Tony Birch and Ross Gibson The recent dialogue between Ross Gibson and Tony Birch demonstrated the kind of thinking that might be revealed through a southern perspective. At the opening of the series, Raewyn Connell laid down the challenge to broaden our theoretical references beyond the metropolitan centres. In the discussion that followed, there was [...]
Posts under ‘IPS series’
Suvendrini Perera: An Insular State
An Insular State Thu 02-09-10, 7:30pm At least since Thomas More’s Utopus founded his ideal state by carving it free, by the use of forced labour, from the continent to which it was bound, the topos of the island, organised by an ontologised division between land and sea, has been central to the geopolitical imagination [...]
Stepping forward to the past: William Barak and William Dawes
Thursday 12 August 7:30-9pm, Institute of Postcolonial Studies A conversation between Tony Birch and Ross Gibson Two figures from the early days of the Australian colony that have fresh relevance today – an English scientist at the founding of Sydney and an indigenous leader at the birth of Melbourne. image William Dawes arrived on the [...]
Paul Carter on Dry Thinking
On a crisp autumn night, Paul Carter presented a paper on ‘dry thinking’ as a contribution to the Southern Perspectives series. There was a complex North-South dynamic at play in Carter’s talk. Although published in German, Carter’s paper had never before been presented in English before. And although invoking the broad trajectory of Western philosophy, [...]
Paul Carter ‘Dry Thinking and Human Futures’
image image An opportunity to hear one of Australia’s leading thinkers reflect on the philosophical challenges of living in a recalcitrant environment: Australia’s natural water body is, as it were, too humid to be relied upon. It spreads out and refuses to solidise. It collects in billabongs and necklaces of ponds that do not communicate [...]
The Brazilian paradox in Australia
Last night, Brazilian academic and curator Ilana Goldstein explored the Brazilian paradox in the second talk of the Southern Perspectives series. How can a country that embraces racial mixing fail to support Indigenous arts? Why is it that a country like Australia, that takes whiteness as a norm, puts so many resources into developing indigenous [...]
Ilana Goldstein talks about what Brazil might learn from Australian Indigenous arts
Wauja woven mask Looking from outside, Australia has been extraordinarily successful in developing an Indigenous cultural industry. This is particularly evident in painting, but is also present in other areas – craft, dance, film and music. The situation is different in many other countries of the South. The regional cultures of Africa, Pacific and Latin [...]
Southern Theory – picking up the gauntlet
Raewyn Connell’s book Southern Theory has attracted a great deal of attention in the field of sociology. As an example of the use of ‘South’ within a particular discipline of knowledge, it is worth reflecting on the responses. It has won awards and been the subject of many conference sessions, but it has also engendered [...]
Raewyn Connell ‘Thinking South: Re-Locating Australian Intellectual Culture’ 18 March 2010
The first seminar in the Southern Perspectives series at the Institute of Postcolonial Studies features Raewyn Connell, author of Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Science. Her book has proven to be a significant and highly controversial intervention into sociology and related disciplines.She has spoken about Southern Theory in academic forums around [...]
