Summer of Discontent: Does A Viable Iraq Exist in 2014?
Lecture
Throughout its near century-long existence as a modern state, Iraq has repeatedly undergone forces threatening to undermine its territorial integrity. None, however, have truly shaken the foundations of the state as the events of 10 June 2014 and subsequently. This lecture will explore whether Iraq…
No Woman, No Drive: How a new generation of artists is transforming Saudi Arabia
Lecture
On October 26, 2013, the Saudi YouTube production company C3 released ‘No Woman, No Drive’ to coincide with a major protest against the ban on women driving in the Kingdom. The video, based on Bob Marley’s song, ‘No woman, No Cry’, addresses the issue of women’s driving directly and has earned over…
Persian Language Online - Obstacles and Opportunities
Other
In 2013, the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS) began an ambitious project to teach Persian and Arabic online. The first course offering was Introductory Persian A in Semester 1, 2014; Introductory Persian B and an advanced course in Media Arabic followed in Semester 2, 2014. Digital…
For Ali and the Motherland: Conflict, Development and Sectarian Imaginaries in Eastern Tajikistan
Lecture
In the wake of the on-going NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, many analysts have been speculating how it could affect Central Asia and Tajikistan more specifically. While this is an important question, the “Afghanistan factor” has also tended to overshadow ethno-religious ruptures and local…
Biopolitics and resistance in Palestinian East Jerusalem
Lecture
In the fraught case of East Jerusalem, the concept of biopolitics offers fresh insight equally into Israeli efforts to manage the city and into the scope for non-violent Palestinian resistance. The broader significance of the project lies in the capacity of biopolitics to present a fresh…
ANU Language Teaching Forum - The Off-line Revolution?! – Using ePubs for content delivery
Lecture
Teaching on-line has certainly revolutionised content delivery, opening up many wonderful possibilities. It enables course conveners to be more flexible, expand their student bases, increase enrolments and bring delight to Deans and Directors. Online is definitely the flavour of the month and many…
ANU Language Teaching Forum - Portuguese Online – a complex enterprise between Indiana and ANU
Other
ANU’s recent decision to start offering Portuguese as an elective course in collaboration with Indiana University (USA) proved very successful, but quite challenging. Delivered online and in real time by a course convener (Dr. Castro) based in the US mid-west to students in Australia, the course…