June 2008 in RSSS

Inaugural Director of the National Centre for Biography and General Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography

Professor Melanie Nolan

Professor Melanie Nolan, formerly Head of the Department of History at Victoria University, Wellington, takes up her position as Inaugural Director of the National Centre for Biography and General Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, History Program, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences today. She replaces as General Editor Dr Di Langmore, who retired on 23 May. Previous General Editors of the ADB were Professor D.H. Pike, Mr N.B. Nairn, Dr A.G. Serle and Professor John Ritchie.

Following the recommendations of the 2007 Gregory Report, the new Centre will build on the long-established, nationally-recognised intellectual core of the Australian Dictionary of Biography to bring together other outstanding work in biography across the College and in other parts of the University, to provide a centre of excellence for biography for scholars and postgraduate students throughout Australia, and to continue to work closely with the nation's cultural institutions. The Centre will continue, as its core enterprise, to research and publish the Australian Dictionary of Biography and the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, which have been described as 'arguably the nation's most substantial and significant publishing venture, and among the greatest of its kind in the world'.

Professor Nolan has a 1990 PhD from the ANU with a thesis on 'Uniformity and Diversity: A Case Study of Female Shop and Office Workers in Victoria, 1880 to 1939'. A specialist in labour history and gender history, her current research examines generations, gender and professional work in twentieth-century Australasia. She is on the editorial boards of Australia's Labour History and Britain's Labour History Review. She was on the working party on labour history for the New Zealand Dictionary of Biography and has written a number of entries for that Dictionary. She has been a regular visitor to the History Program, RSSS, and has been a Visiting Associate in History at the California Institute of Technology.

Professor Nolan has a particular interest in collective biography: her Kin: A collective biography of a New Zealand working class family won the Ian Wards prize in 2006 and was shortlisted for the Ernest Scott prize in 2007. The judges for the Ernest Scott prize described Kin as 'an engaging study of a single immigrant family,' in which Nolan 'questions wider assumptions about New Zealand labour history. The expansive engagement with many strands of New Zealand history, most particularly the historiographies of labour, gender and religion, takes the narrative out of the workplace into the arenas of the home, the church and voluntary association. Nolan uses the diverse pathways of members of a large Northern Irish migrant family to challenge labour and social historians in New Zealand and Australia to take seriously the reality of the multiple identities and diverse consciousness of "working class" people, and their significance for the national history. Especially noteworthy are insights into the role of women in the home and community, and the formation of the careers of small businessmen and local politicians. The depth and variety of documentary research is supplemented by a wide range of illustrations capturing both the intimate and the public lives of Nolan's subjects.'

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Events

John Passmore Lecture 2008
Public Lecture
Illuminating Egalitarianism

Speaker : Professor Larry S. Temkin

Law Sparke Helmore Theatre 2, Fellows Road
More info on ANU Billboard
Wednesday, 11 June 2008 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Enquiries: Di Crosse on 6125 2341, ANU Events on 6125 4144

The History Program, RSSS and the Centre for International and Public Law (ANU College of Law) invite all students, academics, scholars and members of the public with an interest in law, history, citizenship, equality and human rights.

A seminar around Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynold's Drawing the Colour Line: White Men's Countries and the Question of Racial Equality (MUP, 2008)

Thursday 12 June 2008, 2.00-5.30pm
National Europe Centre (1 Liversidge Street, Bldg 67C, The Australian National University)
RSVP to rsvp@law.anu.edu.au (by Tuesday 10 June 2008)
RSVPs required for catering and seats
The book Drawing the Colour line: White Men's Countries and the Question of Racial Equality (MUP, 2008) will be available for purchase at the symposium.

Cosponsored by ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society and 'Public & Private Reasoning' Theme, RSSS, CASS

Climate Change and the 'Crisis of Reason'
A Symposium to Honour the Life and Work of Val Plumwood

20 June, 2008, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., CRES Seminar Room, Hancock Building, ANU

Dr Val Plumwood worked at the leading edge of eco-philosophy nationally and globally.
more (doc)

In this symposium, climate change will be viewed and reconsidered from within the theoretical frame of reference that she provided. Speakers include Will Steffen (Climate Science, Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU), Freya Mathews (Philosophy, Latrobe), Kate Rigby (Eco-criticism, Monash), John Dryzek (Political Science, ANU), Judith Ajani (Ecological Economics, Fenner School, ANU).

RSVP: diane.jakobasch@anu.edu.au

PhD Scholarships
The Research School of Social Sciences has a number of PhD scholarhsips available to be taken up by the end of August 2008. The scholarships are available to Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and New Zealand citizens. The value of the stipend is $20,007 per annum for 3 years, subject to satisfactory progress.

Scholarhsips will be considered in the following areas:
Economics
History
Political Science
Philosophy
Sociology

Interested applicants should have a First Class or Upper Second Honours Degree (or equivalent). Candidates should send a CV and a two page outline of their research proposal by email to Professor David Marsh, Director, RSSS

Download an Application form
Deadline for admission/scholarship forms : Friday 20 June 2008

New Techniques in Development Economics

A two-day conference to be held on
19-20 June 2008
Venue: Finkel Lecture Theatre, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University

The program in PDF

Description of the conference

RSSS Themes
Last Monday Seminar

Mon 30 June 2008
4-6pm, Seminar Room A, Coombs Bldg 9, ANU

Workshop on Housing Affordabilty

Brian Howe
(Public Policy, University of Melbourne)
Former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister for Health, Housing & Community Services

Stephen King
(ACC & Economics, University of Melbourne)
Author of Finishing the Job: Real-world Policy Solution sin Health, Housing, Education & Transport (with Joshua Gans)

Rob Tauntan
(NATSEM, University of Canberra)
Author of Wherever I lay my debt, that's my home, accessible at http://www.canberra.edu.au/centres/natsem/

All welcome, no booking required
Enquiries to:
Mary Hapel, tel. 6125 2257 or
Bob Goodin, tel. 6125 2156

Economics & Democracy
Second Annual Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Conference Call for panels, workshops and papers (pdf)

Hosted by the Research School of Social Sciences, ANU, Canberra
8-10 December 2008

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