School of Arts and Communication

Research Newsletter

SoAC Research Newsletter – February 2016 From the Coordinator, Research and Research Training

Dear Colleagues, Please find below news from the Research and Research Training portfolio, including notable research, performance and exhibition achievements from colleagues.

Research Profile

Dr Jess Carniel, Humanities

Dr Jess Carniel is Lecturer in Humanities and the Program Coordinator for the Bachelor of Arts in the School of Arts and Communication. Her teaching and research intersect in her commitment to interdisciplinary humanities scholarship. Broadly, her research focuses on themes of race and ethnicity, gender, migration and multiculturalism within both contemporary Australian and global contexts, with a particular focus on cultural texts, contexts, and phenomena. She has published on such diverse topics as masculinity in Australian , representations of gender in the Australian Defence Forces (in Jessica Gildersleeve and Richard Gehrmann’s forthcoming edited collection, Contemporary War and Representation: Outsider Perspectives on the Wars on Terror), articulations of gender and ethnic identities in Australian literature, , and television, and various trends around gender and race in Australian soccer. Most recently, she has delved into how Eurovision reflects and shapes trends in global politics and human rights, which forms the foundation for her new research project. These diverse projects are unified by Jess’s deep interest in contemporary culture in all its forms, and by her cultural studies approach to understanding the way we shape texts and contexts through the practices of everyday life. Jess is the Secretary of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia, and will use this position and connection to the discipline’s leading representative body to further develop the discipline as a research and teaching field at the University of Southern Queensland, alongside her cultural studies colleagues.

In 2016, Jess is commencing a project on Australian Eurovision fans that expands upon her previous research on the cultural and political significance of the Eurovision Song Contest. This project will involve a series of interviews with fans about their personal , attachment to, and practices of Eurovision fandom. Jess is particularly interested in uncovering how and why Eurovision fandom in has emerged as an important nexus for multiculturalism and gender diversity, as well as unpacking the contest’s broad transnational appeal.

Jess’ recent publications include:

Carniel, J 2016, “‘Either feed your belly or nourish your soul’: work, artistic aspiration and autobiography in Rosa R. Cappiello’s Oh Lucky Country,” Interdisciplinary Literary Studies vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 130-149.

Carniel, J 2015, “Skirting the issue: finding queer and geopolitical belonging at the Eurovision Song Contest,” Contemporary Southeastern Europe, vol. 2, no. 2, available at: < http://www.suedosteuropa.uni-graz.at/cse/en/current_issue>.

Carniel, J 2013, “Of and Men: Dimensions and Discourses of Masculinity in Nerds FC,” in Z Inglis and D Sutera (eds), Identity and Myth in Sports Documentaries, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, pp. 93-107.

Carniel, J 2013, “In the spirit of reconciliation: migrating spirits and Australian postcolonial multiculturalism in Hoa Pham’s Vixen,” in L Kröger and M Anderson (eds), Spectral Identities: Ghosting in Literature and Film, Newark: University of Delaware Press, pp. 75-90.

Book Prize Nominations

Continuing this School’s tradition of notable book prize nominations, Dr Daniel Hourigan’s most recent monograph Law and Enjoyment: power, pleasure and psychoanalysis has been nominated for the R.M. Crawford Medal for humanities scholarship from the Australian Academy of the Humanities. As noted by the AAH:

“The R.M. Crawford Medal recognises outstanding achievement in the humanities by young Australian scholars currently engaged in research, and whose publications contribute towards an understanding of their discipline by the general public. The Crawford Medal is presented biennially.”

Importantly Daniel was nominated by distinguished peer Professor William McNeill, currently at Griffith Law School. Professor McNeill will soon be taking up the inaugural John Dowd Chair in Law and the Deanship for the School of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University. What an esteemed endorsement for Law and Enjoyment.

Well done Daniel.

HDR Updates

Honours Dr Libby Connors as Honours Program Coordinator has provided a report on the current state of the Honours Program. Libby notes that 12 new students will be commencing this year, across the disciplines of International Relations, Anthropology, Visual Arts, English Literature, and , with the majority of these students to be situated on campus.

Some process change has also occurred around the engagement that students have with supervisors in the program. As Libby notes:

“The system of requiring students to submit a Supervisor Approval Checklist in 2015 worked well…[and] provided a paper trail to track the progress of students from each discipline. It has also enabled timely advice to students at risk of failing so that they withdraw without penalty or apply for leave”.

Significantly this change in process has enabled greater support for our Honours candidates and a deeper understanding of how they are progressing through their projects.

PhD and DCA The School has received a healthy stream of applications for the PhD and DCA programs for Semester 1 2016. Notably the DCA, in its first full year of offer, has received applications from 8 prospective candidates, with further applicants still in the works. One of these DCA applicants, Linda Clarke was successful in securing an APA scholarship, with this achievement demonstrating the strength of the program’s capacity to attract high-calibre students.

The PhD continues to remain strong, although I am cognisant of diminishing supervision capacity in some areas. However, if you are interested in discussing supervision opportunities, please don’t hesitate to contact me. In a School such as ours, my view is that holding a broad sense of one’s disciplinary expertise is a valuable attribute; there is often much to be gained from working with HDR candidates in areas that aren’t strictly aligned to your precise disciplinary foci.

HDR Entry Requirements Just a brief reminder that there are quite defined policy designations the dictate entry to doctoral programs. It is imperative that in discussing doctoral program enrolment with prospective students that you ascertain the student’s entry eligibility. For the doctoral programs serviced by our School this requires, in short, evidence of research capacity (typically through the conduct of an earlier research project in an Honours or Masters by/with Research program).

You might also direct prospective students toward the specific program (PhD or DCA) program page upon commencing discussions, noting the entry requirements.

PhD: http://www.usq.edu.au/study/degrees/doctor-of-philosophy

DCA: http://www.usq.edu.au/study/degrees/doctor-of-creative-arts

If you are in doubt regarding advice for prospective students, please don’t hesitate to contact me or forward my details to the student.

Supervision Eligibility Further to these notes regarding entry, the University also applies restrictions on supervision eligibility.

Currently, eligibility to undertake Principal Supervision is based on the prospective supervisor having successfully supervised to completion (as an Associate or Co Supervisor) an earlier project. Supervisors of doctoral projects must also hold a doctoral level qualification.

When discussing project options with prospective students it will be important to keep this in mind when identifying the supervision team and to ensure smooth progression of the application.

eViSS Success

The School of Arts and Communication is very fortunate to have received funding to support two visiting scholars through 2016.

Dr Dallas Baker and colleagues prepared a submission to have Professor Donna Lee Brien visit in April. Amongst other activities, Professor Brien will provide a keynote for the “Fogotten Lives” symposium.

Dr Rebecca Scollen and colleagues were successful in their application to have Professor Peter Falkenberg visit the School in June as part of the Australian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies “Resilience: Revive, Restore, Reconnect”.

Further details regarding workshops and presentations by Professor Brien and Professor Falkenberg will be disseminated.

Professional Association Representation

Dr Libby Connors has been appointed President of the Australia and New Zealand Law and History Association. The ANZLHS is:

“an interdisciplinary group of scholars who share an interest in the connections between law and history. The society grew out of the annual Law in History Conferences, which have been running since 1982. Members of the society include historians, lawyers, academics and others interested in the area.”

For more on the work of the ANZHLS visit: http://anzlhs.org/

Well done Libby on this significant appointment and marker of your standing in the field.

Until next time, Andrew