Sydney Ideas

How do different forms of urban life get ‘under our skin’ shaping our bodies, souls and mental states? Prominent British sociologist Nikolas Rose considers some recent work in the neurosciences and its potential to revitalize sociology of urban experience. A Sydney Ideas talk on 26 August, 2014: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_nikolas_rose.shtml

In January 2011 Egyptian people took to the streets demanding the fall of a corrupt and authoritarian regime. A revolutionary movement including women and men from different generations, social backgrounds, and diverse political and religious affiliations joined forces to ask for freedom, dignity and social justice. More than three years on from this epochal moment, what are the main challenges that face the politicians, civil society, and the international community? H.A. Hellyer, Brookings Institute, Anthony Bubalo, Lowy Institute, and Lucia Sorbera, University of Sydney share their views, personal experiences and expertise on the present and future of the region. They speak with award-winning Middle East correspondent David Hardaker. The inaugural event in the lecture series 'A Continuing Spring: Arab and Australian views on social justice, equal economic development and cultures of freedom’. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/egypt_

Author Tara Moss on molded gender narratives, toxic silences, and damaging stereotypes. In conversation with Professor Elspeth Probyn and a fellow PhD candidate in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, Paul Priday. More info: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/tara_moss.shtml

Good conversation is a rewarding and important part of social interaction. Professor Leanne Togher from the University of Sydney Faculty of Health Sciences shares her research into teaching people with brain injury the art and science of conversation, and shows how basic principles can benefit all who seek the rewards of satisfying conversation with the people close to them. A Sydney Idea talk 14 May, 2014 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_leanne_togher.shtml

The year 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of UNESCO’s 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It remains the only international instrument for safeguarding the world’s heritage. Director of the Stanford Archaeology Center, Professor Lyn Meskell asks: how are emergent rights to the past being presented, promoted and prevented by particular actors internationally? One of UNESCO’s millennium challenges was the very issue of sovereignty in an increasingly transnational world and in the face of indigenous claims and rights that often conflict with nation states. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_lynn_meskell.shtml

What lessons should we draw from the First World War? Professor Glenda Sluga will discuss the war's legacies from the perspective of its end, and the twinned principles on which a new postwar international order was to be established – namely nationality and the League of Nations. Her aim is to understand the relative significance of nationalism and of what contemporaries articulated as a 'new era of internationalism' in the last years of the war and in its wake. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_glenda_sluga.shtml

Deirdre McCloskey, a well-known economist and historian, was until 1995 known as Donald. She tells her story since then, of happy and unhappy endings–mainly happy–and how becoming a new woman affected her academic work and her spiritual life. A Sydney Ideas talk from 28 November, 2013 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/professor_deirdre_mccloskey.shtml

Since the fall of President Ben Ali in Tunisia, followed by those of President Moubarak in Egypt and Colonel Kaddafi in Libya, France has been one of the West’s strongest and most vocal supporters of the "Arab" street protesters against their leadership. This support, however, has proven to be more declamatory than tangible. French diplomat EU chargé d'affaires to Syria, Anis Nacrour discusses the topic with Dr Rodger Shanahan, non-resident Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/anis_nacrour.shtml

Historian and commentator on women, gender and feminism in Egypt, Margot Badran joins Sydney Ideas for a conversation with the University of Sydney’s Lucia Sorbera. Held on 15 October, 2013 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/margot_badran.shtml

One of Chile’s leading political scholars, Professor Ana Maria Stuven, joins Sydney Ideas for an informative presentation on the changing role of women in the public sphere in her country. Held on 3 October, 2013 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/professor_ana_maria_stuven.shtml

2013 marks 150 years since the first of 55,000 Pacific Islander labourers (known as Australian South Sea Islanders or ‘ASSI’) were brought to Australia between 1863-1901, partly by kidnapping and in slave-like conditions to develop the sugar cane, pastoral and maritime industries. Over the past 20 years numerous community members have been involved in “The call for recognition” – a community initiated movement seeking federal government recognition of this community as a disadvantaged ethnic identity within Australia. A panel of representatives from current governments, historians and ASSI representatives to outline the present situation and plans that are in development for formal ongoing assistance to Australian South Sea Islander peoples. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/the_call_for_recognition_of_the_australian_south_sea_islander_peoples.shtml

I’m not creative, but... playfully investigates the role of creativity in all career paths, well beyond the so-called creative industries. Academics Rick Benitez, Wendy Davis, Iain McCalman AO, Judy Kay, and Martin Tomitsch, representing diverse disciplines including design, history, IT and philosophy, explain their views on creativity and its role in their careers to date. A Vivid Ideas event. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/im_not_creative_but.shtml

The Australian Constitution has not been amended for more than 35 years. In fact, with only 8 of 44 total referendums successful, changing our Constitution is a notoriously difficult task. With a referendum proposed for the near future and the daunting task of achieving a ‘yes’ vote, what is the likelihood of constitutional change? Will Australians be ready to erase the racial discrimination in our founding document and include significant recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians? And what does it say about us as a nation if we don’t? To celebrate Reconciliation Week 2013, join Dr Tom Calma AO, Associate Professor Sarah Maddison and Professor Anne Twomey in a discussion on national identity, Constitutional change and the next steps for reconciliation in Australia. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/the_c_word.shtml

Vivien Lovell is a visual arts curator and founder of Modus Operandi, an independent public art consultancy organisation based in the UK. She has managed numerous national public art commissions for clients including London Docklands Development Corporation. She explores the fundamentally positive contribution public art can make to creating communities. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/vivien_lovell.shtml

Professor Rana Mitter, History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Cross College, explores how the battered China of wartime became today’s superpower in the making – and why. For more information and speaker's biography see: tinyurl.com/jbga4ql

American art historian and art critic, Professor Thomas Crow from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York, is best known for his influential writing on the role of art in modern society and culture. For this presentation he turns his attention to 1960s Pop Art, and examines it enduring legacy beyond the international counter-culture it originally represented. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/professor_thomas_crow.shtml

A fascinating conversation with novelist and journalist Ahdaf Soueif who witnessed first-hand the Egyptian Revolution of January 2011. As the events in Egypt unfolded, she reported for The Guardian newspaper and her access to insider information played a key role in outsider understanding of the Arab Spring. Her published account of her participation in the revolution ‘Cairo: My city, our revolution’. She talks frankly about her compatriots’ commitment to revolution, and the hopes and dreams for their country that remain two years later. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/ahdaf_soueif.shtml

China is undergoing a radical transformation that is changing the lives of everyone who lives there – and reporters have a ringside sea. Five years as the BBC’s correspondent in China have given Michael Bristow a unique insight into daily life and the often perplexing political system in China. For more information and speaker's biography see: tinyurl.com/jma6l5o

The incoming Director of University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre Professor Kerry Brown explores the new leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in China. He offers an assessment of the Hu and Wen period, and suggests how the future leaders will deal with a transition into an era in which the greatest challenges will be socio-political. SPEAKER: Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Sydney

Journalist Stephen Crittenden chairs a fascinating and robust conversation about the current state of Europe. What do historians say we can learn from history about how to manage the current crisis? Panellists include: Patricia Clavin, Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford; Professor Patrizia Dogliani, Professor of Contemporary and Modern European History at the University of Bologna; Dr Marco Duranti, University of Sydney; and Glenda Sluga, Professor of International History, University of Sydney. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2012/why_history_matters_forum_2012.shtml