Category Archives: short course

ANZAMEMS Reading Group: Session 1 ‘Compassion’ Summary

The first session of the ANZAMEMS PGR/ECR Reading Group took place on Zoom on Tuesday 28 February. The topic was ‘compassion’, and the readings were Diana Barnes’s introductory article on ‘Cultures of Compassion’ from the latest (39/2, 2022) issue of Parergon, and Katherine Ibbett’s chapter on ‘The Compassion Machine’ in her 2017 Compassion’s Edge: Fellow-Feeling and its Limits in Early Modern France. There were twelve attendees, and we enjoyed a great discussion on the two readings.

There was discussion over whether understanding and reason must precede feelings of compassion, or whether compassion was a pre-rational response to others’ pain. The readings brought in the idea that compassion was fellow-feeling for those suffering undeservedly, implying that a judgement must be made as to whether a sufferer was deserving or not. This linked to whether there was a boundary between the self and object of compassion. Selfishness was a common theme which kept appearing in our discussion. Wrath and despair were noted as opposites of compassion.

A major theme in the readings was the rational or self-managing versus the excessive or spontaneous. Barnes quoted Milton, showing unmediated compassion as divine rather than human, while humanity’s compassion was deemed rational. Our discussion teased beyond the Christian roots of the concept of compassion, noting the links to Stoicism in the Barnes reading, and Aristotelian links in Ibbett. Comparison was also drawn to the Buddhist notion of the selfishness of suffering which will benefit the self.

We then turned to the Reformation and differences in compassion in Catholicism and Protestant thought. There was particular discussion on how suffering can be seen as good or as bad. It could signal a lack of predestination, or a purging to bring the sufferer closer to God (such as in purgatory or the Crusades). This led to the question of whether others can feel joy for another’s suffering. Does joy arise from the sufferer or observer? Does a sufferer need an observer to gain compassion (a performance of suffering)? Good points were made about viewers of drama and readers of texts being communal audiences rather than sole observers. This idea of the ‘collective’ linked to notions of the ‘contagion’ of compassion, spreading from person to person.

Finally, there was consideration of the gendered aspect of compassion. Ibbett devoted a small section of her chapter to compassion as a female trait. We then linked this back to the idea of those ‘deserving’ of compassion (by being undeserving of their suffering), showing that female characters are often judged less favourably. This was attributed in part to their reactions or revenge for their suffering being deemed unacceptable for women.

Two interesting texts were suggested in the discussion:

Charles Zika’s chapter ‘Compassion in Punishment: The Visual Evidence in Sixteenth-Century Depictions of Calvary’, in Cultural Shifts and Ritual Transformations in Reformation Europe, ed. by Victoria Christman and Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer (Brill, 2020), doi:10.1163/9789004436022_013

Anne McCullough’s dissertation ‘Coerced witness: Suffering and resistance in medieval literature’ (Emory University, 2005), https://www.proquest.com/docview/305387287

The next session of the reading group will be on Tuesday 21 March, 2pm AEDT, on the subject of Household Accounts as Primary Sources.

Please contact the convenors with any queries: Emma Rayner (ANU),
emma.rayner@anu.edu.au, and Emily Chambers (University of Nottingham),
emily.chambers@nottingham.ac.uk.

ANZAMEMS Professional Development Day: Wednesday 30 November 2022 at The University of Melbourne (and online) – applications for bursaries close on 30 September

ANZAMEMS is excited to announce it will be running a Professional Development Day for postgraduates and early career researchers from both Australia and New Zealand at the upcoming Congress of the Council of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) in Melbourne, in late November 2022.

The event will be held both in person at The University of Melbourne, and online via Zoom on Wednesday 30 November 2022.

The ANZAMEMS Professional Development Day will assist postgraduate and ECR scholars in their development as researchers and provide opportunities to network with experts and other postgraduates working in similar fields. The program will offer a mix of career development and state of the field/s reflections. A detailed program and list of speakers will be announced shortly.

All attendees will be expected to abide by the ANZAMEMS Equity and Diversity policy (https://www.anzamems.org/?page_id=9826) and Covid-Safe procedures.

Registration

Registration for the ANZAMEMS Professional Development Day is required. Registration is FREE for all attendees.

To register to attend the ANZAMEMS Professional Development Day either in-person or online, please visit: https://www.trybooking.com/954218

Covid-Safe Event

Please note: Covid-Safe measures will be in place during the Event for those attending in person:

  • Free masks, RATs and hand sanitiser will be provided by Event organisers;
  • In-person attendees will be required to wear masks whilst indoors, and to provide proof of a negative RAT the morning of the Event;
  • ANZAMEMS strongly encourages individuals to remain up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations;
  • Covid-safe meal options for morning/afternoon tea and lunch will also be provided.

Childcare

The Congress of HASS is a child friendly event. For more information about childcare options, please visit the Congress website: https://www.chass.org.au/congress.

Travel and Carer Bursaries

A limited number of Travel and Carer bursaries will be available to ANZAMEMS members who are current or recent Postgraduates or Early Career Researchers to attend the Professional Development Day. This includes members from New Zealand. The amount of funding available, and hence the number of bursaries funded, will be determined by the Event organising committee after they have considered all the applications. Bursaries will be awarded on a competitive basis and applicants will be ranked according to distance travelled, financial need, current employment status, and access to other sources of funding.​

  • Current Postgraduates should be enrolled in higher degree research programs (MA by research or PhD) at the time of their application.
  • Early Career Researchers should have graduated from a higher degree research program (MA by research or PhD), and should not yet be employed in an ongoing academic position.

To apply for a bursary, please send an email titled 2022 ANZAMEMS Professional Development Day Bursary Application to Dr Marina Gerzic (info@anzamems.org) with the following information included in a Word document attached to the email (please do not send these details directly in the email itself):

  1. Name, and affiliation (if any);
  2. Type of bursary you are applying for, i.e., Travel or Carer;
  3. Confirm whether you are a Postgraduate or Early Career Researcher;
  4. Confirm that you are a financial member of ANZAMEMS for 2022;
  5. A short budget (no more than 1/2 page) detailing the cost of attending the Event;
  6. Details of any other sources of funding.

The closing date for bursary application is Friday 30 September.

Dr Victoria Flood ‘Invisible Worlds’ Masterclass at UWA

Dr Victoria Flood (University of Birmingham) will be visiting The University of Western Australia later this month. Dr Flood’s visit is supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies and Medieval and Early Modern Studies at UWA.

Dr Flood will be delivering the following Masterclass for IAS (see also the below flyer):

‘Invisible Worlds: Visibility and Invisibility in Public-Facing Heritage Interpretation’

Date: Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Time: 10.30am-noon

Where: UWA Institute of Advanced Studies

Cost: Free

https://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/masterclass/flood

Please circulate details of this workshop to any students and colleagues who might be interested in attending.

Flyer for IAS Masterclass with Dr Victoria FloodDownload

SUMMER SCHOOL IN NEW TESTAMENT GREEK

CHRISTOPHER DAWSON CENTRE
SUMMER SCHOOL IN NEW TESTAMENT GREEK
23 – 27 JANUARY, 2023

Dr David Daintree of the Christopher Dawson Centre will again offer an intensive course in the koine Greek of the New Testament. This course is suitable for virtual beginners who are willing to undertake some preliminary work on the Greek alphabet. We shall read passages from the Gospels and from Christian literature of the apostolic age.

Where: The Fr John Wall Community Library, Fr John Wall Centre, 31 Tower Road (Rear), New Town, Tasmania 7008.

When: Monday 23 January to Friday 27 January 2023

Time: 9.00 am to 3.00 pm each day for five days

Cost: $200 (pension concession available)

Registrations are essential: email Dr David Daintree dccdain@gmail.com

Some prior knowledge of Greek is not essential, but beginners should purchase a self-instruction primer (see below) and work on the basics between now and the start of the course. It is particularly important to begin the course with a comfortable recognition knowledge of the Greek alphabet, otherwise learning even basic grammar and vocabulary will be frustrating and inefficient. Alphabet recognition exercises will be sent to registered participants prior to the start of the course. Participants will never be embarrassed if their Greek is imperfect: the teaching method leaves the entire task of translation and exposition to the Lecturer. This approach has been useful to relative beginners as well as those who are more experienced.

Each intending participant should purchase, as soon as possible, a primer of New Testament Greek. There are many available, but a good choice is Gavin Betts, Complete New Testament Greek: A Comprehensive Guide to Reading and Understanding New Testament Greek with Original Texts.

The Lecturer is Dr David Daintree who founded the Annual Latin Summer School in Hobart in 1993. Proceeds from this course will go to support The Christopher Dawson Centre.

THE PROGRAMME
There will be four lectures a day on each of the five days, starting at 9.00 am. There will be only one lecture after lunch each day, to free up the afternoons for private study.

To enroll and for further information contact David Daintree dccdain@gmail.com

CHRISTOPHER DAWSON CENTRE 31th ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOL IN MEDIEVAL AND LATER LATIN

FR JOHN WALL CENTRE, NEW TOWN, HOBART

9 – 13 JANUARY, 2023

Latin is arguably the mother tongue of Europe. Its literature is immensely rich. In a sense it never died; original work continued to be written in Latin up to modern times. This course will offer a general introduction to Latin with particular emphasis on the enormous body medieval and later literature. We shall read original passages of Scripture, liturgy, history, theology and poetry, both secular and secular. There will also be an introduction to palaeography, including an opportunity to handle original medieval manuscripts. There will be a strong emphasis on the pronunciation of Latin in speech and music.

Designed for students of all standards, absolute beginners should purchase a self-instruction primer and work on the basics between now and the start of the course. Participants will never be embarrassed by their shaky Latin: the teaching method leaves the entire task of translation and exposition to the Lecturer. This approach has been useful to relative beginners as well as those who are more experienced. The instructor is Dr David Daintree.

Where: The Fr John Wall Community Library, Fr John Wall Centre, 31 Tower Road (Rear), New Town, 7008.

When: Monday 9 January to Friday 13 January 2023

Time: 9.00 am to 3.00 pm each day for five days

Cost: $200 (concession available). Tea and coffee will be available daily. Registrations are essential: email director@dawsoncentre.org.

THE PROGRAMME
There will be four lectures a day on each of the five days, from Monday 10 to Friday 14, starting at 9.00 am. There will be only one lecture after lunch each day, to free up the afternoons for private study.

Day 1 Liturgy and Scripture.

Day 2 Latin prose narrative: including passages from the Venerable Bede, St Brendan, Isidore of Seville, Robert Grosseteste

Day 3 Hymns, sequences and religious poetry, including works by St Ambrose, Venantius Fortunatus and St Thomas Aquinas .

Day 4 Secular Poetry, including songs from the Carmina Burana

Day 5 Theology and patristics: St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, St Benedict, St Patrick and Thomas a Kempis.

Any Latin Primer designed for self-instruction can be used, but F Kinchin Smith’s Teach Yourself Latin (out of print, but copies are available from www.abebooks.com) is particularly recommended. A free digitised version is available at https://archive.org/details/TeachYourselfLatin_201810/mode/2up.

Participants should bring both their grammar and a small dictionary to class each day.

All proceeds from this course go to the Christopher Dawson Centre (http://www.dawsoncentre.org).

For further information contact director@dawsoncentre.org.

Reminder: Medieval Latin and NT Greek Summer School

Enrolments are still open for summer schools in Medieval & Ecclesiastical Latin and New Testament Greek, held at Jane Franklin Hall, University of Tasmania, in January 2020.

1. Medieval Latin: 13-17 January 2020

This course will offer a general introduction to post-classical Latin, poetry and prose, sacred and secular. Some prior knowledge of Latin is recommended. There will be an introduction to palaeography, including an opportunity to handle original manuscripts. 2020 will be the 27th occurrence of this annual event!

2. New Testament Greek: 20-24 January 2020

An intensive course in the koine Greek of the New Testament. We shall read passages from the Epistles and Gospels, as well as the Septuagint and Christian literature of the apostolic age. The course is aimed at beginners, but it is strongly recommended that all learn the Greek alphabet before commencing; exercises will be posted out beforehand to assist in that.

Both January Summer Schools will be held at Jane Franklin Hall (a college of the University of Tasmania), 6 Elboden Street, South Hobart.

The instructor of both courses will be Dr David Daintree. The cost of each school is AU$300. This covers tuition and materials only. It is expected that self-catering accommodation will be available at the college as usual, though arrangements for that should be made directly with the college.

Write to David Daintree directly for further information – dccdain@gmail.com – or call him on +61 (0)408 879 494.

See attached flyers for course details. 

Download (DOCX, 17KB)

Download (DOCX, 18KB)

Applications open: Rome Seminar, June 10-July 5, 2020

This seminar is designed to introduce graduate students from across the humanities to the unique primary sources available in Rome. Working hands on with materials in the city’s archives and libraries, students will be exposed to the rich potential of a wide range of sources produced from 1100 to 1750. Seminar meetings will be held at the Vatican Apostolic Library, the Biblioteca Nazionale, and the Archivio di Stato, and elsewhere. The seminar will also include a series of presentations by senior scholars who will discuss how they have collected and interpreted Roman primary sources in their own research.

Each successful applicant will receive a stipend of up to $3,500 to defray travel costs, housing, and meals in Rome. We welcome applications from students from any discipline at any stage in their graduate education. To be eligible to apply, you must be enrolled full-time in a graduate program. The focus of your research need not be Rome but you should have an interest in developing that research through the use of primary sources located in the city.

There are extraordinary and understudied materials in libraries and archives in the city for archeologists and classicists, art historians and historians, musicologists and students of theater and performance, historians of late antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern period and the world, specialists in the Near East and East Asia. The holdings of the Vatican Library alone include priceless manuscripts and documents from East Asia, the near East, and North Africa – as well as a vast collection of ancient, medieval and early modern texts in Greek and Latin, a unique resource for the history and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, of Christianity from its origins until recent times, of relations between Christians and Jews from antiquity onwards, and other subjects without number.

For more information, please visit the website: https://rome.nd.edu/research/rome-seminar/

Summer Schools: Medieval Latin and NT Greek, Hobart

Enrolments are now invited for summer schools in Medieval Latin and New Testament Greek will be held at Jane Franklin Hall, University of Tasmania in January 2020.

1. Medieval Latin: 13-17 January 2020

This course will offer a general introduction to post-classical Latin, poetry and prose, sacred and secular. Some prior knowledge of Latin is recommended. There will be an introduction to palaeography, including an opportunity to handle original manuscripts. 2020 will be the 27th occurrence of this annual event!

2. New Testament Greek: 20-24 January 2020

An intensive course in the koine Greek of the New Testament. We shall read passages from the Epistles and Gospels, as well as the Septuagint and Christian literature of the apostolic age. The course is aimed at beginners, but it is strongly recommended that all learn the Greek alphabet before commencing; exercises will be posted out beforehand to assist in that.

Both January Summer Schools will be held at Jane Franklin Hall (a college of the University of Tasmania), 6 Elboden Street, South Hobart.

The instructor of both courses will be Dr David Daintree. The cost of each school is AU$300. This covers tuition and materials only. It is expected that self-catering accommodation will be available at the college as usual, though arrangements for that should be made directly with the college.

Write to David Daintree directly for further information – dccdain@gmail.com – or call him on +61 (0)408 879 494.

ANZAMEMS PATS: Approaching Medieval and Early Modern Conflict

Approaching Medieval and Early Modern Conflict
ANZAMEMS Postgraduate Advanced Training Seminar 2019
University of Queensland (St Lucia campus), 11–12 August 2019

Applications are invited from postgraduates and ECRs in Australia and New Zealand who would benefit from taking part in this year’s ANZAMEMS Postgraduate Advanced Training Seminar, which will focus on the study of medieval and early modern conflict.

Day One will be comprised of four methodological workshops:

Conflict in Crusade Narrative (Dr Beth Spacey);
Conflict in Monastic Narrative (Assoc. Prof. Kriston Rennie);
Conflict and Material Culture (Prof. Megan Cassidy-Welch); and
Conflict in Early Modern Print Culture (Dr Charlotte-Rose Millar).

The sessions will be followed by a roundtable discussion for broader reflection on the study of historical conflict. The workshops are designed to expose participants to a variety of approaches towards conflict in a historical setting, to enable engagement with ‘research in progress’, and to develop skills in textual, visual, and material cultural analysis. This is also an opportunity for participants working on cognate topics to connect with academics, students and ECRs from UQ and beyond.

On Day Two, participants will attend the one-day symposium at UQ, Landscapes of Conflict and Encounter in the Crusading World. This symposium brings together medievalists working on diverse areas of crusading activity in Europe, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, to give papers on the relationship between landscape, conflict and encounter. By focusing in on a particular aspect of medieval conflict, this symposium will allow participants to build their own knowledge around the theme, while providing an opportunity to network with an international group of scholars in the field.

The costs of participants’ return airfare and accommodation will be covered by ANZAMEMS and the University of Queensland.

To apply, please send the following information to Prof. Megan Cassidy-Welch (m.cassidywelch@uq.edu.au) by 17 May 2019:

  • Your name, affiliation and status (i.e. currently enrolled MA/MPhil, PhD, or ECR within 5 years of completing a postgraduate degree);
  • A copy of your academic CV;
  • A c.300-word overview of your research, including reflection on how you might benefit from participation in this PATs;
  • Estimated cost of your return economy airfare to Brisbane.

Please direct any queries to m.cassidywelch@uq.edu.au .

Shakespeare in Italy Summer School, Florence, July 6-19

Shakespeare in Italy’s 5th summer school is to be held this year at the British Institute in Florence from July 6 – 19. The summer school gives participants the rare opportunity to work with tutors who are leaders in their field in the UK theatre world. Royal Shakespeare Company and Globe directors Lucy Bailey and Chris Luscombe will lead work on Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet and acclaimed actor/director Philip Franks on The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Our course is practical, not academic, and it is open to all, the only proviso being that you speak English fluently. Last year in Pizzo Calabro the group ranged in age from 18 to 95. Everyone took part in putting scenes on their feet but in past years some people have wanted to participate from the comfort of their seats. Both approaches are welcome! 

The benefits are innumerable and people have a lot of fun as well as gaining great theatrical insight into the texts. Please see the PDF below for more details and contact shakespeareinitaly.eu@gmail.com with any questions.

A 5 per cent Early Bird discount on all bookings received with €400.00 deposit before February 15.

www.shakespeareinitaly.eu or phone +44 (0) 1273 285377 or +44 (0) 7493757302

Shakespeare in Italy summer school 2019 (1)Download