Daily Archives: 5 July 2018

Job opening: Historian, Office of Treaty Settlements, Wellington, NZ

At the Office of Treaty Settlements there’s is an opportunity for historians to be a part of New Zealand’s future – one that’s watched by the rest of the world.

We’re looking for hard-working, talented and motivated people to join us as we negotiate settlements of historical Treaty claims and build positive relationships between the Crown and Māori.

If you’re a team player who would like to see the results of your work first-hand, the Office of Treaty Settlements, based in Wellington, invites you to apply for a position as a Historian. We are looking to fill 1 Permanent full time position.

You’ll participate in front-line negotiations of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims and provide historical advice to inform the negotiations. You’ll be part of a team that assists iwi groups, and develops meaningful redress packages for claimants. The team also provides historical advice to inform decisions on applications for customary rights under the Marine and Coastal Area Act 2011 (MACA).

We work closely with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and a range of government departments, contribute to Waitangi Tribunal inquiries, and support legislation through Parliament. You will be part of a close and collaborative team of historians, have oversight of the work your colleagues are undertaking, and develop your leadership skills by contributing to broader capability of the historian team.

You’ll preferably have a master’s degree in New Zealand history or Māori studies, or have equivalent research-based professional experience. You’ll have well-developed historical research skills, knowledge of Māori history and archival institutions, an understanding of government structures and process, and awareness of tikanga Māori and Māori tribal dynamics. You will demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills, negotiate skilfully in tough situations with both internal and external groups, and build constructive relationships. You’ll be an effective communicator and develop your leadership skills by mentoring staff and contributing to the broader capability of the office.

It’s fascinating, fast-paced work, so if you’re adaptable and results-driven then the Office of Treaty Settlements is the place for you.

Salary range:  $59,649 – $80,702

For full details and to apply, see https://apply.justice.govt.nz/jobs/MOJ-1341919

To apply, complete the application form, attaching your CV, cover letter, and a short sample of your best historical writing.  Applications close Monday 9 July 2018.

Call for Chapters: Irreverence and Play in Shakespearean Adaptations

Irreverence and Play in Shakespearean Adaptations, edited by Marina Gerzic (The University of Western Australia) and Aidan Norrie (The University of Warwick)

Four hundred years after William Shakespeare’s death, his work continues to not only fill playhouses around the world, but also be adapted for various forms of popular culture, including film, television, comics and graphic novels, digital media, and fan cultures. These adaptations introduce a whole new generation of audiences to the work of Shakespeare, and = are often fun, playful, engaging, and “irreverent, broadly allusive, and richly reimagined takes on their source material” (Cartelli and Rowe, New Wave Shakespeare on Screen, 2007, 1).

Proposals are invited for chapters that engage with the various ways irreverence and play are used in Shakespearean adaptations. Accepted authors will draw out existing humour in Shakespeare works and/or, and as a pedagogical aid used to help explain complex language, themes, and emotions found in Shakespeare’s works, and more generally make Shakespeare ‘relatable’, and entertaining for twenty-first century audiences.

Topics could include, but are not limited to:

  • Irreverence and play in media related to the “Shakespeare 400” celebrations in 2016: e.g. Shakespeare Live! “To Be, or Not to Be” skit; Horrible Histories: ‘Sensational Shakespeare.’
  • Irreverence and play in “biographical” Shakespeare adaptations on stage and screen: e.g. Shakespeare in Love (1998); Bill (2015); Something Rotten! (2015); Upstart Crow (2016).
  • Irreverence and play in Shakespearean adaptations for the theatre: e.g. Andy Griffith’s, Just Macbeth!; The Listies’, Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark; Reduced Shakespeare Company; Shit Faced Shakespeare; Something Rotten!
  • Irreverence and play in Shakespeare adaptations in children’s and YA literature: e.g. Marcia Williams’ work; Andy Griffith’s Just Macbeth!; John Marsden’s Hamlet, A Novel; Kim Askew’s ‘Twisted Lit’ series, Molly Booth’s Saving Hamlet; Ryan North’s To Be or Not To Be and Romeo And/Or Juliet.
  • Irreverence and play Shakespeare adaptations in comics and graphic novels: e.g. Kill Shakespeare; Manga Shakespeare; Nicki Greenberg’s Hamlet; Ronald Wimberley’s Prince of Cats.
  • Irreverence and play in Shakespeare adaptations on screen: e.g. A Midwinter’s Tale (1995); Scotland, PA (2001); Were the World Mine (2008); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead (2009); ‘Shakespeare’s Sassy Gay Friend!’ series (2010); Gnomeo and Juliet (2011); Messina High (2015); BBC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016).

Please send both a chapter title and abstract (of between 150 and 300 words), and a brief biography to both mgerzic@gmail.com and aidannorrie@gmail.com by 31 August 2018. Accepted authors will be notified by 30 September 2018, and completed chapters of c.7500 words will be due by 1 July 2019.

Download (PDF, 106KB)

Call for Papers: Stakes of Sanctuary Workshop, March 7-8 2019, Quebec, Canada

In recent decades, there has been a great deal of attention given to modern sanctuary practices, ranging from the sanctuary offered to asylum seekers from Central America in the 1980s to recent efforts to declare university campuses, cities and states sanctuary spaces. Although much of the focus has been on contemporary activities in the United States, sanctuary is a global, and deeply historic phenomenon.

A quick glance at the historical record reveals the multitude of ways in which sanctuary practices have manifested themselves, the ways they have been justified, as well as the ways in which they have been woven into the very fabric of human life. One can look to ideas in Ancient Greece and Rome, to the Old and New Testament and a sense of obligations to strangers as well as the Islamic tradition of istijara (to be one’s neighbour), to Medieval practices designed to offer the guilty time to make amends, to refuge among Indigenous communities (17th century Iroquois Wars), to protection for slaves via the Underground Railway and more recent state-sanctioned offers of refuge (via resettlement programs) and semi-authorized refuge in the form of sanctuary cities as well as individual acts of sanctuary.

The question of what animates or characterizes any sanctuary practice is central to unpacking the many ways in which benefactors and recipients are part of larger political, social and cultural landscapes. Sanctuary can be offered and received publicly or privately, sanctioned by the state or undertaken by civil society actors for religious or secular purposes. The interdisciplinary Stakes of Sanctuary workshop interrogates how and why sanctuary has become so central to public discourse on the protection of refugees and migrants, with the recognition that sanctuary practices have diverse and complex genealogies. The diversity of sanctuary practices invites critical engagement around the character of sanctuary and its significance. To this end, the workshop asks about the impulse and character of sanctuary, now and historically, as well as what is at stake, and for whom, in the claiming and offering of sanctuary.

To investigate what is at stake in the practice of sanctuary, the workshop organizers invite paper proposals that engage with one, or more, of the questions below:

  • How might we understand the character of various sanctuary practices, historically and presently?
  • What is being offered / signified through the construction and offer of sanctuary or refuge?
  • Who are understood to be the recipients of protection? How have recipients (prospective or otherwise) understood the stakes of sanctuary, of what is being offered?
  • What reasons are given by entities that offer sanctuary, and other forms of protection or hospitality, and what is their moral foundation? How should the justifications for sanctuary be weighed against other state imperatives?

Confirmed contributors include Michael Blake (University of Washington), Vinh Nguyen (University of Waterloo), Shannon McSheffrey (Concordia University), Charmaine Nelson (McGill University), Rebecca Schreiber (University of New Mexico), Shelley Wilcox (San Francisco State University).

To propose a contribution, please send abstracts (300 words) to Patti Tamara Lenard and Laura Madokoro at: patti.lenard@uottawa.ca and laura.madokoro@mcgill.ca, by 1 August 2018. Papers will be pre-circulated, so drafts must be submitted by 1 February 2019.

Contact Info: 

Dr. Laura Madokoro, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Classical Studies, McGill University

Dr. Patti Lenard, Associate Professor, Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

Contact Email: 
laura.madokoro@mcgill.ca