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Student Volunteers Needed

Dear students,

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney would like to invite you to become a volunteer mentor for a new Faculty-wide first year mentoring program in 2020. Entitled “Communities of Support”, this extended mentoring program aims to address student transition, support, and retention issues among some of our most underrepresented cohorts as they enter and undertake their first year of study. We also hope to contribute to student well-being and satisfaction by encouraging stronger communities among our FASS student cohort.

About the Communities of Support (CoS) Program

Transitioning to life at University can be challenging. How do change your timetable? How do you keep on top of your workload while working a part-time job? How do you prepare for exams or undertake research for your assessments? How do you make new friends in a Faculty as big and as broad as FASS? First year students are often overwhelmed by the difficult task of adjusting to the many new experiences they encounter in their first year of study. Those students who are among the first in their family to attend university or who come from low-socioeconomic backgrounds are also less likely to have members of their family or community who can provide effective support as they transition to higher education. We would like to do more to help.

The FASS Communities of Support Mentoring Program offers extended peer support to first year students across their first year of study. Open to all FASS first year undergraduates but designed to cater specifically to those of low-socioeconomic backgrounds and/or first in family, the program offers weekly mentoring throughout Semester 1, fortnightly mentoring in Semester 2, and follows a structured schedule of topics that progress in-step with the first year experience.

Your Involvement

As a Communities of Support (CoS) Mentor, you would be helping to enrich the first year experience for our ‘mentee’ program participants. As a second year, third year (or beyond!), you have already learned a lot about how life at University works, and what skills, strategies, and ‘life-hacks’ help you to do well in your studies. We be thrilled if you could offer your general knowledge, experience, and your support to those who are just starting out at University.

Mentoring is a very rewarding experience, and your involvement in the CoS program will help to develop your leadership capacity, communication skills, and your own cultural competencies in working with diverse student groups. We also hope that the program will offer a stronger sense of community for all of our Mentors and Fellows across the Faculty. Finally, all volunteer mentors will receive will receive a $100 shopping voucher on completion of the program.

If you are willing to participate as a CoS Mentor, you will be matched with 2-4 first year participants who will become your ‘mentee group’ across the year. We will provide you with mentoring training, as well as a calendar of topics and relevant ‘talking points’ to help guide your mentoring sessions. You will also be paired with a postgraduate CoS Leadership Fellow who you will meet with once a month to consult on your progress, ask questions, and who will offer you general support. Please note that your time commitment to the project will involve one hour per week throughout Semester 1 and one hour per fortnight throughout Semester 2 for your small group mentoring sessions, and one additional hour per month for coffee catch-ups with your allocated Fellow. All mentoring sessions and Fellows coffees will be arranged according to your availability.

CoS Mentor Registration

All FASS students who are second-year undergraduates and above are invited to apply to become a volunteer CoS Mentor. We particularly encourage students who are themselves E12 scholarship recipients, are among the first generation in your family to go to University, are from diverse cultural backgrounds, come from a regional/rural area, and/or belong to other under-represented cohorts at the University. Please note that if you have already signed up for an existing mentoring program, you can still enrol for this program, but we expect you to honour your original commitment as well.

You can apply by completing the CoS Mentor Registration at this link: https://sydney.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8CGryCDGz83RFB3. Applications are due by 9:00 pm, on Tuesday, March 3.

If you are selected for the program you will be asked to attend a welcome and training session on Friday, March 6, from 10am – 3pm. Alternative arrangements can be made for those who cannot attend.

Thanks in advance for your help and participation, and please do feel free to contact our CoS Project Officer, Mr Simon Wyatt-Spratt if you have any questions (simon.wyatt-spratt@sydney.edu.au).

Associate Professor Melissa Hardie (English)

Professor Michael McDonnell (History)

Dr. Kieryn McKay (Project Manager)

Simon Wyatt-Spratt (Project Officer)

Global Royal Families

Global Royal Families: Concepts, Cultures, and Networks of International Monarchy, 1800-2020.

Conference held at the German Historical Institute London (GHIL), 16-18 January 2020. Conveners: Falko Schnicke (GHIL), Cindy McCreery (University of Sydney), and Robert Aldrich (University of Sydney).

https://www.ghil.ac.uk/global_royal_families.html

Conference Report

Co-financed by the GHIL and the University of Sydney, the event brought together scholars from four continents and eight countries to discuss the timely issue of global monarchies. Over the two and a half days there were nearly forty attendees and nineteen speakers presenting ideas spanning royal families across two centuries and the continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Despite the wide variance in time periods and geographical locations, there were many overlapping and complementary themes between the papers, including the importance of the visibility of monarchs, the need to secure status on a global stage, as the role of royals as official and unofficial diplomats, and the media’s influence over the public image of a royal person or dynasty. The conference’s main findings could be seen in its constant intertwining of global, national, and regional aspects of royal families and in proving the reoccurring political significance of monarchies in different nineteenth- and twentieth-century contexts.

The conference opened with Robert Aldrich’s (University of Sydney) introductory talk detailing the coverage of global royal families in history and historiography. Starting with comparative examples from both the early nineteenth century and modern-day marriages between the Napoleon and Habsburg dynasties, Aldrich highlighted the intertwined genealogical, political, and cultural ties between royal families across the world. He maintained that in the nineteenth century European monarchies were affected by empire, which demonstrated their power to conquer and their interest in collections of ‘exotica’, yet simultaneously non-European monarchies were adopting western styles of clothing, architecture, and court culture to be more accepted on the global stage.

The first session focused upon royalty in international affairs and diplomacy and opened with a paper by Moritz A. Sorg (University of Freiburg) which examined the extent to which the First World War damaged royal family relationships across Europe. Sorg provided parallel case studies of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and Ferdinand I of Romania to demonstrate how the First World War placed related monarchies on opposite sides, and the consequential impact this had on how these royal individuals were viewed in their respective countries and under the condition of increasing nationalism. Next, Michael Kandiah’s (King’s College London) paper focused upon how the British royal family since 1952 has utilized their ‘soft power’ to improve diplomatic relations between countries. Using oral testimonies of British diplomats, Kandiah explored how Queen Elizabeth II has been able to use her royal status, which places her above politics in order to maintain good relationships through official engagements, both internationally and in Britain.

The second session centred on the House of Windsor and their relationship with foreign royal houses. Continuing the focus on Queen Elizabeth II and the current British royal family, Falko Schnicke (GHIL) delivered a paper which analysed the content of speeches given at state visits and highlighted the input that the Government and the Palace had over these. He proved that is was the Foreign Office which inserted the references to personal family remarks within the speeches to demonstrate the network of monarchies and the intensity of the international royal relationships. Thus, the royal family functioned as a collective unit rather than as individuals. Following this Hilary Sapire (Birbeck College, University of London) examined the relationship between the British and Zulu royal families (in South Africa) in the colonial period and through the early twentieth century. She argued that royal events and the links to the British monarchy were used by both Zulu monarchists and nationalists to advance their cause for independence.

The first day closed with a keynote by Frank Mort (University of Manchester), which analysed how the media was used to transform the monarchy under George V and Queen Mary, and Edward VIII into a consumable entity for the public. The increased visibility of the royal family through informal royal visits both in Britain and the colonies helped to make them more accessible to the ordinary public. Mort took a bottom-up approach to judging how the public emotionally responded to different members of the royal family through drawing upon first-hand accounts of seeing royalty. He argued that the rise of human-interest journalism meant that there was a more extensive and global coverage of the royal family, and an attempt to make them more approachable by conducting unceremonious visits. He stressed the differences between George V and Queen Mary helping to solidify the notion of the royal family as a domestic unit, whilst the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) fostered a celebrity culture around his younger lifestyle.

The second day of the conference began with session three which looked at the global reach of the British monarchy, with John R. Davis (Queen Mary London/ Historic Royal Palaces) beginning with British attitudes towards India in the nineteenth century. Using Queen Victoria’s diaries and royal library catalogues, Davis argued that Queen Victoria was first introduced to German philology through Prince Albert. This early introduction to philology and reoccurring meetings with renowned scholars such as Max Müller, helped to fuel her interest in Indian culture during the latter part of her life. Moving into the twentieth century, Christian Oberländer (University of Halle-Wittenberg) contrasted this with a paper analysing how the British royal family were a model for the Japan’s Imperial house, looking particularly at the role of the Japanese sovereign as a ‘symbol’ emperor after the Second World War. He argued that by effectively adopting the emperor as a head of state and embracing state visits, the Japanese Imperial family was able to open themselves up to the public at home and in the West.

Session four continued the theme of royal travel through focusing on the Spanish and Austrian royal families. Firstly, Javier Moreno-Luzón (Complutense University of Madrid) explained how Alfonso XIII of Spain (r.1886-1931) fostered closer relations with Latin America through royal visits, celebrations, and a shared culture to create a transnational image of the royal family. He argued that since the late nineteenth century until the end of the 1920s, the royal family successfully promoted Spanish national identity centring on the monarchy through the careful selection of sending different royal individuals to Hispanophone Latin American countries. Thereby they were able to simultaneously promote the historic ties to Spain and highlight a progressive future. Aglaja Weindl (University of Munich) provided a case study of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and how he was an ‘unexpected global royal’ because of his world tour in 1892-3. This extensive travel not only educated the Archduke but provided an opportunity to build better relations with other Protestant and Orthodox countries. Consideration of the routine of ceremonies with bad company whilst undertaking official duties was emphasized and provided a humanistic account of royal life.

Session five focused upon global encounters, with Judith Rowbotham (University of Plymouth) using a range of local, national, and colonial newspapers to analyse the reception of the British royal family within different colonies. With examples of tours through India, Canada, Australia, and beyond from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, she emphasized the impact that these visits had on global networking and diplomacy. Through specifically tailoring the tone of the visit and the activities, this not only aided relationships with the authorities, but allowed a sense of community to develop in the colonial public. Cindy McCreery (University of Sydney) followed this with a case study of the 1881 visit to Japan by King Kalakaua of Hawai’i and Princes Albert Victor and George of Great Britain, and explored how this occasion was used to foster better relations between the countries. With similarities that mirrored Oberländer’s paper, McCreery argued that the opening up of Japan to royal visits was an attempt for the country to reinvent its global image, appear more welcoming, and encourage trade deals. Such a tour also allowed the King of Hawai’i to develop an international presence. Photographs of the visit demonstrated that there was a clear acknowledgement of the status of foreign royalty, whilst showing differences in hierarchy due to age and position to the throne.

The following session centred around the importance of letter-writing between royals, with emphasis on female family relations. Susanne Bauer (University of Trier) explained her research project cataloguing and analysing the 20,000 letters of Augusta Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Queen of Prussia and Empress of Germany. She argued that Augusta expressed many political opinions within these letters, tried to advise her husband (whether he asked for advice or not), and was a key factor in building relationships with royalty and politicians across Europe and beyond with approximately 230 royal and non-royal correspondents. Mary T. Duarte (Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, USA) analysed the letters between four generations of female royals over the course of the nineteenth century from the line of ancestors of Maria Theresa of the House of Habsburg. She scrutinized the type of advice passed from mother to daughter, and between grandmother and granddaughter, especially pertaining to marriage and sexual life. She contended that as the generations went on the tone of this advice softened, although duty and obedience was still often accentuated.

The second keynote of the conference was delivered by Irene Stengs (Meertens Instituut/ Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), who provided an in-depth anthropological analysis of the mourning culture in Thailand following the death of King Rama IX in 2016, and the meaning of the symbolism and rituals in the coronation ceremony of King Rama X in 2019. Taking a step-by-step approach through the elements and stages of the coronation ceremony, Stengs highlighted how this event was used to unite the country through a shared experience and emotions. Whilst there was historical and religious precedent for several aspects of the event, the incorporation of modern technology, such as mass television broadcasting and drones, allowed an increased accessibility and personal quality to the new monarch. She also presented a close analysis of the use of colour by the organizers of the event to mark a new reign, and explained the significance this holds within Thai culture.

The final day of the conference started with a session exploring the regional dynasties and transnational royal families. Aidan Jones (King’s College London) gave a case study of Alexander II of Russia’s visit to Britain in 1874 on the occasion of his daughter Marie’s marriage to Prince Alfred. He analysed the dynastic politics of the marriage arrangement and the wider implications this had for international diplomacy. Priya Naik (University of Delhi) followed this with a paper exploring the consumption of Britishness by Indian Princes in the first half of the twentieth century. She argued that the consumption of goods, language, culture, and customs by Indian Princes was an attempt for them to be accepted within British society and to join an international aristocratic network.

The final session analysed the different international models of monarchy. Nicholas Miller (University of Lisbon), like McCreery, focused on King Kalakaua of Hawai’i (r.1874-1891) but this time comparing him to Sultan Abu Bakar of Johore (r.1886-1895) in the Malay States. He focused upon the two kings’ different approaches to ruling small monarchies and gaining international recognition for theirs states, as well as addressing the issue of labour migration. Charles Reed (Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, USA) closed the conference by returning to India via the Gaekwad of Baroda. Like Naik, he highlighted the Gaekwad’s desire to foster good relations with the British. Reed’s approach was to explore how this was achieved through the lens of royal visits to Britain from the later nineteenth century and the public image they were trying to promote of a princely state in India during the colonial period and after independence.

The conference closed with reflections from the co-organizers who drew out some of the key themes across the papers. The breadth of time period and geographical locations had highlighted that monarchies achieved local, national, and global reaches. Several papers highlighted that royalty was used, often unofficially, for diplomatic reasons to improve relationships between dynasties and nations, which provoked discussions about how individual royal persons perceived their role. It was agreed that monarchy is an evolving concept, and in recent times through embracing modern technology and utilising media coverage, royal families were able to appear relatable and relevant to contemporary society. The importance of the family unit at the heart of the monarchy was understood to be a central factor in emphasizing the longevity and stability of the institution. Finally, the visibility of royalty, either through first-hand accounts of travel, or increased coverage in the press and accompanying images, was a central theme across many of the papers. This increased visibility frequently allowed the royal individuals to appear more personable and enhanced their popularity nationally and globally. The conference illustrated some of the paradoxes of private life and public role for royal families on a global stage. It also confirmed the need for further studies, even in the twenty-first century, continuing and evolving the central position in political, social, and cultural life occupied by monarchs and their royal families in many countries.

Paige Emerick (University of Leicester)

Power and Culture

Power and Culture: Making Indian Identity

A conference in honour of Jim Masselos

Department of History, The University of Sydney, CCANESA, Madsen Building

20-21 February 2020

Jim Masselos, Sydney and India

This conference celebrates the teaching, research, philanthropy and friendship of Dr Jim Masselos. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney, he took a doctorate at the University of Bombay, and then returned to Sydney, where he taught for 36 years until his retirement in 2001; he is currently an Honorary Reader in the Department of History in the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry.

Jim is an internationally renowned specialist in the history of Indian nationalism, the history of Bombay and the history of early photography and popular art in India. Among his many publications are Nationalism on the Indian Subcontinent: An Introductory History (1972; revised ed., Indian Nationalism: A History, 1985); Towards Nationalism: Group Affiliations and the Politics of Public Associations in Nineteenth Century Western India (1974); Dancing to the Flute: Music and Dance in Indian Art (with Jackie Menzies and Pratapaditya Pal) (1997); Beato’s Delhi, 1857, 1997 (with Narayani Gupta, 2000, reprinted as Beato’s Delhi 1857 and Beyond, 2011); The City in Action: Bombay Struggles for Power (2007) and Bombay Then and Mumbai Now (with Naresh Fernandes) (2009), three exhibition catalogues, five edited books – including Bombay and Mumbai: The City in Transition, co-edited with our conference keynote speaker, Sujata Patel (2003) – six special issues of academic journals, and seventy-odd journal articles and book chapters.

Jim is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Asiatic Society of Mumbai – one of fewer than ten foreigners elected since 1947 to a society that traces its origins to 1804. Bombay Before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim, edited by Prasant Kidambi, Manjiri Kamat and Rachel Dwyer, was published last year by Oxford University Press, and launched in both London and Mumbai.

This conference has been made possible by generous funding from the John Anthony Gilbert Bequest and the Alexander John Anderson Bequest of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, allocated by the Dean of the Faculty, and by supplementary funding from the Department of History, for which we are extremely grateful.

All sessions will take place in the meeting room of the Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia (CCANESA), on the first floor of the Madsen Building, on the main campus (near City Road) of the University of Sydney.

Morning coffee and afternoon tea will be provided to all participants, and lunch will be provided to paper-givers and chairs. The conference dinner is open to all participants at their own expense.

Conference convened by Professor Robert Aldrich and Dr Cindy McCreery, Department of History, SOPHI, FASS, The University of Sydney

Thursday, 20 February

8.45 Registration

9.00 Welcome and practical information

9.30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS

‘Studying Indian History and Society: Beyond Colonial and National Perspectives’

Sujata Patel (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla)

10.45-11.00 Morning coffee

11.00-12.30 Session 1

‘Divine Damsels in distress: The Yoginis of Hirapur and Beraghat’

Richard Barz (Australian National University)

‘Religion and Empire: Roman Catholicism in Colonial Bengal and the Transnational World, 1841-1947’

Tim Allender (University of Sydney)

‘Nineteenth-Century Commercial Laws and History’

Gail Pearson (University of Sydney)

12.30-1.30 Lunch

1.30-3.00 Session 2

‘Alternative Visions: Hindi and Australia’

Peter Friedlander (Australian National University)

‘Mapping Knowledge of New South Wales from Calcutta in the Late Eighteenth Century’

Eileen Chanin (Australian National University)

‘Night Train to Varanasi’

Sean Doyle

3.00-3.30 Afternoon Tea

3.30-5.00 Session 3

‘Indian Perceptions of a Burmese Nationalist in the 1920s’

Yuri Takahashi (Australian National University)

‘The Politics of Place in Colonial Ahmedabad’

Rob Wooding

‘The Sounds of Anticolonialism: Gandhi, Noise and the Microphone’

Kama Maclean (University of New South Wales)

7.00 Conference dinner (at participants’ own expense) at Salt & Palm Restaurant, 22 Glebe Point Road, Glebe – a short walk from the conference site (restaurant to be confirmed).

Friday, 21 February

9.30-11.00 Session 4

‘Bombay Roots, Global Networks: Kapila Khandvala, 1930s and 1940s’

Heather Goodall and Devleena Ghosh (University of Technology, Sydney)

‘Indian Labour History and the 1974 Strike’

Stephen Sherlock (University of New South Wales, Canberra)

‘The Huntington Thesis and India’

Howard Brasted (University of New England)

11.00-11.30 Morning Coffee

11.30-1.00 Session 5

‘The Collection of an Indophile’

Jackie Menzies (Art Gallery of New South Wales)

‘A Slice of India, 1966: Experimenting with Devices from the Australian Bicentennial History Project (1988)’

Robin Jeffrey (Institute of South Asian Studies, Singapore)

‘Cut and Come Again: Imagining the Sequel to Jim Masselos’ India: Creating a Modern Nation (1990)’

Peter Mayer (University of Adelaide)

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2.00-3.00 Session 6

‘Ayahs in Australian History’: Searching for Subaltern Women’

Victoria Haskins

‘Nineteenth-Century Indian Photography and the Crisis of Postcolonial Secularism’

Sushma Griffin (University of Queensland)

3.00-4.00 Roundtable discussion on Indian history in Australia

4.00-4.30 Afternoon tea

4.30-5.00 Concluding remarks by Jim Masselos

Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards

Many congratulations to our most recent recipients of Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards – Chin Jou, Marco Duranti, and Pamela Maddock.

Dr. Chin Jou received an award for Excellence in Teaching, particularly for her work in HSTY2609: African-American History, to foster cultural competence and equip students to be informed and thoughtful members of contemporary society, and link the past with the present in engaging and accessible ways.

One of her nominees wrote: “Dr. Jou has worked assiduously in creating an innovative and intellectually rigorous learning environment for students that is based on a carefully plotted structure, supportive discussion and lectures, timely feedback, and an ability to engage the students with references to contemporary events. … I am constantly amazed by the reach of the connections Dr. Jou makes in her teaching, and her ability to make history come alive. … From my own experience discussing and co-designing curriculum changes and new pedagogies, I know her to be a creative, caring, and engaged teacher who works tirelessly to create exceptional and supportive learning environments. She is a brilliant teacher who is not only committed to research-led teaching, but also to an engaged and inclusive pedagogy that brings out the absolute best in students from a range of backgrounds and abilities (and indeed, she is also a leading figure in the department in developing cultural competence skills among both students and staff alike).”

Dr. Marco Duranti also received an Excellence in Teaching award primarily for his work in teaching innovation as part of a 2018 DVC-E Strategic Education Grant (‘Developing Digital Literacy in Human Rights History’), which he then used in units including HSTY2616: The Human Rights Revolution and HSTY2652: Genocide in Historical Perspective.

One of his support letters wrote: “Marco is an outstanding teacher, whose energetic, engaging lecturing style and passionate commitment to structured, accessible and technologically supported unit delivery have made him one of the History Department’s most popular and effective lecturers. … In the digital literacy space Marco’s initiatives have been particularly innovative and effective. He has transformed students’ experience by equipping them with the tools and skills needed to extract and manipulate data to solve complex research problems. He has supported the development of digital literacy not only within in his own units, but across his department, School and Faculty. The History Department is fortunate to have such a skilled, dedicated and enthusiastic teacher, whose ability to ignite and retain his students’ interest is attested by their choice of research topics in his field for senior essays and honours theses, long after taking his undergraduate units.”

Finally, Dr. Pamela Maddock received a Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Tutorials with Distinction for her work in FASS2200: Great Books that Changed the World and HSTY2609: African-American History and Culture.

One of her support letters wrote: “Pam is a skilled and experienced tutor whose depth of disciplinary expertise and outstanding capabilities as a facilitator of classroom discussion are well recognised amongst my colleagues in the History Department. What strikes me in particular … is Pam’s willingness to share the benefit of her classroom experience collegially and as a matter of teamwork, spreading her excellent practice through the department rather than developing it only for the benefit of her particular students. This kind of give-and-take and collegial exchange is a feature of the best teaching relationships in the department.”

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Awards program is designed to recognize and reward the teaching excellence of staff at all career levels, to encourage teachers to engage in reflective teaching practices, and to promote and support the development of high quality and innovative teaching.

Recipients have demonstrated an evidence informed approach to critical reflection on teaching and learning, evaluation of their teaching practice, engagement with higher educational research, and a focus on improving student learning.

Awards were presented by the Dean, Professor Annamarie Jagose on Monday, 28 October 2019 at MacLaurin Hall.

The 2019 Teaching Awards recipients were:

Excellence in Teaching

Dr Michael Abrahams-Sprod (SLC)

Dr Benn Banasik (SLAM)

Dr Anastasia Burkovskaya (Economics)

Dr Jon Callow (SSESW)

Dr Joe Collins (SSPS)

Dr Eleanor Cowan (SOPHI)

Dr Marco Duranti (SOPHI)

Dr Yunjong Eo (Economics)

A/Professor Charlotte Epstein (SSPS)

Dr Susan Heward-Belle (SSESW)

Dr Mitchell Hobbs (SLAM)

Dr Alexander Howard (SLAM)

Dr Chin Jou (SOPHI)

A/Professor David Macarthur (SOPHI)

Dr Eyal Mayroz (SSPS)

Dr Janica Nordstrom (SSESW)

A/Professor Aek Phakiti (SSESW)

Dr Maria Quigley (SSESW)

Mrs Christel Rome (SLC)

Dr Alix Thoeming (SOPHI)

Dr Matthew Thomas (SSESW)

Dr Marian Vidal-Fernandez (Economics)

Dr Huy Vu (Economics)

Dr Thea Werkhoven (SSESW)

Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Tutorials with Distinction

Mr Tristan Bradshaw (SSPS)

Mr Patrick Locke (SSPS)

Dr Pamela Maddock (SOPHI)

Mr Dashiell Moore (SLAM)

Ms Leanne Stevenson (SSPS)

Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Tutorials

Miss Elena Carletti (SLC)

Mrs Katherin Cartwright (SSESW)

Dr Daniel Dixon (FASS)

Dr Kirk Dodd (SLAM)

Dr Ben Egliston (SLAM)

Mr Oliver Gordon (SOPHI)

Dr Gil Hizi (SSPS)

Dr Amelia Kelly (SLAM)

Mrs Nada Labib (SSESW)

Ms Marlena Lutz-Hughes (SLAM)

Ms Georgia Monaghan (SLAM)

Ms Carrol Quadrio (SLAM)

Dr Rosmawati (SSESW)

Ms Tara Smith (SLAM)

Ms Xueting Wang (Economics)

Miss Laura Welty (SSPS)

Ms Samantha Zhan Xu (SLC)

Communities of Support: Leadership Fellows Scheme 2020

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney

Since 2012, the Departments of English, History, and Classics and Ancient History have worked with low-socioeconomic high schools across NSW to engage with a wider cohort of students, make us better, more inclusive teachers, foster aspiration, and encourage students of diverse backgrounds to participate in higher education. Further information about these programs can be found here: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/widening_participation/ and https://historymatters.sydney.edu.au/category/history-and-social-inclusion/

This year, as part of a successful Strategic Education Grant (Widening Participation), we will recruit Leadership Fellows from across the Faculty (two per School), for HDR students to play a critical role in our new project entitled “Communities of Support: First Generation Students and the Transition to University.”

This Faculty-wide two-tier project will address student transition and retention issues among some of our most at-risk students, and contribute to student well-being and satisfaction. The project aims to create a pool of trained student volunteers and Leadership Fellows from each School who will work closely with current low-ses and First in Family students to co-create an intensive mentoring experience for incoming students in 2020. We hope to build a community of engaged, informed, and trained students and enrich the student experience for all, as well as hep inform a more formal Faculty-wide transition program in the future.

Our Leadership Fellows will be given the opportunity to advance key academic skills, including inclusive teaching and mentoring in higher education; providing mentorship to undergraduate volunteers, design support activities for volunteers to support their mentees, lead cohorts of volunteers in the delivery of grant projects, and provide general event coordination and publicity support.

The Leadership Fellow program runs from February to December 2020. The specific responsibilities, dates of commitment, and key programs of involvement for Fellows are outlined below. All duties will be conducted under the supervision and guidance of Project Manager, Dr Kieryn McKay, with the support of Project Assistant, Simon Wyatt-Spratt, and under the general direction of Associate Professor Melissa Hardie and Professor Michael A. McDonnell.

All Fellows will receive training in Inclusive Teaching and Low-SES Volunteering to qualify for their position. Fellows will receive a $500 honorarium and a certificate of achievement for their contributions to the program, both of which will be presented to Fellows at the end of their Fellowship term.

Qualification

To apply to become a Leadership Fellow, you must be currently enrolled in a Higher Degree Research program in FASS.

Applications

Application forms are available via this Qualtrics link: https://sydney.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9BNpSzZWRTvBcDr

Applications require candidates to provide a brief outline of relevant experience and the details of two referees.

All applications for the 2020 Leadership Fellow scheme are due by noon (12:00 pm) on Friday, January 31st.

Leadership Fellows 2020 – Responsibilities

The specific duties, dates of commitment, and key involvement for Fellows are outlined below. All responsibilities will be conducted under the supervision and guidance of the Project Manager, Dr Kieryn McKay, and with the support of Project Assistant, Simon Wyatt-Spratt, and under the general direction of Associate Professor Melissa Hardie and Professor Michael A. McDonnell.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities and time commitments for Fellows are outlined below. Please note that some activities require advanced preparation, and you will be required to communicate with a small pool of volunteers (4-6 maximum) throughout the year.

Time commitment: welcome and training session, 10 am-4 pm on Friday, February 7^th; Mentor/Fellows Partnerships Lunch, 12-1 pm Friday, Feb. 28; a once-monthly lunch with Project officers and involved academics; end-of-semester and year Social event and evaluations.

Outline: Leadership Fellows will be trained by program leaders in inclusive teaching and support, and will then in turn be responsible for coordinating and supporting small groups of undergraduate students as they mentor new first year students through the year. Leadership Fellows will also provide valuable input into the mentoring program and meet with undergraduate volunteers at least once a month, as well as meeting Project officers and academics every month. As a Leadership Fellow you will help to coordinate the program and will play a key leadership role for our group of volunteer mentors.

The Theatre for Children Website Archive and Resources

The Jester: Logo for the Theatre for Children.

For my History Beyond the Classroom project, I collaborated with the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) to create a website that serves as a digital archive and education resources collection. In September 2019, a collection of photographs, plays, letters, newspaper clippings and logbooks were donated to SJM in a cabin sized suitcase which was filled to the brim. This collection, donated by Dr John McIntyre, centres around the Theatre for Children, which was run by a Jewish woman in Sydney from 1937-1957. The director of the Theatre, Rosemarie Benjamin, was extremely passionate about children’s theatre, education and psychology.

Eating, Working, and Learning

What I will remember most from my time spent at SJM is the warm, inviting atmosphere of the museum. Every Friday morning, I was invited to eat traditional Challah bread with the staff and other volunteers. We also went to lunchtime lectures together which helped me to learn more about the Holocaust and Jewish history from the museum’s resident historian and education team.

Two Teams: One Website

My project is particularly innovative as it will be one of the first online resources created for Stage 3 students by the Sydney Jewish Museum. The Education team at SJM were keen for me to make activities and resources for English for Stage 3 students, as this was an area in which they were lacking. This included writing comprehension questions, writing tasks and a questionnaire about the six plays uploaded to the website. These resources were also designed directly from the English Stage 3 Syllabus, to make the activities accessible and simple for teachers.

I was also part of the Curation team, which was why I conducted a lot of research into the collection, Trove and academic articles written by John McIntyre. The collection that was donated easily has three hundred documents in it, and gives a unique picture of Benjamin as an entrepreneur and advocate for children’s theatre.

The main audience for this website is Stage 3 students, in regional and suburban New South Wales. Having this collection of artefacts from the museum published online makes SJM more accessible for teachers and the general public, especially for those who aren’t able to physically visit the museum.

I think the most significant impact I’ve felt with this project is the preservation and dissemination of this otherwise unknown story about children’s theatre in Sydney. The successes and failures of this theatre highlight the economic difficulties experienced by those during the inter-war period, World War II, and the 1950’s. I have become very passionate about retelling the story of this theatre, and in particular, emphasising Rosemarie Benjamin’s passion and advocacy. Her determination to provide entertaining and educational plays for young children is evident in the fact that the theatre was self-funded.. As SJM is yet to upload their database online, the digitisation of this small part of their collection is also an important step in making the museum more accessible. I have also included both PDF and Word Doc versions of the plays, a full character and props list, and the length of the plays. This is to make reading and selecting the plays as smooth and informative for the teachers as possible.

Designed by the Professionals:

I will be passing on my website to SJM’s marketing team, so that they can convert my website onto their own website generating platform. With this in mind, I have tried to mimic SJM’s colour scheme from their website and education booklets, to make the design process more seamless. Once it has been edited by the marketing team, my website will be launched on the new Teacher’s Membership Platform. which will allow students in more rural and regional schools, who can’t visit the museum, to access the collection digitally.

Challenges vs Opportunities:

This project certainly had its challenges, including the complexity and brevity of the collection, my lack of website editing knowledge, and the fact that I am not training to be a teacher. I chose to see this project though as a chance to digitise part of the museum’s artefacts, and as an opportunity to gain some experience in web design and producing education activities. This allowed me to see history through a more modern, digital, and educational lens, and to expand my skill set and understanding of how history is portrayed in the public sphere. It was also quite difficult upon reading some of the plays and guides, as some of them included quite racist and sexist material, despite the young target audience. I have deliberately added a disclaimer to make my, and SJM’s position clear on these issues. Whilst I personally disagree with the racist and sexist remarks in some of the plays, and know that the Sydney Jewish Museum does not support this or any type of discrimination, I felt that it would be historically accurate to preserve the original version. I also believe that it is not right to change what’s written in any play, literature or historical source, despite my lens and perspective on these matters being vastly different to the opinions that Benjamin expresses. In particular, I, and the Sydney Jewish Museum do not condone, endorse or support any racist, sexist or culturally vilifying behaviour, whether they be verbal or written, and will therefore be writing an ‘updated’ or modern version of the play which removes these words and lines, which will also be available on the website. The remarks made by characters, especially in Martha’s Toyshop and Katherine and Frederick, are a product of their time, and whilst this doesn’t excuse the opinions conveyed in these plays, I will later be amending them so that teachers can decide which versions to teach. I have also provided teachers with a possible activity idea around this topic, linked with Outcome HT3-3 of the History Stage 3 syllabus. This way, the teachers don’t have to perpetuate the vocabulary and opinions from these plays, thereby teaching students the importance of respect, understanding, communication and historical perspective.

The Future:

I’ve discussed staying on with SJM for another couple months to continue transcribing the other seven plays, and to accession the collection into their database called Adlib. I’m glad that this collection will survive in the museum’s database and through the website I’ve created. I’m also planning on providing a guide of how to use Wix and my thought process in designing the website, so that if the museum should want to add to it in the future, or complete a similar type of project, they can do so.

Chifley Senior Campus + University of Sydney Essay Competition

On the 22^nd of November, Simon Wyatt-Spratt and Mike McDonnell attended the annual Chifley Senior Campus humanities award ceremony. The day marks the culmination of a year of hard work for the senior Chifley students. Students are receive awards in areas from business studies, to society and culture, and history. Mike and Simon were there to award the students for the essays they wrote as part of the University of Sydney’s Essay Writing Competition. This competition is held jointly by the University and Chifley Senior Campus and judged by academics from both the modern and ancient disciplines. The University and Chifley College Campus have been working together as part of an equity social inclusion program in order to encourage students to achieve academic excellence and to consider university as an option.

When it was time for the awards, Mike was invited to give a talk to the students, teachers and parents gathered on the merits of tertiary education for people from all walks of life. Following this, the highly commended essays were awarded. Tahlara Mazzelli was named the winner of the Modern History Essay competition. Tahlara was praised for writing an essay on Winston Churchill’s role in WW2, and the secret war in India. David Ibekaku was named the winner for the Ancient History Essay competition. David explored the value and limitations of Biblical and archaeological sources in an assessment of King David of Israel’s rule. After, commendations for Grace Major’s Personal Interest Project (the Society and Culture major work) and Allen Burias’s History Extension project were awarded. Both projects were of an impeccable standard this year.

Following the ceremony, the students, parents, teachers, and guests were invited to enjoy a pizza lunch together. Discussing the future plans of the freshly graduated ex-students and the year 12 students, we were relieved to find that many of them plan to go to the University of Sydney next year.

The Social Inclusion Program looks forward to working with Chifley Senior Campus again in 2020!

Raising Awareness and Promoting Equal Rights: My Work with Handital

The organisation I have been working with over the past few months is Handital, a non-profitable, voluntary organisation that supports people with disabilities and their carers. I have created a website for Handital and this has made the project quite innovative and distinctive because they have never possessed their own personal site, and have relied significantly on their Facebook page to provide information about the organisation and attract new members. The website marks the first time a detailed account of Handital’s thirty six year history has been presented online. Investigating Handital’s history affirmed the importance of local history because if such community histories are not recognised, historical knowledge will become lost. Overall, the website’s main, yet implicit, argument is to show the public the significant contributions Handital has made for people with disabilities in the past, as well as in the present. It aims to encourage people to acknowledge the importance of non-profitable, charitable organisations like Handital and why they should be supported by the government as well as their local communities. In order to justify these arguments, I incorporated evidence such as old and more recent photographs of fundraising events, information from the Handital President’s 25th anniversary booklet and oral history interviews.

When I met with one of the Committee Members for the first time, he explained to me the decrease in membership over the years as many members have passed away and others have simply left. Therefore, we agreed that another aim of the website would be to increase membership, particularly from a younger age group. I made the argument on the website that young people have been involved with the organisation and did this through including photos of younger people such as young adults between the ages of 20-30. The additional evidence I used to support this argument was the emphasis on the youth support group by ensuring online viewers they do not need to have a disability to join. Stating that the group meet once a month to enjoy a social outing may help Handital attract more young members. Furthermore, in order to attract a younger online audience, I included an application form in the ‘contact us’ section so people could easily fill in their details and send it through to Handital’s email, instead of sending it through the post.

The website is divided into seven main themes: ‘home page,’ ‘about us’, ‘history,’ ‘events,’ ‘what’s on,’ ‘team members’ and ‘contact us.’ The ‘about us’ describes the organisation and the services they provide, the ‘history’ section explores the early establishment of Handital and the most significant moments in their history, the ‘events’ page provides information and visuals about Handital’s four main annual events and the ‘what’s on’ page shows individuals the advocacy of Handital and the current campaigns they are supporting. I believe dividing the website into these themes helps structure the website and ensures its clarity, and allows current members and the public to choose what in particular they want to view. For example, current members may only want to view the upcoming ‘events’ and the ‘what’s on’ pages. Each of these themes represent a crucial and fundamental aspect of Handital and dedicating a page to each allows new viewers to achieve a broad and diverse understanding about the organisation.

Handital Foundation Members in 1983 at NSW Parliament House

Handital Committee members will benefit from this website because their organisation will be able to reach an online audience and fulfil the need of increasing membership which currently stands at around seventy people. Handital does not have a specific age target, however an increase in young people may increase its diversity and allow younger people such as young adults between the ages of 20-35 to become involved and take over the organisation one day. As Handital’s main office is located in Five Dock and their events occur in nearby restaurants, I believe the target region is the local community and Sydney’s Inner west. Furthermore, I am glad that the work I have been doing at Handital has been helpful as the Committee Members admitted to not having the time to scan photographs onto a USB and physically organise and label them into albums. Doing this work voluntarily, including the creation of the website, has saved time for the members. Furthermore, the website was crucial to the promotion and continuance of Handital as currently they are experiencing fear regarding the end of funding by the government in June 2020 which may possibly have an impact on the organisation. Hopefully, the website will attract a wider online audience who will join Handital, or even donate to their cause.

I used Wix to create my website and before I began developing it, I spent a few hours over a four day period becoming familiar with Wix and its features and became privy to the types of creativity I could incorporate into the website. I abided by a red, white and green colour scheme throughout as this corresponded with Handital’s logo and also followed specific fonts to make the website flow and enhance the professionalism. I didn’t want to present the photos plainly so I discovered interesting ways to present them such as fades and click through galleries. Furthermore, I was asked by the Handital President to include translations in Italian on the ‘Home’ and ‘About us’ pages for the Italian members. However, the remaining sections were left in English so people can see that even though it was founded by Italian families, the organisation welcomes and accepts different cultures.

The Handital website was announced at Handital’s annual celebration in honour of the International Day of People with Disability. Once launched, members will be provided with the link and an explanation about how to use it. Committee Members have agreed to place the link of the website onto their Facebook page so people will be able to gain a greater and more in depth understanding about Handital through accessing two different online forms with differing intentions. In order to ensure the sustainability of my project, I aim to teach one specific Committee Member in charge of admin how to update the website, particularly for the ‘events’ and ‘what’s on’ sections. I also need to complete scanning all the photographs I was given onto a USB and organise and label them into photo albums which I will hopefully have completed by the end of the year. Overall, I am very honoured and pleased that I got to work with such a wonderful and caring group of people.

The Tunnel: My work with the Hornsby Shire Historical Society

Throughout this semester I have had the pleasure of working with the Hornsby Shire Historical Society, a historical society that is located just up the street from me in my hometown of Normanhurst. My request to work with the Hornsby Shire Historical Society coincided with the release of their bi-annual journal ‘Local Colour’, so the organisers of the journal thought it would be suitable to contribute a journal article in accordance with my major project.

Two of the organisers and myself brainstormed possible topics for my article until we came up with the idea of the NorthConnex. The NorthConnex is a 9km road tunnel that will link Wahroonga to West Pennant Hills and allow motorists to bypass Pennant Hills road, a road notorious for its traffic and accidents. It is the single biggest construction project in the history of the Hornsby Shire and seeing as the historical society had no records or information on the subject they thought it would be very helpful to not only write a journal article about it for them but also offer them information on the subject that they can look back on for future use.

The fundamental purpose of my major work was to inform the local residents of the Hornsby Shire on the NorthConnex project, to do this I offered an insight into how the NorthConnex was built as well as the benefits and controversies associated with it. Because the NorthConnex is still only in the final stages of construction now, the vast majority of the material I used to write the journal were primary sources which came from the NorthConnex, the building contractors of the NorthConnex as well as the local council and the state and federal governments. Although it was at times difficult to work with sources that were predominantly technical in nature, it taught me how to turn such sources into something creative.

On top of the journal article I also conducted multiple interviews with local residents on the their thoughts on the NorthConnex. This forced me to step out of my comfort zone as I approached random people who were passing by Pennant Hills library and asked them if they lived in the area and then if they were willing to answer a few questions. However daunting it was, this process aloud me to gain an understanding of how local residents felt about the construction of the NorthConnex which I could then pass on to the historical society. After my first meeting with the volunteers of the historical society, I spent most Wednesday mornings coming in and helping them clean out their basement to help them reorganize it and find some forgotten items that could be utilised by their museum. This was dirty work, but it taught me a lot, as I would ask about almost every item that I carried out, most of which were 70 years old or more.

Working alongside the Hornsby Shire Historical Society while completing this unit of study has been a very fulfilling experience that has taught me a lot about my own local history as well as new ways to approach history and allowed me to meet and work with members of my community who I would never have had the opportunity to before this, and I am very grateful for that. It was also very satisfying to see my a name credited in a published journal.