Events 2008

November EC meeting

Date: Monday 24th November 2008
Time: 5pm-6pm
Venue: Common Room , Brennan MacCallum Building SLC
The University of Sydney

December Seminar

Date: Monday 8th December 2008
Time: 5:00pm-6:15pm
Presenter: Dr Lily Lee
Venue: The Refectory Room, The University of Sydney

Title: An illustrated talk on women along the Silk Road: images from the murals of Dunhuang and archaeological findings along the Silk Road

Abstract: Little textual material is has been found on women along the Silk Road to offer us a good understanding of them, ; however, by resorting to artistic presentations, some insights can be gained. This talk aims atis about finding out from the Buddhist murals in Dunhuang how women are presented and looking at, in conjunction, the attitude towards women of the artists and those who sponsored their art works towards women. It also looks at whetheraims to see if scenes from the everyday life lives of actual women on the Silk Road found themselvesare portrayed in these murals. Lastly, it is about what do the funerary objects found in tombs along the Silk Road tell us about women living in these areas.

Biography: Lily Xiao Hong Lee is an honorary Associate of the School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney. She retired from teaching for that school but continues to be active in research in the area of Chinese women’s history and literature. Her publications include The Virtue of Yin: Studies on Chinese Women (1994), Women of the Long March (1999, co-authored with Sue Wiles) and numerous articles on Chinese literature and Chinese women. She initiated the multi-volume reference work Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women and of which she is co-editor-in-chief with Agnes Stefanowska;and with the passing of Agnes, the final volume covering Tang to Ming will be co-edited with Sue Wiles. A Chinese edition of the Dictionary will be published by Sydney University Press, under the sponsorship of the School of Languages and Cultures.

After the presentation a dinner will be held at the Mu Kung Hwa Restaurant
36 Glebe Point Road Sydney.NSW Tel: 9660-0744 Time:7:00 for 7:30
Enquiries: Please contact Seiko Yasumoto by 5th December to confirm your attendance at the dinner.
Telephone: 9351 4716, Fax: 9351 2319, email: Seiko.Yasumoto@usyd.edu.au

September Seminar

Date: Monday 15th September 2008
Time: 5.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: Quad Refectory Room, Main Quadrangle Building, The University of Sydney
Speaker: Professor Sam Lieu
Title: Gallipoli after Gallipoli: the Ottoman Phase

Abstract: While all Australians or should know of the titanic struggle between the ANZACs and the Ottoman Turkish forces at Gallipoli in 1915, few know of the history of the city Gallipoli (Turkish Gelibolu) which gave its name to the Peninsula and to the whole campaign. Kallipolis was a port-city founded by Greek colonists on the Thracian Chersonese and commanded the northern approach to the Dardanelles. It was a heavily contested crossing-place between the Byzantines and the Turks before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. It continued to play a vital commercial and regional role in the Ottoman Empire until its collapse in the 1920s. The lecture will look at the Catalan occupation of the Peninsula in 1304-07 and its role in highlighting the strategic importance of the whole region and the subsequent attempts by the Ottomans to control it before the fall of Constantinople in 1453 as well as the fascinating role played by Gallipoli in the Crimean War, the Straits Crisis and the Second Balkan War concluded shortly before the famous ANZAC landings on 25th May, 1915.

Bio note:
Professor Samuel N. C. Lieu is Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University since 1996. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He represents the Academy at the Union of International Academies and has since 1995 been co-director of the UNESCO-sponsored Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum project - a project which has won 5 back to back ARC LGs and DPs and 2 Fellowships since 1997. He has published extensively in the study of Manichaeism and on Silk Road Studies, on Late Antiquity and on the Roman and Byzantine Near East.

After the presentation a dinner will be held at the Mukunghwa Restaurant
36 Glebe Point Road Sydney.NSW (Tel) 9660-0744
Time:7:00—9:00 ALL WELCOME!

Enquiries: please contact Seiko Yasumoto
Telephone: 9351 4716, Fax: 9351 2319, email: Seiko.Yasumoto@usyd.edu.au

August Seminar

Date: Monday 25th August 2008
Time: 5.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: Quadrangle Philosophy S249,The University of Sydney

Speaker: Emeritus Professor Hugh Clarke

Presentation title: A place for Okinawa: Japan’s changing perceptions of its southern islands

Abstract:
For many of us living outside Japan the mere mention of Okinawa evokes visions of the devastating, final land battle of the Pacific War. Others, alternatively, might call to mind Mr Miyagi and the karate kid. For most Japanese today Okinawa is an exotic sub-tropical playground –– a wonderful place to visit, but not to live in because the American bases make life there too dangerous. The Okinawans themselves tend to see their prefecture as a dislocated outpost of Japanese culture struggling to preserve the vestiges of a fading native tradition. Throughout its history Okinawa has been trying to find its place –– first, in the context of East Asia, as the Ryukyu kingdom; then as an integral part of the ‘home islands’ of the Japanese empire; more recently as a contributor to the rich diversity of Japanese culture. Invariably, the fate of the Okinawans has been determined by external forces beyond their control. In this talk, after giving a brief sketch of Okinawan history and culture, I consider changing attitudes to Okinawa, the birth of Okinawan studies and the appropriation of aspects of Okinawan culture into a new composite Japanese identity.

Biography:
Hugh Clarke is Emeritus Professor of Japanese at the University of Sydney and is currently a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo. He has research interests in Japanese language and literature and in Okinawan Studies. His Ph.D. from the University of Sydney was on the comparative phonology of Japanese dialects. He taught Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London from 1972 to 1978 and from 1978 to 2005 at the University of Sydney (Chair of the Department of Japanese Studies). He is co-author of Colloquial Japanese (Routledge) and has published several articles on Okinawa in the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia.

After the presentation a dinnerwill be held at the Spicy Sichuan Restaurant.
Address:1-9 Glebe Point Road Sydney.NSW
Tel: 9660-8200
Time:6:30 for 7:00

Enquiries: Please contact Seiko Yasumoto by 24th August to confirm your attendance at the dinner.Telephone: 9351 4716, Fax: 9351 2319, email: Seiko.Yasumoto@usyd.edu.au

Download the Flyer HERE

July seminar

Date:Monday 28th July 2008
Time:5.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue:Quad Refectory Room,Main Quadrangle Building, The University of Sydney

Speaker: Professor Soumyen Mukherjee

Title: Sir William Jones, Scottish Enlightenment and‘the Bengal Renaissance

Abstract:
In this paper I attempt to show how the ideas of the Enlightenment, more particularly the Scottish version of it, influenced Sir William Jones in his scholarly researches on India, her society, culture, history, natural sciences particularly astronomy and botany. Jones was a child of the Age of Reason, yet Romanticism influenced him. He searched for another Greece in Ancient India, but also looked for simple life in forest retreats, like Kanva’s Ashram in Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. His researches were both scientific and imaginative. His discovery of a civilization in Ancient India helped to usher in, what is known as the Bengal Renaissance. In the nineteenth-century Bengal, Jones and the Scottish Enlightenment profoundly influenced the intellectual movements. I try to study the ideas and the connections and its importance in the twenty-first century.
This will be in three parts, (a) William Jones, his life and works; (b) the Scottish Enlightenment, Ideas, Personalities and Institutions; (c) the Bengal Renaissance, what was it?

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After the presentation a dinner will be held at the Mukunghwa Restaurant
36 Glebe Point Road Sydney.NSW (Tel) 9660-0744
Time:7:00—9:00 ALL WELCOME!
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OSA Seminar

Presenter: Professor Malcolm Voyce

Presentation title: Buddhist ‘Transgressions’: The Violation of Rules of Buddhist Monks
Date: Monday 16th June, 2008
Time: 5pm-6pm
Venue: Quad Refectory Room, Main Quadrangle Building The University of Sydney

Abstract:

Many scholars who have studied the rules of Buddhist monks (Vinaya) have failed to discus the importance of the different types of ‘rule breakers’. Here I consider the groups of monks which sought to ‘transgress’ the rules as a deliberate strategy of self development.

This article discusses these rule breakers in light of the indications from Bataille, who argued that transgressions ‘suspends a taboo without suppressing it’ and that that ‘the suppression of a proscribed deed acts as a form of repression and social control.’

I take this indication from Bataille in the context of the role of sexual desire and the breach by monks and nuns of the rule against sexual intercourse. I also follow the indications from Bernard Faure that we should consider the performative function of the Vinaya and the significance of the regular recitation of the rules in fortnightly meetings.

I conclude that the proper consideration of the role of sexual desire in Buddhism allows us to show that violations were institutional accepted within the framework of the rules. I also show that sexual experience could be seen as redemptive or as a proper path of spiritual development.

Annual General Meeting

Date: 5th May 2008

Time: 5.15pm –7:00pm

Venue: Quadrangle Building, the Refectory
The University of Sydney

AGENDA

1. Minutes from the last Annual General Meeting
2. Attendance and apologies
3. President’s Annual Report
4. Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report
5. Election of office bearers
6. Any other business

Please Download the Annual General Meeting notification HERE.

At the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting, Dr Mark Rolfe will address the meeting on the topic:

Cartoons that are Danish - not such Sweet Confections?

Nominations for all office bearers should be sent to the Honorary Secretary:
seiko.yasumoto@usyd.edu.au by 30th April, 2008.

Please download the Nomination form for 2008 HERE.

Past Events