Cultural Studies PhD readings groups
The School of Culture and Communication features a number of reading groups designed to bring together postgraduates and staff with shared research interests and to foster an atmosphere of collegiality. Presentations range from more formally structured papers to open discussion of ideas and work in progress. Participation in reading groups, which can take differing forms, means that you can hone your presentation skills and also get feedback from fellow researchers.
Reading groups
- Creative Writing Postgraduate Workshops
- Cultural Studies Workshop
- European Visual Culture Seminar
- Literary Studies / Literary Theory Reading Group
- Living Poetry Sessions
- Medieval Round Table
- Middle English Reading Group
- Modern and Contemporary Art Reading Group
- Nineteenth-century Group
- Postgraduate Methodologies Seminar
- Technology and Culture Reading Group
- Theatre Studies Reading Group and Seminar Series
Creative Writing Postgraduate Workshops
The Graduate Writers Symposium is held on the first Wednesday of each month from 6-8.00pm in the John Medley Large Seminar Room for workshopping created and related critical work in progress.
The Graduate Writers' Lunchtime Seminar is held from 1.05-1.55pm in John Medley Room 231 the third Tuesday of each month, for workshopping creative and related critical work in progress.
Graduate students of the School of Culture and Communication are welcome to participate, whether or not they are formally enrolled in Creative Writing graduate work.
Contact
Marion M. Campbell, marionmc@unimelb.edu.au
Cultural Studies Workshop
The Cultural Studies Workshop is an informal discussion group that meets fortnightly on Thursday evenings. The purpose of this workshop is to provide a conducive and supportive environment for critical discussion and friendly debate between staff and students about issues/concepts/methodologies relating to Cultural Studies as a contemporary research field. The format of the workshop is flexible but hopefully it will enable students to workshop their own ideas, present papers about their own research, obtain constructive feedback and be inspired by the research of their peers. This workshop is a fantastic opportunity to meet, interact and exchange opinions with others who are pursuing research projects in/related to Cultural Studies and also to be introduced to new ideas, approaches and material.
Contacts
Sufern Hoe, shoe@unimelb.edu.au and Audrey Yue, aisy@unimelb.edu.au
European Visual Culture Seminar
The European Visual Culture Seminar (established 1993) consists of staff and students from Melbourne, La Trobe and others universities, as well as interested members of the public, whose research and study interests cover a diverse range of European art history areas, from the Middle Ages to the 20th centuries. And Australian art topics are also discussed. The range of methodological interests is wide - from patronage to portraits, architecture to artists, landscapes to lunancy, and treatises to theory are discussed. Presentations to the group are held once a month.
The EVC prides itself on its approachable culture, that permits extended discussion of papers in a friendly and supportive environment in which scholars can have their understanding enriched by the perspective of others, as well as getting thoughtful and in-depth feedback on their research.
The EVCS meets once a month during semester, on a Monday evening at 6.45 pm, normally in Room 148 or 150 of the Elisabeth Murdoch Building, The University of Melbourne. Afterwards all are welcome to adjourn for dinner in Lygon Street. All are welcome to attend, including FAN members and members of the public.
Convenor
Tim Ould, timould@hotmail.com
Associate convenors
Assoc. Prof. David Marshall, david.marshall@unimelb.edu.au and Clare O'Donoghue, c.o'donoghue@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
For further information visit:
Living Poetry Sessions
The Living Poetry Sessions (LiPS) are for those who enjoy poetry. Whether it's written by you or simply brought by you, it's all welcome. It is not the aim of LiPS to academically critique poetry, this is an anti-reading group in that sense. Hedonism not "head-in-ism" is the order of the sessions.
LiPS meets the first Tuesday of every month at 5pm at Deep Dish (behind the Graduate Centre) unless the venue is closed. In such a case, the alternative venue is Room G14 in the west wing of the Graduate Centre (in the UMPA offices).
Contacts
Tammi Jonas, t.jonas@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au and Hoa Pham, hoa@hoapham.net
Medieval Round Table
The Medieval Round Table is an interdisciplinary group that has been meeting regularly since 1996. Its members include staff, and past and present postgraduate and undergraduate students of medieval studies, from disciplines of English, History, Art History and Classics. The group meets at 6.00 pm on the first Monday of the month, over wine and snacks, and normally hears a paper from one of the members, or discusses a previously circulated research paper, or some secondary or critical reading.
Ask to be put on our email listserve to receive notices about meetings and other events.
The Medieval Round Table is organised by a committee:
Professor Stephanie Trigg
School of Culture and Communication
University of Melbourne
Email: sjtrigg@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Ann Sadedin (email Ann to be put on the Round Table listserve)
Information Services
University of Melbourne Library
Email: annsad@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Kathy Troup
Research Fellow
School of Historical Studies
University of Melbourne
Email: ktroup@unimelb.edu.au
Middle English Reading Group
This informal group meets every second Wednesday at 1:00pm, for an hour, in Stephanie Trigg's room (Room 205, West Tower, John Medley Building, near the general office) for coffee, cake and poetry. All are welcome to come along, at whatever reading level you are. In second semester 2007 we are starting with the alliterative and rhyming and concatenated Pearl. Probably the standard edition is still that of E.V. Gordon (OUP, 1953), but the text in The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript (ed. Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron, Arnold, 1978) is slightly more reader-friendly in its spelling. As always, we will go as slowly as we need, reading a stanza (or a sentence?) each and translating as we go. It will help if you get a chance to look at the text before we meet, but it doesn't matter if you can't. If you would like to be emailed with details of further meetings of this group, please email Stephanie Trigg.
Contact
Prof Stephanie Trigg, sjtrigg@unimelb.edu.au
Modern and Contemporary Art Reading Group
The Modern and Contemporary Art Reading Group is open to staff and postgraduate students at The University of Melbourne. The emphasis is on critical reading and discussion of the best new scholarly writing on modern and contemporary art. Rather than deliver formal papers, participants will be asked to prepare a short paper articulating a position on the chosen reading for each session. A photocopy is lodged in the Elisabeth Murdoch Resource Library and a limited number of free copies are available folders outside the offices of the chairpersons. The group meets monthly. Venue and time are advised by chairpersons upon sign-up to the group's email list. Participants volunteer to take turns to present a brief summary and criticism of the chosen essays or book chapters.
Contacts
We ask interested students or staff to RSVP if attending so interest can be gauged.
Anthony White, a.white@unimelb.edu.au and Charles Green, c.green@unimelb.edu.au
Nineteenth-century Group
The nineteenth-century Group offers staff and students with an interest in nineteenth-century literature and culture the chance to meet in an informal setting The group meets once a month and while some sessions are devoted to discussions of nineteenth-century texts and/or criticism, other meetings involve a group member discussing and soliciting feedback on work-in-progress.
Contacts
Aaron Mannion, azinexile@gmail.com and Grace Moore, gmoo@unimelb.edu.au
Postgraduate Methodologies Seminar
This is an informal seminar that meets on a monthly basis. It is open to all postgraduate students students from the School of Culture and Communication. The aim is to provide a conducive space for the critical discussion of the specific methodologies that are implemented in postgraduate research. The format of the discussion is less formal than a conventional seminar and more open to feedback. In the second semester of 2007 the aim is to have four seminars, one on each of the following methods: archival research, textual analysis, qualitative interviews/fieldwork and visual analysis. In each seminar there will be two presenters from different programs in the School. By inviting presentations from different parts of the School it is hoped that this seminar will sharpen awareness of the similarities and differences of specific approaches and that it will lead to a closer engagement with interdisciplinarity.
Contacts
Nikos Papastergiadis, n.papastergiadis@unimelb.edu.au and Sufern Hoe, shoe@unimelb.edu.au
Technology and Culture Reading Group
The Technology and Culture reading group is a newly established forum, offering the opportunity to discuss a wide range of theorists and texts that engage in cultural perspectives on technology. The group meets at 2pm each Friday, and welcomes regular or occasional attendance.
Contact
Michael Dieter, m.dieter@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Theatre Studies Reading Group and Seminar Series
Theatre Studies fosters an active research culture among staff and postgraduate researchers. Our emphasis on the interface between theory and practice is reflected in research that encourages critical thinking and analysis about and by means of creative practice, including its forms, histories, locations, contexts and applications.
All School of Culture and Communication postgraduates are encouraged to participate in the seminars and reading groups. They are an integral part of the research experience and a primary means of communication among researchers. Seminar programs are arranged on a semester basis and there will be calls for papers at the beginning of each semester.
Contact
Denise Varney, dvarney@unimelb.edu.au
All postgraduates in the School of Culture and Communication are also encouraged to participate in the School's Postgraduate Research Seminars