conference 2010
"Connecting Women, Respecting Differences"
Confirmed speakers: Giselle Byrnes, Sharyn Graham Davies,
Manying Ip, Lynda Johnston, Shuchi Kothari, Anjum Rahman, Lisa Reihana, Hine
Waitere - see below.
Workshops: The conference will also include workshops on
Human Rights and Diversity (run by the Human Rights Commission) and Communicating
Diversity (run by Jennifer Janif of the Ministry of Social Development), with
other workshops currently being organised. You can sign up for these when
collecting your conference pack at the Welcome function on Friday 19 November
or at the registration desk during the conference.
Giselle Byrnes. Giselle has published extensively in the field of historical scholarship, including most recently as editor of The New Oxford History of New Zealand, a revisionist multi-authored general history of New Zealand, published in July 2009. An earlier monograph, The Waitangi Tribunal and New Zealand History (Oxford University Press, 2004) considered the historical narratives produced by the Waitangi Tribunal as part of the modern Treaty claims process. Giselle is known nationally and internationally for her work on Treaty issues and on critiques of national identity. She was an invited keynote speaker at the National Native Title Conference in Western Australia (2002), and in September 2007 was invited to speak at the Prime Minister’s ‘Dominion Day Symposium’ held at Parliament in Wellington. Giselle is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor (Postgraduate) and Professor of History at the University of Waikato.
Sharyn Graham Davies. Sharyn is Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Auckland University of Technology. She has spent a number of years living in Indonesia and has written extensively on gender and sexuality, including most recently Gender Diversity in Indonesia: Sexuality, Islam, and Queer Selves (2010), and Challenging Gender Norms: Five Genders among Bugis in Indonesia (2007).
Manying Ip. Manying Ip is Professor in Asian Studies at Auckland University and the author of several critically acclaimed books on Chinese in New Zealand (including Aliens At My Table: Asians as New Zealanders See Them, Penguin 2005, Unfolding History, Evolving Identity: The Chinese in New Zealand, Auckland University Press, 2003) as well as over 30 journal articles and book chapters in international publications on issues pertaining to recent Asian immigrants. Her recent research has resulted in two books, Being Maori-Chinese: mixed identities (2008) and The Dragon and the Taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand (2009). Reviewers praised the works for elucidating ethnic relations, particularly the tension between the First Nation and immigrant groups. Manying Ip is a respected advocate for Chinese communities living in New Zealand and is a sought-after commentator on Asian issues. She was awarded a Suffrage Centennial Medal in 1993 and was created an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 1996. In 2008, she was elected Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities (FNZAH) in recognition of her outstanding scholarship. In 2009, she was inducted into the Royal Society of New Zealand and became FRSNZ.
Lynda Johnston. Lynda is an Associate Professor in Geography at the University of Waikato. She has published on topics such as lesbians and homes, women body builders and gyms, gay pride parades and tourism, wedding tourism, migrant women and food, ‘queer’ feelings of belonging in and to place, drag queens, and feminist and queer methodologies. She is author of Queering Tourism: Paradoxical Performances of Gay Pride Parades (2005), and co-author of Space, Place and Sex: Geographies of Sexualities (2010) and Subjectivities, Knowledges and Feminist Geographies: The Subjects and Ethics of Social Research (2002).
Shuchi Kothari. Shuchi Kothari is an accomplished screenplay
writer working in film industries in New Zealand, India, and USA. Her latest
feature film Firaaq premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and
has since garnered fourteen awards at various film festivals around the world.
She has also written and produced internationally acclaimed short films and
on television her recent contribution has been New Zealand’s first prime-time
Asian show titled A Thousand Apologies. Shuchi’s creative work reflects
her interest in issues related to migration, settlement, South Asian diaspora,
and Indian cinema. She is the recipient of the New Zealand Film Commission’s
Writer’s Award for 2009.
For more information about Shuchi’s films, see www.nomadzunlimited.com
Anjum Rahman. Anjum is a Chartered Accountant and a founding member of Shama (Hamilton Ethnic Women’s Centre) and the Islamic Women’s Council, as well as being involved with the Hamilton Peace Movement and various interfaith activities. She was a Labour list candidate at the last election, and blogs at The Hand Mirror.
Lisa Reihana. Lisa has played a leading role in the development
of film and multimedia art in Aotearoa, and her work demonstrates a keen interest
to communicate complex ideas about gender, indigenous identity and bi-cultural
living. Her examination of cultural histories utilises photography, sculpture
and time-based arts. Lisa has an impressive exhibition record, representing
New Zealand in Paradise Now? at the Asia Society Museum, New York, the 2000
Sydney Biennale, the Noumea Biennale in 2002, and the Asia Pacific Triennial
in 1996 and 2003. Her work Native Portraits n.19897 was commissioned for the
opening of Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, and has received much critical
acclaim. She was also an invited speaker at the New York opening of the 2007
Global Feminisms touring exhibition. Last year, Lisa was shortlisted for the
Walters Prize and her major ongoing photographic and video project, Digital
Marae, was shortlisted for the Anne Landa Award in Australia. Lisa has undertaken
residencies at the Institute for Modern Art in Brisbane and the Banff Centre
in Canada, and is currently the Artist in Residence at McCahon House in Titirangi,
Auckland.
Hine Waitere. Hine is the Director of the Indigenous Leadership
Centre, Te Whare Wanaga o Awanuiarangi, Whakatane. She previously taught within
the educational leadership program in the School of Educational Studies, Massey
University. Her research interests are broadly located within the realm of
the politics of knowledge with an interest in identity politics related to
Mana wahine (feminism from an indigenous perspective), gender and culture
in education in general, and in leadership more recently.