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Australian Studies

Conference: Nature and Environment in Australia

The Association for Australian Studies (GASt) invites for its 2016 biennial conference "Nature and Environment in Australia", to be held at the University of Cologne, 28 September – 1 October, 2016, organised by Professor Beate Neumeier (Department of English) and Professor Boris Braun (Institute of Geography). The multidisciplinary conference addresses debates around Australia which often explore the attachment to place as well as the intrinsic qualities of landscape. Australia’s famously unique nature on the one hand and heated discussions around environmental justice and activism on the other provide a forum for fostering scholarly and creative work that explores the relationship between human culture, natural history and global ecologies. This conference is concerned both with notions of indigenous environmental knowledge, and ideas about how a diverse Australia is responding to global climate change, resource exploitation, land degradation, urban sprawl, and loss of biodiversity.
The conference is supported by: Global South Studies Center Cologne (GSSC), Competence Area IV (Cultures and Societies in Transition), German Research Foundation (DFG), Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Köln

See full conference program.

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Netzwerkinitiative Australian Studies Online

On 8th of June 2015, Beate Neumeier and Dany Adone hosted the network initiative Australian Studies Online with the aim to further implement an interdisciplinary e-learning program with cooperating German universities with a focus on Australian Studies. Participants included Kathrin Althans (Köln), Christian Berrenberg (Köln), Eva Bischoff (Trier), Kylie Crane (Mainz), Patricia Plummer (Duisburg-Essen), Geoff Rodoreda (Stuttgart), Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp (Bonn), Anja Schwarz (Potsdam) and Russ West-Pavlov (Tübingen).

Indigenous Knowledge

On June 5th and 6th 2011, the University of Cologne hosted the symposium Indigenous Knowledge. Speakers included Beate Neumeier (Universität zu Köln), Bill Ashcroft (University of New South Wales), Stephen Muecke (University of New South Wales), Kim Scott (Curtin University), Norbert Finzsch (Universität zu Köln), Anna Haebich (Griffith University, Brisbane), Anne Brewster (University of New South Wales), Kay Schaffer (University of Adelaide), Philip Mead (University of Western Australia), Heinz Antor (Universität zu Köln), Karin Althans (Universität Münster), Patricia Plummer (Ruhr Universität Duisburg-Essen), Jacqueline Lo (Australian National University), and Eleonore Wildburger (Universität Klagenfurt).

Performance, Place and Memory

Professors Neumeier (Englisches Seminar), Berressem (Englisches Seminar) and Marx (Institut für Medienkulturwissenschaften) invited colleagues and students to an interdisciplinary workshop on Performance, Place and Memory in December 2012. Prof. Erika Fischer-Lichte (Freie Universität Berlin), Prof. Jacqueline Lo (Australian National University, Canberra), Prof. Mita Bannerjee (Universität Mainz) and Prof. Gay McAuley (University of Sydney) were among the participants and facilitated a lively discussion. Team Neumeier would like to thank the DAAD for supporting the event.

Reading Australia: Transcultural Encounters

On June 27th, 2013, Professor Beate Neumeier (Englisches Seminar) and Professor Sue Kossew (Dr. R. Marika Visiting Chair of Australian Studies) held the workshop on Reading Australia: Transcultural Encounters. Team Neumeier thanks Prof. Lars Eckstein (Universität Potsdam), Prof. Anja Schwarz (Universität Potsdam), PD Sissy Helff (Goethe Universität Frankfurt) and Prof. Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp (Universität Bonn) for their participation.

Digital Humanities World Wide

Professor Beate Neumeier (Englisches Seminar) and Professor Paul Arthur (Dr. R. Marika Visiting Chair of Australian Studies) hosted the workshop Digital Humanities World Wide on December 3rd, 2013.  We would like to thank the speakers and participants, Prof. Philip Mead (University of Western Australia), Prof. Harold Short (King's College, London), Dr. Patrick Sahle (Universität zu Köln), Prof. Joseph Tabbi (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Prof. Charles (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), for their insightful presentations.