and television advertisements are all examples of visual texts that support the project and are therefore of interest to the editors.

The visual text lies at the intersection of a number of disciplines and an awareness of its meaning and function has become increasingly important in an era when we are bombarded with audio-visual images. The moving image is commonly used in the classroom at various levels of education but not always in a way that is informed by the underlying principles of how film as text works, and what it can offer as an alternative educational medium to written texts . Each discipline has its own set of questions in relation to the moving image. In order to transcend a single disciplinary mode of analysis, we are deliberately framing the project as interdisciplinary with the aim of unravelling the multiple layers constituting the moving image. We welcome explorations of the hybrid form, subversion in its many guises, interrogations of truth claims and the querying of traditional boundaries between truth and fiction. The collection will be targeted at teachers and students at tertiary and secondary level in the following areas:
  • History
  • Film studies
  • Teacher education
  • Media studies
  • Australian Studies
  • New Zealand Studies
The following themes are of interest to the editors (other themes will be considered):
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Narratives
  • Maori Narratives
  • Women and Gendered Identities
  • Sexual Identities
  • War and Society
  • Icons, Crime and Mythology
  • Adolescence
  • Icons of Australian Nationhood
  • Icons of New Zealand Nationhood
  • New Zealand Colonial Narratives
  • Multiculturalism
  • Historical Subversions
  • Different versions of the same film (exploring shifts over time, e.g. Ned Kelly)
Submissions of no more than 1500 words are sought with an option of up to three 150 word sub-sections for inclusion as supplementary material to accompany the paper. The sub-sections may take the form of interesting back stories, companion or complementary films and why they are different or educational resource material that would enhance the interest and impact of the paper. Suggestions on accompanying images to support the text are also welcome.

The guidelines below are offered to assist prospective contributors in making a suitable choice of film/program and in designing their entry to fit the specifications of the project.

  1. The film/program (even if the story is fictional) must be situated within an identifiable context of time and space (MANDATORY)
  2. Whose perspective/viewpoint/story is represented in the film/program and how is this done using visual language? How does the filmmaker’s gender/race/class/sexuality impact on that perspective? (MANDATORY)
  3. To what extent does the film evince historical fidelity? How should we judge the historical truths presented in the film? What kind of truths does the film/program present? (for details of truth in film that transcends the issue of simple accuracy, see, for example, Robert Rosenstone, Visions of the Past, Harvard University Press, 1995: especially his discussion of true and false invention) (MANDATORY)
  4. If film and television can be seen as artefacts of the period of their production or as mirrors of the society when they were made, what does this tell us about the film’s/program’s present? (MANDATORY)
  5. How do the conventions of drama and fiction used in the film interrelate with history?
  6. What is the intended audience of the film/program, and how has the filmmaker shaped the film/program for that audience?
  7. If the film/program has been adapted from an historical novel, a play or another such source, how has the story been adapted from page to screen?
  8. How are cinematic devices used to represent the histories on screen? e.g. cinematography, editing, sound, music, costumes, titles, voice-over narration, casting etc.
  9. Does the film/program merely reinforce dominant ideological perspectives on the issue or does it challenge or subvert them? Does it contribute to historical debates?
  10. Give a minimum of two and maximum of four texts as essential reading. These sources can include a specialist history/histories of the issue/topic, the screenplay or text from which the film/program has been adapted, a suitable scholarly website or key background reading.
Further information is available from the editors to whom abstracts of between 50 and 100 words should be sent NO LATER THAN 30 SEPTEMBER.

We look forward to receiving some exciting and dynamic proposals, and we especially welcome new perspectives!

James Bennett and Rebecca Beirne

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Survey of Public History Practitioners

Robert Townsend of the American Historical Association and John Dichtl have completed an article analysing some of the results of a survey of Public History Practitioners. The article will appear in the September issue of the AHA’s Perspectives on History and the September issue of NCPH’s Public History News. A version of the paper is attached here for your interest.

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Photos from the 2009 AHA Regional Conference at the University of the Sunshine Coast
All photos taken by Tracey Stuart
Click on image to see it full size.

Official Opening
Lyndon Davis, Welcome to Country
Lyndon Davis, Welcome to Country
Dr Joanne Scott welcoming participants to the conference


First Keynote Address: Raymond Evans
Raymond Evans
Raymond Evans


Second Keynote Address: Marnie Hughes
Marnie Hughes


Book Launch:
Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence,
edited by Richard Scully and Marian Quartly
Marian and Richard at their book launch
Richard Scully signing a book for Marnie Hughes.
Marian Quartly signing a copy of the book.


Book Launch:
Shaking Hands on the Fringe: Negotiating the Aboriginal World at King George's Sound,
Tiffany Shellam
Sale copies of Shaking Hands on the Fringe
The audience at Tiffany's book launch
Tiffany Shellam signing a copy of her book.


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URL: http://www.theaha.org.au/newsletters/2009/newsletter20.htm