Hawke Conversation Series
Global Feelings? Feeling Global? The role of emotions in the 21st century
Sara Ahmed and Elspeth Probyn in conversation, and moderated by Gilbert Caluya
Tuesday 1 September 2009
12.15pm for a
12.30pm start (finishing approx 1.45pm)
Bradley Forum, UniSA City West campus, Hawke Building level 5, 50 North Terrace, Adelaide
Jointly presented by the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and the Hawke
Research Institute
Audio transcript available here (mp3 format - 20 MB)
The Hawke Centre and Hawke Research Institute are pleased to present a series of Conversations between academic leaders at UniSA and visiting scholars and experts, commencing in 2009 and continuing over the next two years.
This series will enable us to extend our thinking about topics that emanate from a more globalised world view. Among the topics in the spotlight are: Race, Diaspora and Postcolonial Studies; New Media and Technologies; and, Globalization Studies and Education. If you are interested in attending, prepare to be involved in an in-depth session lasting approximately one hour.
Conversation #1: Global Feelings? Feeling Global? The role of emotions in the 21st century
Emotions have perhaps never been so present in the public sphere. From the fear, terror and sadness following tragic events such as 9/11, the Bali bombings, and the ever-present threat of 'home-grown' terrorism to the anguish following the 'natural' disasters of the 'Asian' tsunami we have perhaps never felt so many public feelings. Of course another threshold moment was the grief-filled aftermath of Princess Diana's death - seemingly felt around the world. And many would argue that the ever-increasing role of reality TV and associated genres (chat shows, etc) has enabled or taught us all how to feel in public ways.
In this first Hawke Conversation, leading international scholars Sara Ahmed and Elspeth Probyn will discuss the extent to which these assertions about globalised emotions hold true. Is the ability to feel emotions a universal ability? Or do certain emotions distinguish us culturally or by gender and ethnicity?
Please feel free to bring your lunch with you to this forum.
Sara Ahmed is the Professor in Race and Cultural Studies
in the Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, the
University of London. She is the author of several key books on embodiment
in the areas of feminism, queer theory and studies of ethnicity and diaspora.
Her books include: The Promise of Happiness (forthcoming). Durham: Duke University Press;
Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham: Duke University
Press; The Cultural Politics of Emotion (Edinburgh Univ. Press/ Routledge),
and Strange Encounters: Embodied Others in Post-Coloniality. London:
Routledge.
Elspeth Probyn is Research SA Professor of Gender & Cultural Studies, and co-Director of the Centre for Postcolonial and Globalization Studies at UniSA. She has written extensively on the lived body and her books include: Creating Value. The Humanities and Public Engagement. (eds. E. Probyn, S. Mueke & A. Shoemaker). Canberra: Australian Academy of Humanities; Blush: Faces of Shame. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press. Co-publication with UNSW Press in Australia; Remote Control: New Media and Ethics. Catharine Lumby and Elspeth Probyn (eds.) Melbourne: Cambridge University Press; Carnal Appetites: FoodSexIdentities. London and New York: Routledge; Outside Belongings. New York and London: Routledge; and Sexing the Self: Gendered Positions in Cultural Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
Gilbert Caluya is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Hawke Research Institute. His PhD thesis was entitled Terrors' Territories. His articles have been published in several high ranking journals.
While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public
program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University
of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest
of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of:
strengthening our democracy - valuing our cultural diversity - and building
our future.