Humanities Lectures: Recent Episodes
Division of Humanities
Professor Jon Hall, Classics, gives the graduation address at the Arts, Music and Theology graduation ceremony on 14 December 2016.
A Public Lecture with Rev. Peter Harris, Anglican Minister, Conservationist, and Co-Founder of Christian Conservation Organisation A Rocha. 24 November 2016
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit addresses the World Council of Churches Central Committee’s recent ‘Statement on Religion and Violence’ (28 June 2016), which addresses the persistence and spread of extremist violence in the world, and its ambiguous connections with religion. 7 October 2016.
Professor Kevin Clements delivers the 2016 Archibald Baxter Memorial Lecture. 28 September 2016
As an environmental planner, Claire Freeman’s research focuses on the intersection of the natural and built environment. She examines how environmental relationships can be enhanced through more effective planning policy, design and practice. In particular, she looks at how planning can help create urban environments that work better for children and young people, and for nature. It links across three major disciplinary fields; the social sciences, biological science and planning. Some current and recent projects she is involved with are: “Natural neighbourhoods for city children”, a Marsden-funded study exploring how children in Dunedin, Auckland and Wellington connect with nature in their daily lives; “the Dunedin Garden Study,” which investigates householders’ relationships with native biodiversity in their gardens; “Children and young people’s experiences following the Christchurch earthquake”; and a study of “Children’s experiences of neighbourhood” in New Zealand, Fiji and Kiribati. 20 September 2016
In this Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Professor Jacinta Ruru anchors her research journey within this Māori proverb to help bring alive the endurance and 'foreverness' of the Māori world in Aotearoa. Professor Ruru shares the ways in which she has sought to contribute towards challenging the law to more respectfully recognise and embrace Indigenous peoples’ authority, laws, values, rights and responsibilities to own, govern and manage land and water. 12 September 2016
Rev Dr Doug Gay is the Stuart Residence Halls Council Distinguished Visitor for 2016. In this public lecture, he traces the outline of an ecumenical political theology incorporating the Catholic, Reformed and Anabaptist traditions of narrative, discipline and witness, with particular reference to the political and economic environment and events leading to the post 2008 economic crisis. 6 September 2016.
Professor Kevin Clements gives a recorded presentation to the Adam Curle Symposium held at the University of Bradford
Imam Afroz Ali is the founder and president of Al-Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences & Human Development in Sydney, Australia, and an Australian Ambassador for the Charter of Compassion. He is also is a founding member of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change and served as managing director for SeekersHub Global. This is the 13th annual peace lecture, organised by the Otago Tertiary Chaplaincy and the Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group. 24 August 2016
The Faculty of Law presents this public lecture by Professor Graham Virgo, 2016 NZ Law Foundation Distinguished Visiting Fellow, 2016 FW Guest Memorial Lecturer. In 1516 Sir Thomas More published 'Utopia', which identifies an attractive vision of law and society. As Lord Chancellor, More helped to develop Equity as a mechanism to secure justice which was not provided through the rigid interpretation of the Common Law. From the start, the equitable jurisdiction was founded on conscience. By tracing the historical development of conscience it is possible to identify the theoretical structure which justifies and explains the equitable jurisdiction and shows how it should develop in the future.
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture three of the 2016 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Choon-Leong Seow, Vanderbilt Divinity School, this presentation covers the topic 'Job in Modern Literature'. 4 August 2016
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture three of the 2016 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Choon-Leong Seow, Vanderbilt Divinity School, this presentation covers the topic 'Job Through the Eyes of Artists'. 3 August 2016
Professor Etienne Nel of the Department of Geography, delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Dealing with Difference: Responses to uneven geographical development”. Etienne has authored, co-authored or edited 10 books, and has written nearly 30 book chapters and more than 100 articles, primarily on economic development in Africa. 2 August 2016
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture three of the 2016 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Choon-Leong Seow, Vanderbilt Divinity School, this presentation covers the topic 'Job as a Contested Classic'. 2 August 2016
This forum reflects on some of the global lessons to be learned from the Chilcot report. The report systematically and comprehensively demolishes Tony Blair and George Bush’s justifications for embroiling the UK in the most disastrous war of the modern era. It also raises some fundamental questions about international criminal accountability for acts of aggression and wider questions about where the responsibility for war should lie in Westminster-style democracies. The panel includes Professor Robert Patman (Politics), Associate Professor Lisa Ellis (Philosophy) and Mr Stephen Smith (Law), chaired by Professor Kevin Clements (NCPACS). 1 August 2016
'My intention in this lecture is to urge critical reflection upon current US practices of targeted killing by considering, not just whether acts of targeted killing can be legally justified, but also what sort of state we are turning into when we organize the use of lethal force in this way -maintaining a list of named enemies of the state who are to be eliminated in this way.' A prolific scholar, Jeremy Waldron teaches legal and political philosophy at NYU School of Law. Until recently, he was also Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford University (All Souls College).
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture three of the 2016 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Choon-Leong Seow, Vanderbilt Divinity School, this presentation covers the topic 'Theological Conversations in Job'. 28 July 2016
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture two of the 2016 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Choon-Leong Seow, Vanderbilt Divinity School, this presentation covers the topic 'The Artistry of the (Hebrew) Book of Job'. 27 July 2016
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture one of the 2016 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Choon-Leong Seow, Vanderbilt Divinity School, this presentation covers the topic 'Job in the Cradle of World Literature'. 26 July 2016
The 2016 University of Otago Fellows: Victor Rodger (Robert Burns Fellow), Miranda Parkes (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Chris Gendall (Mozart Fellow), val smith (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Barbara Else (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts. 17 July 2016
Professor Poia Rewi of Te Tumu - School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture, "Hoka: Motivators of Time". Professor Rewi (Tūhoe, Ngāti Manawa, Te Arawa) works on a regional and national level in multiple areas of Te Reo promotion, teaching and research. 14 July 2016.
Professor Roger Clark is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and of Columbia Law School in New York. He began his teaching career at Victoria in 1964 and has taught at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey since 1972. He represented Samoa at the International Court of Justice in the Advisory Proceedings on the Legality of the Use or Threat of use of Nuclear Weapons in 1995 and is currently a member of the team representing the Marshall Islands in its ICJ cases on nuclear weapons. The team has been nominated by the International Peace Bureau for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. In this conversation with Professor Kevin Clements (NCPACS), Professor Clark will discuss the influences that have determined the course of his life and career.
Venerable Robina Courtin has spent much of her life working for peace in various ways, initially as a left-wing feminist activist, and later as a Buddhist nun. In conversation with Joe Llewelyn she shares some of her wealth of knowledge and experience, including her work with prisoners and teaching around the world.
Colin Smith, Chairman on the Pike River Families Group Committee and the Pike River 29 Legacy Trust, talks about the Pike River disaster and asks how could this happen in this day and age? Find out why the Pike River Families have fought so hard and for so long. Colin Smith is a law graduate from the University of Otago and is a partner with the Greymouth Law Firm Hannan & Seddon.
Public Lecture with Professor Jonathan Boston from the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington. He discusses the role of governance in sustainability and how to move from a short term focus at a governmental level to a longer term focus.
Civil pecuniary penalties are an increasingly common feature of regulatory legislation such as the Commerce Act 1986 and the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. They have been both welcomed as a pragmatic “third way” between purely civil remedies and criminal charges and condemned as incompatible with human rights and the principles which underpin the criminal justice system. This lecture considers both sides of the debate and whether it is possible to reconcile the competing views. Presented by Jenny Cooper, who graduated from Otago in 1995 and now practices in Auckland as a commercial barrister with specialist expertise in company and securities law and fair trading and competition law.
Professor Jon Hall, Head of the Department of Classics, delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Murderous Politeness in Ancient Rome”. Jon's research focuses on Cicero – in particular, Cicero's letters and speeches. Recently Jon completed a book on Cicero’s use of showmanship in the Roman law courts. 3 May 2016
De Carle Lecture series The Law and the Relational Self Professor Jonathan Herring, DM Wolfe-Clarendon Fellow in Law, University of Oxford and 2016 De Carle Distinguished Lecturer presents the fourth of four public lectures in the Relational Law series.
James and Jean Davis Prestige Visiting Fellow, Professor Don McRae C.C delivers a public lecture on 'The Evolution of International Law: Challenges and Prospects'. The lecture focuses on the changes that have occurred in the field of international law over the past 50 years, and the challenges that these developments pose for both the theory and practice of international law including its legitimacy.
De Carle Lecture series The Law and the Abused Self Professor Jonathan Herring, DM Wolfe-Clarendon Fellow in Law, University of Oxford and 2016 De Carle Distinguished Lecturer presents the third of four public lectures in the Relational Law series.
De Carle Lecture series The Law and the Caring Self Professor Jonathan Herring, DM Wolfe-Clarendon Fellow in Law, University of Oxford and 2016 De Carle Distinguished Lecturer presents the second of four public lectures in the Relational Law series.
De Carle Lecture series The Law and the Vulnerable Self Professor Jonathan Herring, DM Wolfe-Clarendon Fellow in Law, University of Oxford and 2016 De Carle Distinguished Lecturer presents the first of four public lectures in the Relational Law series.
Professor Stuart Young's Inaugural Professorial Lecture is entitled "We need new forms": Playful Adventures from Chekhov to Verbatim Theatre. Professor Stuart Young is currently Head of the Department of Music (which incorporates the Theatre Studies programme and the Bachelor of Peforming Arts programme). His research interests include Documentary/Verbatim Theatre; Russian drama, in particular Chekhov, and its reception abroad; Translation Studies and translation for the theatre; Modern British drama and theatre; New Zealand drama and theatre; Gay and queer drama. 8 March 2016
Between 1900 and 2015, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were about twice as effective as violent insurgencies. In this talk, Professor Erica Chenoweth will review the impressive historical record of civil resistance in the 20th century and discuss the promise of unarmed struggle in the 21st century. She will expand upon her book (co-authored with Maria Stephan) 'Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict', which won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Erica Chenoweth is Professor & Associate Dean for Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
Erica Chenoweth is Professor & Associate Dean for Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Professor Chenoweth is an internationally recognised authority on political violence and its alternatives, in 2014 she received the 2014 Karl Deutsch Award, given annually to the scholar under the age of 40 who has made the greatest impact on the field of international politics or peace research. In this conversation she discusses her life, influences and research with Dr Charles Butcher from the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.
An open lecture by Erica Chenoweth, Professor & Associate Dean for Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Professor Chenoweth is an internationally recognised authority on political violence and its alternatives.
Dr. Joakim Kreutz, Assistant Professor at the University of Uppsala, is an expert on how wars end, and what causes them to end. His research has focused on trends in war termination over the past 60 years, and more recently has examined the Colombian peace process and EU engagement in humanitarian intervention. This public conversation will explore Dr. Kreutz's pathway into this research area, some of the main findings in recent research on war termination, and how these insights might be applied to contemporary conflicts. 3 November 2015
Sir Tipene O’Regan is best known as a long serving chairman of the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust board and as a key figure in the leadership of the Ngai Tahu claim to the Waitangi tribunal and he has been very influential in many other roles. Here he illuminates very important aspects of our places’ past, present, and its future and reflects on key cultural and historical issues of particular pertinence of all New Zealander’s including history, knowledge and tribal identity. 1 October 2015
Professor Richard Jackson talks to Dr Najibullah Lafraie, Department of Politics, who discusses a range of issues he is concerned about. Dr Lafraie discusses his family and growing up in Afghanistan, the effect of religion in his life and his early education through his study. After leaving Afghanistan for a short time, he returned to carry out his PhD study and continued on to join the resistance against the Soviet Union and continues with how he stayed in the country, in hiding, when the Taliban were present, to finally coming to live in New Zealand. 28 September 2015
In this talk Professor Tom McLeish, Professor of Physics at Durham University. Tom discusses themes from his recently published book ‘Faith and Wisdom in Science’ (Oxford University Press, 2014). In this book, Tom takes a scientist’s reading of the Old Testament’s Book of Job and uses this ancient text as a centrepiece to make the case for science as a deeply human and ancient activity, embedded in some of the oldest stories told about the human desire to understand the natural world. Drawing on stories from the modern science of chaos and uncertainty, alongside medieval, patristic, classical and Biblical sources, Faith and Wisdom in Science challenges much of the current “science and religion” debate as operating with the wrong assumptions and in the wrong space. There are immediate consequences for how we treat science in government, the media, in education and in churches. 22 September 2015
Professor David Tombs, Director, Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago, speaks about the US Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture (2014), which has strongly criticised the interrogation programme overseen by the CIA in the aftermath of 9/11. He connects this to studies of torture practices under authoritarian regimes in Latin America, and suggests that it is also relevant to the field punishment of Archibald Baxter, and other conscience objectors, in World War I. 21 September 2015
The twelfth annual peace lecture, organised by the Otago Tertiary Chaplaincy and the Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group, is given by Rabbi Fred Morgan, Professorial Fellow, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne. In this talk Rabbi Fred Morgan will address a number of questions – Does the notion of pursuing peace have to be modified according to the time in which we find ourselves? How do the dynamics of pursuing peace change from one context to the other? What is the role of religions in times of peace and times of war? And how do the dynamics of pursuing peace under different circumstances impact on interfaith relations? 9 September 2015
Professor David Tombs holds the Howard Paterson Chair in Theology and Public Issues and is Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago. His Inaugural Professorial Lecture discusses Latin American liberation theology and its ongoing legacy. 8 September 2015
In this talk Professor Peter Danchin, Professor of Law and Director of the International and Comparative Law Program at the University of Maryland School of Law discusses the three key concepts in modern religious freedom discourse – neutrality, universality and legality. What is increasingly recognised, however, is the extent to which these concepts are inextricably entangled, historically and substantively, with theological concepts and categories. In drawing out these connections and assessing their implications for three central questions concerning the subject, object and justification of the right to religious liberty, this talk asks whether there can be a unified theory of religious freedom and in what sense we can say the right is independent of religious traditions and the contested notions of freedom within them. 19 August 2015
Katherine Runswick-Cole, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, discusses her research project ‘Big Society? Disabled people with learning disabilities and civil society’ which she completed in collaboration with Dan Goodley of the University of Sheffield, UK. In this paper they seek to develop an understanding of social policy driven by a commitment to the politics of disability, especially the politics of people labeled with learning disabilities. 12 August 2015
This presentation given by Paul Gibson, Disability Rights Commissioner, follows on from Katherine Runswick-Cole’s talk on her research project ‘Big Society? Disabled people with learning disabilities and civil society’. In this talk he focuses on the journey of understanding, and the role of research in making disability rights real. 12 August 2015
Professor Tony Ballantyne, former Head of the Department of History and Art History, University of Otago, Chair of the Hocken Collections Committee and Director of the University’s Centre for Research on Colonial Culture has been engaged in a long-running research project on the production of colonial culture. This lecture explores the nature of archives, the possibilities of digitisation, and the role of both archival collections and historical writing in the making and remaking of cultural memory. 6 August 2015
Dr. David P. Gushee is a Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University. His research interests focus on the ethical teachings of Jesus Christ and the Christian theological-ethical tradition, together with its contemporary implications for Christian discipleship and public witness. In this talk he speaks on his personal journey toward a change of his own heart and mind in becoming an advocate for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender inclusion in the Church, and his recent book ‘Changing Our Mind’ and the impact that it is having. 30 July 2015
Professor Jeremy Waldron, Professor of Law at New York University speaks on the topic of ‘Profound Disability and Distinctive Human Dignity’. What does it mean to say we are all one another’s equals? Does a sense of equality distinguish humans from other animals? On what is this human equality based? Is it a religious idea? Is it a practical commitment? Is it just a matter of human rights? Is there supposed to be some shared feature that all human beings have in common? And if we take that approach, what are we to say about our brothers and sisters who suffer from profound disability—whose human claims seem to outstrip any particular description that they satisfy or any capacity that they have? 28 July 2015
What’s Magna Carta — legal icon, myth, or misconception? When was Magna Carta —1215, say the historians, the lawyers (were they to agree) might say 1297. In this talk Dr Nigel Jamieson, Faculty of Law at the University of Otago discusses what Magna Carta might mean for us today — being in Latin most modernists would shrug it off; some cynics say it means nothing much, since it’s only called the Great Charter because in 1215 they couldn’t text it down to twenty words; others say it’s not for us today because we’re far more up with the political play; and then there are those today who extol it to divert our attention away from the fact that they’re fiddling the books behind our backs. 21 July 2015
Professor Jim Allan is the Garrick Professor of Law at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland and previously belonged to the University of Otago Faculty of Law for 11 years. In this talk Professor Allan discusses four key points, what an unwritten constitution amounts to, the point of written constitutionalism and what you are being promised when offered a written constitution. Finally he explains why a written constitution has limited choice and the process of making a decision between a written and unwritten constitution. 15 July 2015
The 2015 University of Otago Fellows: Louise Wallace (Robert Burns Fellow), John Ward Knox (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Jeremy Mayall (Mozart Fellow), Uzoamaka Nwankpa (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Robyn Belton (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts and former General Manager at Fortune Theatre. Jennifer Beck who is sharing the University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence, was unable to attend. 12 July 2015
Reverend Dr Peter Matheson studied in Otago, (History) Edinburgh, and Tübingen (Theology); edited Critic and taught religious history in New College Edinburgh, Otago and Melbourne. He has been active in the peace movement in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Germany and New Zealand and is the author of fifteen books and countless articles on reforming movements, radical and women's history in the Early Modern Period in Germany, and on aspects of New Zealand and Third Reich history. He is a Presbyterian minister and Honorary Fellow of the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Otago. In this talk, he discusses the churches in the peace movement in 1980’s New Zealand. 28 May 2015
Professor Peter Matheson has led a rich life of theological and historical scholarship, reflection, pastoral care and radical activism. He has urged Churches and States in the UK, Germany and New Zealand to confront violence and war and to work for peace, justice and a more compassionate world while also engaging many of the major issues of the 20th century. In this talk with Professor Kevin Clements, he discusses his life growing up, his experiences in peacemaking and the heart and mind in the quest for justice. 20 May 2015
In this conversation with Professor Kevin Clements, Dr Kennedy Graham discusses the subject of 'Human Security and Global Order: A 21st Century Agenda'. Kennedy Graham served in the New Zealand Foreign Service for 16 years, and has lectured on International Politics and International Law at both the University of Canterbury and Victoria University. He was elected to Parliament for the Greens in 2008 and re-elected in 2011, and holds portfolios of Global Affairs, Defence and Disarmament, and Constitutional Affairs. 13 May 2015
Professor Takashi Shogimen of the Department of History & Art History delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Reshaping the Baton: The enduring relevance of intellectual history”. 21 April 2015
Piet Meiring, Emeritus Professor of Theology and Missiology at the University of Pretoria, and a former member of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Desmond Tutu, speaks about the role of faith and theology in the post-apartheid reconciliation process, and offers insights from the South African experience. 16 April 2015
Professor Kathryn Tucker, Executive Director of The Disability Rights Legal Center, Los Angeles, discusses the rights of terminally ill patients to make choices to ensure a dying process that is consistent with their values and beliefs; these rights have been rapidly evolving in the US. Professor Tucker, a veteran of nearly every effort to protect and expand end of life choice in the US for more that two decades, will share insight on advocacy strategies, progress, challenges and predictions. She also discusses advocacy in the courthouse, the statehouse and in various policy forums. 17 March 2015
In this talk, Sabine Brels explores these questions in providing a global overview of animal law at three levels: National, European and International. What is animal law, where does it come from, and how is it evolving? Why can we say that it is progressing worldwide? What are its main strengths and weaknesses in order to protect the welfare of animals against cruelty and suffering, either legally or illegally perpetrated? She also looks at current efforts to set up a universal protection of animal welfare. Lastly, she presents the new Global Animal Law (GAL) Project, aiming to improve the law for animals all around the world. 16 March 2015
This lecture, given by Professor Tony Ballantyne, Head of the Department of History and Art History, University of Otago, explores some of the challenges and opportunities that are facing scholars in the Humanities in New Zealand. It is particularly concerned with questions of communication, from the classroom to policy debates, from the changing infrastructure for publication and review to questions of language itself. In exploring these issues, it argues for the continued importance of some key aspects of the traditional idea of the University (especially 'the lecture'), makes the case for a much more co-ordinated drive to make Humanities research accessible and also identifies some significant ways forward for the Humanities in New Zealand in a 'digital age'. 8 December 2014
In 2008, despite active opposition from Jewish groups, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Professor Richard Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Professor Falk, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Princeton University, is described as ‘a critical analyst of the role of international law in global politics’. In this talk he discusses prospects for peace in the Middle East. 10 November 2014
Professor Hilal Elver, the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, evaluates the human rights based approach in relation to the right to adequate and healthy food given the reality and impact of the political, environmental and economic challenges of the 21st century. Professor Elver discusses the strong resistance by global market forces to rights based approach to food security as it supposedly interferes with free market principles; and moreover, the right to food as embedded in the Covenant of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights is not taken nearly as seriously by many developed countries as is the companion treaty, Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 10 November 2014
Professor Jane C. Ginsburg of the Columbia University School of Law discusses two utopian goals: universal access to knowledge, and universal authors’ rights. She also addresses the clash of utopias epitomised by the Google book-scanning programme and the legal responses it has inspired, including the recent decision by the SDNY upholding Google’s fair use defence. 23 October 2014
In this conversation, panellists Claire Carey, Gregor Morgan and Allan Cumming join Professor Kevin Clements to discuss the role of nonviolence in the Save Aramoana Campaign and the lessons for other communities around the world. 20 October 2014
Through discussion of the conceptual metaphor of facing a crossroads, Professor Zhang Longxi of City University of Hong Kong will first establish the necessity of comparison in a general sense, and then will use another conceptual metaphor of killing a Chinese mandarin to explore the ethics of comparison, the issue of the relationship with one’s own group versus relationship, or the lack of it, with outsiders and strangers. As the world becomes increasingly globalized, the physical and psychological distance of human beings from one another is shrinking, and so is the possibility of moral indifference toward others outside one’s own group. This talk is sponsored by the University of Otago Research Theme for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Studies. 10 October 2014
Professor Haun Saussy, from the University of Chicago and a leading scholar of Chinese and comparative literature, delivers the fourth and final lecture in the 2014 De Carle Lecture series, Compared to What? The basic argument is that comparative literature grew from interdisciplinarity in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries, struggled to become an autonomous field and in the process lost its interdisciplinary dimensions, then has been recovering them on new bases, but in an academic environment that is slow to reward risk-taking, unlike the moment immediately after the French Revolution when the gesture of sweeping the slate clean and inventing new sciences came naturally to so many of our predecessors. 10 October 2014
Professor Haun Saussy, from the University of Chicago and a leading scholar of Chinese and comparative literature, delivers the third lecture in the 2014 De Carle Lecture series, History-Writing and Moral Community in China. The Chinese claim, seen with increasing frequency in current soft-power propaganda campaigns, of "5000 years of history" needs to be read in light of a process, over 2000 years long itself, of consensus-building by, of and for historians. How does such a thing as the Chinese Empire become, first an imaginary solution, then an inescapable reality, for a large part of humanity? The arts of rhetorical reading help us to see the successive articulations of what we now know as "China" or "Zhongguo." 2 October 2014
Professor Haun Saussy, from the University of Chicago and a leading scholar of Chinese and comparative literature, delivers the second lecture in the 2014 De Carle Lecture series. Western political philosophy, at its beginning (Plato's Republic), introduces an analogy between medical treatment and political reform that, like all metaphors, has consequences on both the supposedly different domains that it incorporates. As long as the metaphor is viewed as a mere analogy, however, the practical relation of medicine to state survival is obscured. The historical development, through a series of political theorists, some of them physicians, explains the in-between status of the field of public health. 22 September 2014
Professor Haun Saussy, from the University of Chicago and a leading scholar of Chinese and comparative literature, delivers the first lecture in the 2014 De Carle Lecture series, Oral vs. Written: The Curious History of a Cultural Distinction. Though it has become part of our common-sense understanding, the idea of a deep and comprehensive difference between the ways of thinking in predominantly oral and predominantly written cultures dates to the early twentieth century, at the most, and received its impetus from polemics now largely forgotten. By retracing this history, we can work out a genealogy for media studies that will accommodate a larger definition of the human. 18 September 2014
In this conversation Tim Ashton, a former member of the Armed Offenders and Special Tactics group in the New Zealand Police force, talks with Professor Kevin Clements about guns, gun control and combating hypermasculinity in Aotearoa-New Zealand. In 1990 Tim was one of the Special Tactics team that shot David Gray in Aramoana. Over the course of his career he has been involved in many incidents where offenders have taken their own lives after killing others, including partners and children. Tim has been shot in the course of his duty and has received two medals for bravery. 15 September 2014
Dr Robin Jackson, Chief Executive and Secretary, British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences, gives a review of some of the challenges and issues that face Humanities in the USA and UK and possibly Australia/New Zealand too. He provides some reflections on the nature of the study of the Humanities which might explain why those challenges arise; and an illustration of various ways in which they can be addressed. 8 September 2014
Trevor Shiels QC, delivers the 2014 F.W. Guest Memorial Lecture – Multiple Judgments and the New Zealand Supreme Court. 4 September 2014
Professor Tony Harland, Head of the Higher Education Development Centre, delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Slow Scholarship and Deliberate Spaces for Thinking and Learning”. 2 September 2014
Devanathan Parthasarathy, Professor of Sociology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, presents this key-note lecture as part of the 'Un-thinking Asian Migrations: Spaces of flows and intersections' symposium. Inspired by Doreen Massey’s critique of multiplicity and power-geometry, and Indian anthropological critiques of village studies and urban studies, this talk uses a series of ethnographic illustrations to innovate our ways of comprehending relationality, connectedness, simultaneity, and multiplicity in empirical analysis and theorization of migration, mobility and flows across temporal and spatial units and scales. 26 August 2014
Eric C. Thompson, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore presents this key-note lecture as part of the 'Un-thinking Asian Migrations: Spaces of flows and intersections' symposium. The presentation examines the city as a theatre of accumulation not from the top-down but rather from the bottom-up, that is from the point-of-view of rural-to-urban and transnational migrants for whom cities are sites to accumulate financial as well as social and cultural capital in order to fulfil their own aspirations. Importantly, drawing on examples from Bangkok and Singapore, the site of those aspirations is often elsewhere – not in the city but “back home” in rural areas or other countries. 25 August 2014
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture six, and the final of the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, Scotland, this presentation covers the topic “Jerusalem”. 21 August 2014
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture five of the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, Scotland, this presentation covers the topic “Sons of Thunder”. 20 August 2014
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture four of the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, Scotland, this presentation covers the topic “Called to Fish for People”. 19 August 2014
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture three of the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, Scotland, this presentation covers the topic “Zebedee and Sons”. 14 August 2014
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture two of the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, Scotland, this presentation covers the topic “The Fishing Industry”. 13 August 2014
The Honorable Justice Susan Glazebrook, Supreme Court of New Zealand, delivers this talk on some issues in statutory interpretation in the 21st century. Justice Glazebrook discusses a number of topics including legislation, modern statutes, the purpose of text in legislation, and interpretation. 13 August 2014
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture one of the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by Professor Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, Scotland, this presentation covers the topic “The World of the Lake of Galilee”. 12 August 2014
The Honorable Michael Kirby, AC CMG Australia, presents this talk on Human Rights in North Korea. He discusses a number of issues including the torture of prisoners and other violations of human rights. He also discusses the establishment of the Commission of Enquiry in May 2013 to investigate these issues. 5 August 2014
Professor Gerald Torres, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law at Cornell Law School delivers this talk on 'Litigating Climate Change'. Climate change cases are already being handled by the USA courts. The most prominent are the atmospheric trust cases currently being brought by youth and supported by James Hansen and other scientists. These cases are asking the courts to compel Government to take meaningful action to protect the atmosphere for current and future generations. There have also been liability suits suggested – and at least one filed – over the effects of climate change. Professor Torres discusses the range of cases being brought and suggested in the USA, focusing on the atmospheric trust litigation, and the public trust doctrine which underlies it. 30 July 2014
Guest Lecturer Mindy Chen-Wishart, a Reader in Contract Law, presents a case study of the transplant of an English doctrine into Singaporean law and explores why the Singaporean courts, while professing to follow it, have applied it to very divergent effect. She compares Western and Confucian value systems—hierarchy versus equality, the positional versus the personal, and collectivism versus individualism—and emphasises the importance of being more aware of the deeply entrenched assumptions of one's own legal system, and of those of other cultures. With the 'changing of the guard' on the world stage, from the West to the East, this is a particularly important time to engage with the Eastern perspective. 24 July 2014
Professor Kevin Clements chairs this debate on the subject ‘Is it worth voting?’ in light of the upcoming election in September. Dr David Clark, MP Dunedin North and Marian Hobbs, former Labour MP, debate the positive argument. Professor Richard Jackson and Dr Bryce Edwards, debate the negative argument. 23 July 2014
Professor Kevin Clements talks to Marilyn Waring, development consultant, academic, writer and former National Party MP who triggered the 1984 snap election when she refused to support her own government in the vote against an opposition-sponsored anti-nuclear bill. Her best known work, "If Women Counted", also published under the title "Counting for Nothing", describes how economic orthodoxies exclude most of women's productive and reproductive work. In this conversation, Professor Clements seeks to explore what triggered Marilyn's interest in peace, justice and human rights. 21 July 2014
The 2014 University of Otago Arts Fellows: Majella Cullinane (Robert Burns Fellow), Patrick Lundberg (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Jeremy Mayall (Mozart Fellow), Louise Potiki Bryant (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Melinda Szymanik (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts and former General Manager at Fortune Theatre. 13 July 2014
Professor Patrick Parkinson is a professor of law at the University of Sydney and a specialist in family law, child protection and the law of equity and trusts. He is President of the International Society of Family Law and has written many books. In this talk he discusses the conflict between faith organisations and human rights centre advocates after so many years of coexistence and collaboration. He also goes on to discuss his examinations into finding the balance between equality norms and religious freedom in a multicultural society, and the issue of public funding for religious organisations. 10 July 2014
Carla Harryman and Barrett Watten give poetry readings at the Circadian Rhythm Café. Carla Harryman is a poet, essayist, novelist, and playwright. She has published thirteen single-authored works, including 'Adorno's Noise' (Essay Press, 2008) and 'Open Box' (Belladonna, 2007), and has received numerous grants and awards including from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Opera America, the American Embassy in Romania, and the Fund for Poetry. Barrett Watten is a language-centered poet, critic, editor, and publisher. Some of his publications include 'Bad History', a nonnarrative prose poem “including history,” (Atelos, 1998) and ''Progress/Under Erasure, in a combined edition, (Green Integer,2004). He edited 'This', one of the central publications of the Language school of poetry (1971-82), and co-edited 'Poetics Journal' with Lyn Hejinian, featuring writing on poetics by poets and academics. 9 July 2014
Professor Sean Fitzsimons of the Department of Geography delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Is the present the key to the past? Lessons from Antarctica and the Southern Alps”. 8 July 2014
Rev Dr Lord Leslie Griffiths presents this year's Otago Tertiary Chaplaincy and Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group Peace lecture “Believers of the world – unite”. Dr Griffiths, the Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, is a Methodist Minister and Superintendent of Wesley’s Chapel, London, and has been a member of the British House of Lords since 2004. His story begins in real poverty in South Wales. He became the youngest ever staff member at the University of Wales, before the call to ordained ministry led him, via Cambridge, to Haiti to work with some of the poorest people on earth. 7 July 2014
In this conversation with Professor Kevin Clements, Professor Ed Garcia will reflect on his life's work, on the central dilemmas confronting human rights and peace practitioners and the ethics of peacebuilding.
Professor Ed Garcia is a Peace Process Practitioner. He has worked as a peaceworker, specifically as special peace envoy and senior policy advisor at International Alert, a peace-building organisation working in diverse regions of violent conflict. Ed's work has taken him all over Asia, including the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Fiji, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Kashmir. He has worked in conflict zones on the African continent, in Latin America and the Middle East. 14 April 2014
Professor Tony Binns, University of Otago Ron Lister Chair of Geography, has been bestowed with the most remarkable of honours – being named an African Chief. The Paramount Chief and Section Chiefs of Sandor Chiefdom in Kono District, Eastern Province, Sierra Leone, awarded Professor Binns the titles of ‘Sahr Kayima’ and ‘Chief Manjawah of Sandor’ earlier this year. The honour recognises his work and community involvement over a period of 40 years since he first visited as a PhD student in 1974. He explains his personal journey and how he became interested in Africa and specifically Sierra Leone. He discusses his ongoing research and links with the communities and the significance of the honorary chieftaincy. 11 June 2014
Before Professor Ed Garcia departed after an extended visit to the Centre, he interviewed Professor Kevin Clements about his life and times. Kevin has had an illustrious career both in academia and as a consultant to a variety of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations on disarmament, arms control, conflict resolution, development and regional security issues. He has written widely on conflict transformation, peacebuilding, preventive diplomacy and development with a specific focus on the Asia Pacific region. 24 April 2014
Maata Wharehoka, a tikanga Maori advocate, discusses with Professor Kevin Clements about being born in the 1950’s into a large unwealthy family and her work as an activist and advocate. She talks about living a pakeha life with her aunty from the age of 11, her experiences through nursing school and studying, and raising her own family of five children, and the fostering of 45 children. 12 May 2014
Professor Jonathan Boston, Professor of Public Policy at VUW, Director of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies and Co-chair, Expert Advisory Group (2012) on Solutions to Child Poverty discusses the issue of child poverty: myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings. In discussions about child poverty in New Zealand, one often hears the following claims: ‘There is little or no real child poverty in this country’; ‘The fundamental problem is that some people have too many children’; ‘Many parents are lazy or irresponsible and thus deserve to be poor’; ‘The real problem is not poverty but poor parenting’; ‘We can’t afford to reduce child poverty’; and ‘If we give the poor more money, they will simply waste it’. How valid are such claims? What does the available empirical evidence tell us? What can we learn from the experience of other developed countries? And what ethical principles should guide our policy responses to the challenge of child poverty? 12 June 2014
In this address, we hear the prize-winning author of Fifty Grand and The Cold Cold Ground, Adrian McKinty, read from his new Sean Duffy novel, In the Morning I’ll Be Gone. Adrian is an Irish novelist born in Belfast, Northern Ireland who is primarily known as a writer of crime and mystery novels, and young adult fiction. He is the author of 15 novels and has won a number of awards for his writing since he began in 2001 and has been shortlisted for the Crimewriter’s Association silver dagger award, the Theakston Best British Crime Novel award and the Barry award. 30 April 2014
Professor Jim Allan, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, argues that in five of the world’s oldest democracies, the long-established Anglosphere countries of Canada, New Zealand, the UK, the US and Australia, the past few decades have seen a decline in the extent to which democratic decision-making prevails. He outlines the causes of that decline in democracy and then notes the ways that decline is masked and obfuscated. 16 May 2014
In this conversation two leading public theologians, one from Sri Lanka, Dr Vinoth Ramachandra (Secretary for Dialogue and Social Engagement with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students), and one from Cambridge, Dr Jonathan Chaplin (Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics) discuss this issue with Professor Andrew Bradstock, Director of the University of Otago’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues. 9 August 2013
This reading of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Book 9 is part of a Milton Marathon reunion performance that took place in the Allen Hall Theatre, 100 years old this year. The readers are Lyn Tribble, Lorraine Isaacs, Jeanette Leigh, Alison Finigan, John Hale, Carol Wyvill, Majella Cullinane, Karen McLean and Paul Tankard. 15 May 2014
Professor Michael LeBuffe, University of Otago Chair in Early Modern Philosophy, of the Department of Philosophy delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Pocket Hobbes” 13 May 2014
Dr Katie Elkin, Associate Commissioner, Legal and Strategic Relations at the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner, discusses the considerable change in the design of health professional regulation throughout Australia and New Zealand since the beginning of the last decade. As well as ushering in significant structural reform, the legislation in both countries is now more explicit regarding its public protection objectives. However, the degree to which regulatory decision-making is actually consistent with public protection considerations is unclear. Through two major empirical analyses of complaints and disciplinary mechanisms in Australian and New Zealand, Dr Elkin has explored these issues and how they impact at throughout the regulatory journey, from registration through to disciplinary sanction. 13 May 2014
Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning, the Scottish Government discusses the upcoming Scottish debate in September 2014, “Should Scotland be an independent country?” Michael has been Education Secretary in the Scottish Government since 2009, having previously served as Minister for Environment, and Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution. He is a graduate of Edinburgh University and the author of seven books, including Edinburgh: A Celebration (1992), In Waiting: Travels in the Shadow of Edwin Muir (1998), and The Next Big Thing: A Fable of Modern Scotland (2007). He represents the Argyll and Bute constituency for the Scottish National Party in the Scottish Parliament. 25 March 2014
Marian Hobbs, former Labour MP, in conversation with Professor Kevin Clements about her life and times growing up through the 1960’s. She talks about education, teaching, life in communes and her experiences as an MP. 17 March 2014
John A. “Skip” Laitner is a resource economist based in Tucson, Arizona. In this talk, Skip looks at the constraint imposed on the global economy by the inefficient use of energy. He discusses ways to improve the current level of efficiency and how the next generation of efficiency improvements will move away from device efficiency to system, infrastructure and social optimization. 10 March 2014
Simone Celine marshall discusses the medieval imagery used by Modernist writers to explain metaphysical experiences. The Ozone research talks were presented in September 2013
Professor Philip Pettit (Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University) speaks on the topic of ‘Doing Good and Doing Evil’. Are doing good and doing evil on a par? It may at first seem so: doing good to others means conferring a benefit, doing evil means imposing a harm. But first impressions are misleading this case, as in many others. For it turns out that while we expect goodwill in those who do us good, we do not often expect malice in those who do us evil. The difference proves to be significant since it helps to explain some of our most ingrained habits of moral thought. 11 March 2014
Professor Geremie Barmé, Director, Australian Centre on China in the World, Australian National University presents his lecture “Thirty Years of Spiritual Pollution” as part of an all day workshop held at the University of Otago on ‘Chinese soft power and culture: between complicity and independence’. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the NZCCRC (New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre), the CIW (Australian Centre on China in the World), the Chinese Programme of the Department of Languages and Cultures, Division of Humanities, University of Otago, and the Confucius Institute in Auckland, Otago Office. 20 November 2013
Dr Ian Chapman, Executant Lecturer in Contemporary Music at the University of Otago talks about teaching performers and practising as a performer. He has first-hand experience of how it is possible to use a performance persona to overcome nervousness and stage fright because of ongoing practise with his own performative alter-egos, including the 1970's inspired "Dr Glam".
One of the primary areas of research for Dr Ian Chapman, Executant Lecturer in Contemporary Music at the University of Otago, is early 1970’s glam rock, featuring performers like David Bowie. Ian talks about his research in music iconography and how musical performance is conveyed visually. January 2014
Winner of the 2013 Otago Three Minute Thesis competition, Daniel Wee is a PhD candidate from the Department of Philosophy, whose talk entitled ‘Talking to oneself: Is it still a language if only one person understands it?’ earned him the Supreme Award. 29 August 2013
Second place in the 2013 Otago Three Minute Thesis competition went to Helen Alderson, a Master’s student from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, whose presentation was called ‘Geochemically sourcing the architectural basalt of Nan Madol.’ 29 August 2013
These readings feature poems by David Howard and Lisa Samuels. David Howard is a poet, the 2013 University of Otago Robert Burns Fellow, and a winner of the Gordon & Gotch Poetry Award, the NZ Poetry Society Competition, the NZSA Mid‐Career Writers Award, and the University of South Pacific Press Poetry Prize. Lisa Samuels is a poet, critic and is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. She released her first poetry collection 'The Seven Voices' in 1998 and has authored a number of books in the USA, UK and New Zealand. Loveday Why, poet and postgraduate student at the University of Otago, accompanies David on some readings. 31 July 2013
This open forum, jointly hosted by the Centre for Theology & Public Issues and the Howard League for Penal Reform, is chaired by Dunedin Barrister Anne Stevens. The panellists include Sir Geoffrey Palmer, QC, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Major Campbell Roberts, Director of Social Policy, Salvation Army and Professor Jennie Connor, Head of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago. The link between alcohol consumption and criminal offending in New Zealand is well established. Police estimate that about one third of all offending involves alcohol and that about half of all violent crimes are alcohol-related. The link between alcohol and crime is but one indicator of the serious problems caused by alcohol consumption in our society. The panel considers the nature and extent of the problem and the legal, behavioural and cultural changes that are needed to make a difference. 31 October 2013
Professor Rachel Spronken-Smith, Dean of the Graduate Research School, delivers her Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Educating Undergraduates for Uncertain Futures”. 3 December 2013
Hosted by the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, Professor Will Storrar presents this lecture on the Scottish Referendum. Professor Storrar is Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton and formerly Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh. He holds visiting professorships at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Professor Storrar was active in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament in the 1980s and 90s, and has been involved in public debates in Scotland in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum. 28 November 2013
Chaired by Professor Murray Rae, Head of the Department of Theology and Religion, this is a panel discussion with Judge Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge, Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Chris Marshall, Victoria University, Wellington and Dr Shayne Walker, Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work. One often hears laments about the loss of moral standards and the high rates of criminal offending among youth. In fact, however, rates of youth offending in New Zealand have been declining in recent years. But there is work yet to be done. The panel will consider the progress made thus far, the things that could be done to improve things further, and also the larger question of the goals toward which our justice system should be directed: what does justice consist of and what does it mean for justice to be done? 5 November 2013
Professor Emerita Joy Hendry of the Oxford Brookes University presents her 2011 De Carle lecture on the topic of ‘Anthropology, Indigenous Studies and Science: A glance towards the future’. 28 September 2011
Emeritus Professor Jim Flynn discusses with Associate Professor Charles Pigden the challenges of growing up in the 1940s/1950s and the influences of religion and racism during his upbringing. He goes on to talk about his academic career, beginning with a scholarship at the University of Chicago to study Politics and Philosophy. Professor Flynn first came to New Zealand to lecture at the University of Canterbury before coming to the University of Otago as the Foundation Chair in Political Studies in 1967. 15 August 2013
This is an open forum presented by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues and the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. Professor Murray Rae, Professor Kevin Clements, Dr Mai Tamimi and Professor Richard Jackson discuss the dangerous myth of religious violence. Chaired by Professor Andrew Bradstock. 1 August 2013
The 2013 William Evans Fellow Professor Oliver Richmond discusses the paradox of power and peace. In debates about peace, most discussions of power implicitly revolve around four types. Each of these types of power may be exercised from different sites of legitimate authority: the international, the state, and the local, and their legitimacy is constructed via specific understandings of time and space. Each type of power and its related site of authority have implications for making peace. 29 October 2013
Bishop Terry Brown first went to the Solomon Islands in 1975 as a young lecturer at the Theological College on Guadalcanal and returned there in 1996 as an Anglican Bishop. Throughout this talk, he discusses the prospect of peace, reconciliation and good governance in the Solomon Islands. 1 November 2012
Chaired by Professor Andrew Bradstock, the open forum with Major Campbell Roberts, Director of Social Policy, Salvation Army, Dr Jenny Te-Paa Daniel, Formerly Dean, Tikanga Maori, St John’s College Auckland; Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Rt Rev Dr Graham Redding, Principal, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Dr David Clark MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Dunedin North, Fr Kevin Toomey OP, Editor, Tui Motu, asks a number of questions about Recovering the Common Good. Would we have anything to gain – as individuals, communities, a city, a nation – from a fresh encounter with the concept of the 'common good’? What might be involved if the common good informed our public discourse and policy thinking more in New Zealand? Can the common good help us to reflect on our priorities as individuals and a society - and what might be the practical consequences of such reflection? 24 June 2013
Professor Richard Jackson of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “The discursive construction of social practice, or, how stories make our world”. 22 October 2013
Professor Norman Hammond, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Boston University delivers the fourth and final lecture in the Maya Archaeology series. Professor Hammond is also an Associate in Maya Archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University. 9 October 2013
Professor Norman Hammond, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Boston University delivers the third lecture in the Maya Archaeology series. Professor Hammond is also an Associate in Maya Archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University. 2 October 2013
Professor Margaret Wilson, Te Piringa/Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, delivers the 2013 Suffrage Lecture: 'The 21st Century Challenges to Gender Equality'. 18 September 2013
Professor Norman Hammond, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Boston University delivers the second lecture in the Maya Archaeology series. Professor Hammond is also an Associate in Maya Archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University. 18 September 2013
Dr Yaghoob Foroutan, Research Associate, University of Waikato and Assistant Professor, University of Mazandaran, Balbosar, Iran, discusses his key research question: Who are Asian migrants, demographically and comparatively in Australia and New Zealand? His research is based on 2001 census data from Australia and 1996, 2001 and 2006 census data from New Zealand. 5 September 2013
Professor Brian Leiter (Karl N. Llewellyn, Professor of Jurisprudence and Director, Centre for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values, University of Chicago) speaks on the topic of his recent book 'Why Tolerate Religion?' (Princeton University Press, 2012). 27 August 2013
The rising star of Tartan Noir, Scottish author Doug Johnstone reads from his new novel, 'Gone Again' (Faber, 2013), answers questions from the audience and even sings a few songs. Doug Johnstone's previous novel was described as "a great slice of noir" by Ian Rankin, and "a grisly parable of our times" by Irvine Welsh. 28 August 2013
Professor Norman Hammond, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Boston University delivers the first lecture in the Maya Archaeology series. Professor Hammond is also an Associate in Maya Archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University. 11 September 2013
Mike Houlahan, (Past Editor of Dunedin-based Fairfax newspaper D Scene, final edition published end of May 2013), Jinty MacTavish (Dunedin City councillor, youth-worker, film-maker and activist), Dr Nicholas Khoo (lecturer in Politics with a specialist knowledge of China and international relations), & Dr Selwyn Yeoman (Presbyterian minister, environmentalist, and Master of Knox College), with Professor Andrew Bradstock discuss questions submitted by prospective members of the audience relating to issues of current concern. Among the issues for discussion are: the Leveson report and press freedom in New Zealand, New Zealand and Kyoto, the Chinese leadership change and China-NZ relations, New Zealand's nuclear stance, and whether we're more obsessed by Hobbits than our own real 'little people'. 11 December 2012
This is the first in the inaugural Albert Moore Lecture Series for 2013. The 2013 open lecture series, given by Professor Jonathan Mane Wheoki, Professor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, is based around the theme "Toi Karaitiana: Christianity and Māori Art and Architecture". 23 July 2013
This is the third and final lecture in the inaugural Albert Moore Lecture Series for 2013. The 2013 open lecture series, given by Professor Jonathan Mane Wheoki, Professor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, is based around the theme "Toi Karaitiana: Christianity and Māori Art and Architecture". 25 July 2013
This is the second in the inaugural Albert Moore Lecture Series for 2013. The 2013 open lecture series, given by Professor Jonathan Mane Wheoki, Professor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, is based around the theme "Toi Karaitiana: Christianity and Māori Art and Architecture". 24 July 2013
This is the farewell lecture by Centre of Theology and Public Issues Director Professor Andrew Bradstock who joined the University in January 2009 as Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and Public Issues and established the Centre. 15 August 2013
His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, in conversation with Sir Lloyd Geering, leading New Zealand thinker and commentator on theological issues. His Holiness talks about his childhood, his training and education, Buddhism, secularism, science and religion.
Hear Lewis Bollard, Harvard and Yale alumnus, talk about international patterns of animal welfare law reform and how New Zealand is adapting to global change. This talk is hosted by the Otago Students' Animal Legal Defence Fund and the Faculty of Law. 15 April 2013
Rhian Gallagher is a poet whose writing has been widely anthologised. She won the New Zealand Post Book Award for Poetry in 2012 for her second collection of poems, Shift. 14 February 2013
Leading Anglican writer and educator Professor Martyn Percy discusses his life, work and ambitions in conversation with Professor Andrew Bradstock, Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues. Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, the largest provider of Anglican ordination training in the UK, Martyn Percy is one of the most influential Christian thinkers, writers and educators around today. 15 April 2013
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama has travelled to more than 62 countries spanning 6 continents. He has met with presidents, prime ministers and crowned rulers of major nations. He has held dialogues with the heads of different religions and many well-known scientists. In his first visit to the University of Otago, His Holiness answers nominated questions presented by the University’s students and staff. 11 June 2013
Bernadette Hall was the 1996 University of Otago Robert Burns Fellow. She is the author of nine poetry collections and has been the recipient of several national and international fellowships and residencies. 14 February 2013
To mark Hiroshima Day, Professor Kevin Clements, Director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, and Mr Gerald Hensley CNZM, former diplomat and Head of the Prime Minister's Office under both Robert Muldoon and David Lange, debate "That New Zealand is safer out of ANZUS and nuclear free". 6 August 2013
In association with the Otago University Poetry Collective and with the support of the Performing Arts Fund, poet and artist Jaap Blonk talks about his work in the context of sound poetry, improvisation, and new music. 28 February 2013
An open lecture by Sandy Lerner, founder of the Chawton House Library, entrepreneur and farmer. Writing as Ava Farmer, Sandy Lerner wrote a sequel to Jane Austen’s novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’. In this presentation she discusses the novel and reads from it. 28 February 2013
Laura Black (CEO, Methodist Mission), Dr Bryce Edwards (Department of Politics), Greg Fleming (CEO, The Maxim Institute) and Jolyon White (Social Justice Enabler, Anglican Diocese of Christchurch) discuss questions submitted by prospective members of the audience relating to issues of current concern. Among the issues for discussion are: surveillance; the living wage; the Michael Swann case; regional development; Christchurch's new 'cardboard' cathedral; affordable housing; and the state of the political parties. 20 August 2013
The 2013 University of Otago Arts Fellows: David Howard (Robert Burns Fellow), Zina Swanson (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Samuel Holloway (Mozart Fellow), Hahna Briggs (Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance), and Leonie Agnew (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts and former General Manager at Fortune Theatre. 14 July 2013
The 2012 University of Otago Arts Fellows: Emma Neale (Robert Burns Fellow), Nick Austin (Frances Hodgkins Fellow), Robbie Ellis (Mozart Fellow), and James Norcliffe (University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence) discuss their work and aspects of the creative process. Chaired by Nicholas McBryde, the Director of the Otago Festival of the Arts and former General Manager at Fortune Theatre. 22 July 2012
ME/CFS is an illness that, because of a lack of clear understanding, is still sometimes greeted with scepticism by some medical professionals and those caring for sufferers. But the WHO has classified it as a neurological disease, and the Ministry of Health recognises it as a bona fide condition here in New Zealand. What do we know about ME/CFS? How does it affect the lives of people living with it? And how should we respond to people who have it? Heather Wilson - member of the executive committee of the Associated New Zealand Myalgic Encephalopathy Society (ANZMES), and the Society's Otago and Southland Coordinator, Richie Barnett - broadcaster, sports journalist and former Kiwis rugby league captain - 'the NZ face of ME/CFS' and Professor Warren Tate CNZM - Department of Biochemistry, School of Medical Sciences discuss the attitudes towards this condition. 5 August 2013
This is the tenth in a series of annual peace lectures organised by the Otago Tertiary Chaplaincy and the Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group and is given by Dr Ingrid Mattson, Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, Canada. 19 August 2013
Dr. Azouz Begag, France’s best-known writer of Algerian immigrant origin, former Minister for Equal Opportunities, sociologist, novelist, and screenplay writer, speaks about his journey from shanty town kid to government minister in France. He talks of his passionate commitment to social emancipation for ‘young ethnics’ in France through education and political engagement. 2 August 2013
Dr Jenny Te-Paa Daniel was the first indigenous lay-woman to be appointed head of an Anglican theological college anywhere in the world, serving as Ahorangi or Principal of Te Rau Kahikatea at St John’s Theological College, Auckland, from 1995-2013. Jenny was also a Senior Lecturer in Anglican Studies at St John’s teaching topics such as race politics, gender justice for women and children, indigenous studies and theology and public policy. Jenny is currently Senior Research Fellow (Māori) at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies here at Otago. She speaks about her journey as a Māori woman and as an Anglican, about theology, justice, gender, race, bi-culturalism, peace and civil discourse.
Hosted by Professors Kevin Clements and Andrew Bradstock. 3 July 2013
The Faculty of Law is pleased to present Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Otago in conversation with Professor Nicola Peart. Professor Henaghan speaks about his journey from University of Otago student to academic to the Faculty of Law’s longest serving Dean. He discusses family law, judicial appointments, leadership and ‘The Human Genome Project’. May 2013
A public forum, which explores the growing ties between New Zealand and China. The panel, Dr Nicholas Khoo (Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics, and specialist in Chinese politics), Professor Sarah Todd (University Pro-Vice-Chancellor, International), Phil Ker (CEO of Otago Polytechnic), Grant Bayldon (Executive Director, Amnesty International Aotearoa/New Zealand), Professor André Everett (School of Management) discuss the global impact of New Zealand-China trade relations. They also discuss issues such as education, religion, liberalisation and China’s rise as a major economic power.21 May 2013.
Open Lecture and Panel with Professor Jonathan Boston (Professor of Public Policy, Victoria University School of Government), Dr Janet Stephenson ('Risk Assessment for NZ' and Director of the Centre for Sustainability), Professor Colin Campbell-Hunt (Otago Climate Change Network), and Alec Dawson (Generation Zero). 22 April 2013.
Empirical scientific data has now established that animals share with human beings features of intelligence, insight, and understanding, a capacity to feel pain, and emotions such as love, grief, and fear. Thus, there is an increasing concern to spread the protection of animal welfare law beyond the traditional circle of domestic animals to farm animals, circus and experimental animals and animals caught up in the corporatised processes of slaughter. This has given rise to new laws to protect animals, new organisations to speak for their rights, new challenges before the courts and through the media, new political campaigns, and the increased teaching of animal welfare law in universities. This lecture will describe how the speaker came to be more conscious of these issues, and the important role that lawyers have in advancing the interests of animals. 26 March 2013.
Grahame Sydney is a celebrated New Zealand artist whose works focus on the landscapes of Central Otago and the Maniototo in the South Island. Sydney was the University of Otago Frances Hodgkins Fellow in 1978 and is well-known for his love of the New Zealand environment, and his efforts to protect it from over-development. Here he discusses his views on regional diversity, and the future of our countryside. 4 October 2012.
Associate Professor Jacob Edmond, Department of English and Linguistics presents the 2012 Carl Smith Medal lecture, "Poetry and Piracy: Copyright and Poetic Licence". The Carl Smith Medal is given to early career researchers for outstanding scholarly achievement. 16 October 2012
Matthew Gillett, Otago LLB/BA alumnus, is working as a Trial Attorney at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In this talk Matthew highlights some of the notable developments from the work at the ICTY, lessons learned, and the future for this field of practice at the International Criminal Court. 13 February 2013
Professor Chua Beng Huat, National University of Singapore, speaks on ‘Managing Multiculturalism: Immigration, Population Policy and Citizenship in Singapore’. Since Singapore’s independence the management of race, multiculturalism and multi-religiosity has been a central concern of the government. This presentation explores the implications of multiculturalism on recent immigration and population policies in contemporary Singapore. 29 April 2013
The Faculty of Law is pleased to host Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers the New Zealand Law Foundation Distinguished Visiting Fellow for 2013, as the 2013 F.W. Guest Memorial speaker. This lecture "The Impact of Human Rights on Domestic Courts" examines the approach taken towards the European Convention on Human Rights in Strasbourg and in the United Kingdom. More specifically, it considers how the British Parliament has given domestic effect to the Convention under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the way in which the Supreme Court has interpreted the relevant provisions of that Act. The lecture was given on 6 March 2013.
The Department of Philosophy is pleased to present Dr Heather Dyke in conversation with Professor Alan Musgrave. In 2012 Alan Musgrave was honoured with the Distinguished Research Medal, the highest research honour given by the University of Otago. He also received the Humanities Aronui Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand. Here he discusses his life, his career and his love of Philosophy. 28 November 2012.
Dr Michael Radich of Victoria University of Wellington gives a lecture on the subject of “How the Mahāparinirvāna-mahāsūtra Won the Heart of East Asian Buddhism, and the Quixotic Quest for Essence in Asian Religions”. 19 October 2012.
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture six of the 2012 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by the Reverend Dr William Willimon, Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Alabama, this presentation covers the topic “The End of the World”. 9 August 2012.
Professor Alex Miller of the Department of Philosophy, delivers his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “The Art of Philosophical Sythesis” 9 April 2013
Sir Mason Durie, Professor Emeritus, Massey University, speaks about ‘Science & Indigenous Knowledge, Bioethics at the Interface: A New Zealand experience’, for the Comparative and Cross Cultural Studies research theme. 26 March 2013
Angela McCarthy is Associate Director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies and Professor of Scottish and Irish History in the Department of History and Art History where she teaches Scottish history and Irish and Scottish migration. She presents her inaugural professorial lecture. 19 March 2013
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a panel discussion reflecting on the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI and the recent appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican Bishop of Wellington. Panellists include: Most Rev Colin Campbell, Rev Dr Margaret Mayman, Amy Armstrong, Laura Black and Terry Drummond. 26 February 2013.
Associate Professor James Maclaurin talks about the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and its value to students. He also challenges some myths about the BA.
Associate Professor James Maclaurin talks about the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and its value to students. He also challenges some myths about the BA and gives advice on how to construct a BA degree.
Associate Professor James Maclaurin gives advice on how to construct a BA degree and tells you where to go for further information and advice.
The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies presents a public seminar discussing the 'decade of delusion' since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, in particular what Professor Mueller regards as the disproportionate response of the international community to the real threat presented by al-Qaeda. 29 January 2013.
Ian Rankin is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his novels featuring the character Inspector Rebus. Here he speaks with Professor Liam McIlvanney of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, discussing his literary career, Scotland and its politics, and his latest novel, 'Standing in Another Man’s Grave'. 14 November 2012
Rabbi Adi Cohen of the Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation presents the Annual Peace Lecture 2012 on the topic of “Words, Concepts, Deeds: Peace as a way of living”. Rabbi Cohen moved to NZ in May 2011 from Israel. He has taught courses in Jewish Law and Ethics, special education, and worked as a storyteller. He is active in interfaith activities in Wellington and is a member of the Wellington Council of Christians and Jews. 3 September 2012.
Associate Professor Elisabeth McDonald of the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, presents the 2012 Suffrage Lecture on the topic “From ‘Real Rape’ to Real Justice?”.
The Faculty of Law and the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women hosted a public lecture featuring Eileen Fegan, an Irish lawyer specialising in human rights and women's rights. Eileen reflects on changes in women's education and employment patterns and the challenges of the recession. 6 October 2012.
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents The Public Square. The Public Square is a forum for a variety of current issues. This panel includes Professor Jonathan Boston of Victoria University of Wellington; Louisa Wall, Labour MP; Aaron Hawkins of Dunedin’s Radio One; and Guy McCallum of the youth wing of the ACT party. 3 October 2012.
The University of Otago is pleased to present Brian Turner in conversation with Grahame Sydney. Brian Turner is a prominent New Zealand poet, and was the 1984 Burns Fellow at the University of Otago. He also served as New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2003-2005. In August 2012 the University of Otago presented Brian with an honorary Doctorate of Literature. On the eve of this occasion he reflects on his life and career, covering topics such as his childhood in Dunedin, his love of sport and his passion for poetry.
When this podcast was recorded, Sir Tipene was the co-Chair of the Constitutional Advisory Panel and charged with a particular responsibility for considering the place of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in a very differently configured future for Aotearoa / New Zealand. In that future, Māori and Pacifica peoples will be in very different proportions compared to others than they are currently. How do we want that future to be? What do we want the Treaty to be? He aha te moemoea? 25 July 2012.
The Department of English presents a lunchtime poetry reading featuring the poet Cilla McQueen. Cilla was the Burns fellow at the University of Otago in 1985 and 1986, and the New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2009 until 2011. 11 September 2012.
The Department of English presents a lunchtime poetry reading featuring author Emma Neale. Emma is the 2012 Burns Fellow at the University of Otago and has published several successful volumes of poetry and novels. 11 September 2012.
Steven Price and Thomas Beagle discuss the issues of cyber bullying and address the key questions “Is it possible for the internet to be both safe and free? And, if not, how do we strike the right balance between those qualities?”. Steven Price is a barrister specialising in media law, and an adjunct lecturer in media law at Victoria University of Wellington’s law school. Thomas Beagle has had a long involvement with computers and the IT industry. He is the co-founder of digital civil liberties group Tech Liberty and a member of the executive committee of the NZ Council for Civil Liberties. 6 September 2012
The Right Honourable David Lange (1942-2005) served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. A skilled debater, he was well known for his quick wit and oratory. Perhaps his greatest legacy is New Zealand’s anti-nuclear legislation, which remains in force today. Here he presents the inaugural Otago Chaplaincy and Interfaith Group Peace Lecture on the topic of “Old Faiths, New World”. 5 August 2004.
Dr Tom Shakespeare, author, social scientist, bioethicist and editor of the World Report on Disability presents an open lecture on "The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Why it matters". 30 November 2011
A Public Lecture by Tom Shakespeare celebrating 20 years of disability support at the University of Otago. April 2012
Dr Tom Shakespeare, author, social scientist, bioethicist and editor of the World Report on Disability presents a keynote lecture 'Making a difference: how disability research can change our world' at the Disability Studies: Every Body In, inaugural conference. November 2011
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a panel discussion with Geoff White (General Manager, Trade Aid); Professor David Fielding (Department of Economics); Susan Wardell (founder of The Cuckoo's Nest clothing store, Dunedin); Jason Taylor (designer of Trade Aid's digital storytelling kiosk); and Richard Stainer (World Development Adviser, St Edmundsbury & Ipswich Anglican Diocese, UK). 22 August 2012.
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a panel discussion on the topic of “Re-defining Marriage: Threat? Right? or Non-Issue?”. Panellists include Neill Ballantyne (Queer Support Coordinator, OUSA & National Secretary, Student Christian Movement of Aotearoa); Rev Stu Crossan (Vicar, St Matthew's Anglican Church, Dunedin); Rev Dr James Harding (Department of Theology, Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies); Rev Nimarota Lale (Minister, Pacific Islands Presbyterian Church, North Dunedin); Jill McDonald (Marriage Celebrant) and Professor Nicola Peart (Faculty of Law, expert on family and property law). 13 August 2012.
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture five of the 2012 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by the Reverend Dr William Willimon, Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Alabama, this presentation covers the topic “Should the Church Try to Change the World?” 8 August 2012.
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture four of the 2012 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by the Reverend Dr William Willimon, Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Alabama, this presentation covers the topic “Jesus as the Church’s Greatest Challenge”. 7 August 2012.
Professor Struan Scott, from the Faculty of Law, presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Mistaken Payments and the Change of Position Defence: Rare Cases and Elegance”. 7 August 2012.
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a panel discussion on the demise of a non-commercial free-to-air broadcasting service in NZ, what it means for an informed citizenry in a democracy, and what the future might hold. With guest panellists: David Beatson (former producer, TVNZ); Lorraine Isaacs (former chair, NZ On Air); Paul Norris (Head, NZ Broadcasting School, CPIT); Colin Peacock (Radio NZ National, formerly with the BBC World Service) and Dr Erika Pearson (Lecturer, Media, Film & Communication, University of Otago). 3 August 2012.
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture three of the 2012 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by the Reverend Dr William Willimon, Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Alabama, this presentation covers the topic “The Future of Preaching”. 2 August 2012.
Professor Andrew Bradstock, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues and Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, presents an open lecture on the topic of “The Unexamined Society? Reflections on Doing Public Theology in New Zealand.” 18 July 2012.
The Department of Theology and Religion presents lecture two of the 2012 Thomas Burns Memorial Lecture series. Given by the Reverend Dr William Willimon, Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Alabama, this presentation covers the topic “The Politics of the Church”. 1 August 2012.
Professor Hugh Campbell of the Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the topic of “Food: Old Ruptures and New Politics”. 10 July 2012.
A Public Conversation with Rev Peter Beck - Christchurch City Councillor and former Dean of Christ Church Cathedral. In the aftermath of the city's quakes, Peter Beck was seen by many as the 'public face' of Christchurch. In 2011 he resigned as Dean and stood - successfully - for the city council. Professor Andrew Bradstock, Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, talks with Peter about the events of the past 18 months, his transition from Dean to councillor, Christchurch's present and future, and more. 16 May 2012.
Judge Craig Coxhead is a Māori Land Court Judge and works with the Waitangi Tribunal. He gives a presentation at the 2012 Māori and Pacific Islands Legal Issues Week on the topic of “Looking to the Future: Māori Legal Issues”. 24 July 2012.
Professor Emeritus James Cox of the University of Edinburgh presents his 2012 De Carle lecture on the topic of “Making Mwari Christian: The case of the Shona of Zimbabwe”. 16 May 2012.
Metiria Turei, co-leader of the Green Party gives a presentation at the 2012 Māori and Pacific Islands Legal Issues Week. A former lawyer, she discusses current legal issues facing Māori and Pacific peoples in New Zealand today. 23 July 2012.
Professor Emeritus James Cox of the University of Edinburgh presents his 2012 De Carle lecture on the topic of “The ‘God’ Controversy in Pre-Christian Indigenous Religions”. 2 May 2012.
National business commentator Rod Oram, climate change scientist Dr Jim Salinger and Chief Executive of the Methodist Mission, Laura Black, discuss major ethical issues surrounding the climate change debate. Hosted jointly by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues and the Centre for Sustainability: Agriculture, Food, Energy, Environment. 11 October 2011.
Professor Emeritus James Cox of the University of Edinburgh presents his 2012 De Carle lecture on the topic of “Transforming the Rainbow Serpent into a Rainbow Spirit: How God Became Australian”. 9 May 2012.
Jacinta Ruru of the Faculty of Law presents the 2011 Carl Smith Lecture on the topic “Undefined and Unresolved: Maori Legal Rights to Water”. 16 April 2011.
Dr Maria Bargh, Senior Lecturer Pukenga Matua, Te Kawa a Māui - Victoria University of Wellington presents an open lecture on the topic of “Blue Economy Aotearoa”. This lecture examines the ‘Blue Economy’ in light of Māori thoughts around waste, the environment and diverse economies. The ‘Blue Economy’ focuses on re-using waste for producing new products, and encourages the creation of innovations that imitate natural ecosystems. 13 July 2012.
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a public panel discussion with Dr Judy McGregor, Human Rights Commission, author of the report “Care Counts”, Gillian Bremner, CEO Presbyterian Support, Susan Davidson, Director Age Concern Dunedin, Dr Richard Egan, Preventive & Social Medicine, Shayne Walker, Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work. Moderated by Prof Andrew Bradstock, Centre for Theology and Public Issues. 21 June 2012.
A Panel discussion with Major Campbell Roberts (Salvation Army), Dr Nicola Atwool (Dept of Sociology, Gender and Social Work), Assoc Prof Greg Dawes (Dept of Philosophy), and Gwenda Kendrew (Divisional Manager, Anglican Care South Canterbury). 7 June 2012.
Professor Bernard Faure of Columbia University presents an open lecture on the topic of astral worship, star rituals and star mandalas in Japanese Buddhism. 12 April 2012.
Professor Tony Ballantyne presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the topic of “Knowledge and Communication in Colonial Otago”. 8 May 2012
Professor Murray Rae of the Department of Theology and Religion presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the topic of “Theology and the Pursuit of Truth”. 13 October 2011.
Mai Chen of CHENPALMER Law Specialists, and distinguished Otago Law alumna discusses New Zealand Public and Employment Law. Mai has recently had her book, Public Law Toolbox published, and she has contributed greatly to public and employment law discourse in New Zealand.
Professor Andrew Geddis, Faculty of Law, presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the topic “Of Flags and Protest: Dissent, Offence and the Limits of Free Speech”.13 September 2011.
This public discussion looks at the meaning of ANZAC Day remembrance. In particular, it discusses how we honour our military through wearing the red poppy, but also how we honour those who choose different paths to peace through wearing the white poppy, and those who seek to do justice to both perspectives by wearing both the red and white poppies. Speakers:Professor Kevin Clements (Director, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies), Associate Professor Richard Jackson (Deputy Director, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies), Colonel Roger McElwain (Chief Executive Officer, Language Centre and Foundation Year; previously with the NZ Army)
Major Campbell Roberts is the creator and National Director of The Salvation Army’s social policy and parliamentary unit. Here he is in conversation with Professor Murray Rae, Head of the Department of Theology and Religion. 26 June 2012.
‘Creative Responses to Extremism: Lessons from the Breivik trial’ Panel: Professor Birgit Brock-Utne (Norway), Professor Kevin Clements, Associate Professor Richard Jackson Chair: Professor Andrew Bradstock.
Dr Nigel Parsons of the Politics Programme, Massey University, New Zealand, gives his presentation at the 47th Otago Foreign Policy School on the topic of “Palestinian Circumstances Amid the ‘Arab Spring’”. 24 June 2012.
Professor Ahmed Hashim of the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, gives his presentation at the 47th Otago Foreign Policy School on the topic of “Arab Militaries and Security Forces Amid Arab Uprisings”. 23 June 2012.
Professor Marie-Joëlle Zahar of the Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, Canada, gives her presentation at the 47th Otago Foreign Policy School on the topic of “Arab States Between Democracy and Authoritarianism”. 23 June 2012.
Professor Meir Litvak of the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel, gives his presentation at the 47th Otago Foreign Policy School on the topic of “Israeli Perspectives on Middle East Developments”. 23 June 2012.
Professor Kemal Kirisci of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University, Turkey, gives his presentation at the 47th Otago Foreign Policy School on the topic of “Turkish Perspectives on Middle East Developments”. 23 June 2012.
‘Does the Philosophy of Fiction Rest on a Mistake? ‘ presented by Professor Derek Matravers, The Open University and Emmanuel College, Cambridge
‘Euthanasia and assisted suicide: A discussion we need to have’ Panel: Professor Sean Davison, Hon. Maryan Street, MP, Professor Grant Gillett, John Kleinsman, Associate Professor Colin Gavaghan Chair: Professor Paul Trebilco. This event includes the presentation of a research paper on attitudes towards euthanasia in New Zealand by Thomas Noakes-Duncan.
‘Euthanasia and assisted suicide: A discussion we need to have’ Panel: Professor Sean Davison, Hon. Maryan Street, MP, Professor Grant Gillett, John Kleinsman, Associate Professor Colin Gavaghan Chair: Professor Paul Trebilco. This event includes the presentation of a research paper on attitudes towards euthanasia in New Zealand by Thomas Noakes-Duncan.
We Don't 'Do' God: Secularism and the NZ State. Panel: Rev Dr Lynne Baab, Glyn Carpenter, Dr Bryce Edwards, Assoc Prof John Stenhouse.
Dr Graeme Downes, Head of the Department of Music at the University of Otago, discusses his band’s new album, 'Untimely Meditations', and his approach to writing songs and albums. In 1981 Graeme formed The Verlaines and Untimely Meditations is their ninth studio album. 26 April 2012
Len Cook, President of the NZ Institute of Public Administration presents 'Government Performance - thought and theatre'.
Abbey College is celebrating its first four years as the University's residential college for postgraduate students.
Held April 03, 2012.
'Our Vulnerable Children' - a public forum exploring responses to the Government's Green Paper 'Every child thrives, belongs, achieves. Panel: Chris Trotter, Professor Mark Henaghan, Jenny Munro, Dr Pauline Gulliver.
The Faculty of Law is pleased to host the 2012 New Zealand Law Foundation Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Professor Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English Law. The topic is: 'Negotiating the Fundamental Right to Personal Liberty: Four Problem Cases'.
'If you were Prime Minister, would you sell New Zealand's assets?', February 2012. A public forum in which expert witnesses present their views on the issue to an equally-informed and distinguished panel. Witnesses: Dr Geoff Bertram; Gillain Bremner; Stuart McLauchlan; Professor Robert Patman. Panel: Jacqui Dean, MP; Professor Paul Hansen; Hon. Peter Hodgson; Chris Trotter; Metiria Turei, MP.
'The Public Square' is a public forum organised and hosted by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues where a panel of experts discuss current affairs. December 2011. The panelists this time are: Clare Curran; Shane Gallagher; Janine Hayward; and Michael Woodhouse.
Professor Patricia O’Brien, Centre for Disability Studies, University of Sydney presents a keynote lecture ‘Every Body In or Everybody in? . . . Is it the same or different?’ at the Disability Studies: Every Body In, inaugural conference. 30 November 2011.
'The Public Square' is a public forum organised and hosted by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues where a panel of experts discuss current affairs. November 2011. The panelists this time are: Chris Laidlaw; Bishop Victoria Matthews; Prof Robert Patman; and Anne Stevens.
Chris Laidlaw in conversation with Professor Kevin Clements, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, November 2011. Chris Laidlaw is a broadcaster, columnist, author, Regional Councillor, sports commentator and former Rhodes Scholar, Ambassador, All Black and MP.
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a panel discussion on the topic of “Crouch, Touch, Pause, Sponsor: Rugby – Game, Product, Religion?” Panellists include Chris Laidlaw – Rhodes Scholar and former All Black and MP; Professor Steve Jackson of the Department of Physical Education at the University of Otago; and Rev. Dr. Kevin Ward, an expert in the field of sport and spirituality. 7 November 2011.
Professor Tom Mullen of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, presents the fourth and final of his 2011 De Carle lectures on the topic of “Administrative Justice: Getting It Right, Putting It Right and Learning From Mistakes”. 26 October 2011.
Professor Richard Walter of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology) presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the topic of “Challenges and Diversions in Pacific Archaeology” on 19 October 2011. Professor Walter's research interests include prehistory and archaeology of Oceania with a special interest in Melanesia and Polynesia; material culture analysis; history of archaeological method and theory; ethno-archaeology; and faunal analysis.
Professor Tom Mullen of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, presents the third of his 2011 De Carle lectures on the topic of “Devolution: the Story So Far and Scotland’s Constitutional Future”. 19 October 2011.
Professor Tom Mullen of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, presents the second of his 2011 De Carle lectures on the topic of “European Human Rights Law in the UK: the Impact of the Human Rights Act”. 12 October 2011.
Professor Tom Mullen of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, presents the first of his 2011 De Carle lectures on the topic of “The Shape of the “New Constitution”: New Institutions, New Rights and New Constitutional Ideas”. 5 October 2011.
Discover the Otago phenomenon for yourself and come along to free public lectures in Auckland and Wellington on a range of relevant and challenging issues that affect so many New Zealanders. Held July-August, 2011.
Charles Chauvel is a Labour MP and the first Member of Parliament of Tahitian descent. A qualified lawyer and the current Labour spokesperson for Justice, he presents here at Pacific Legal Issues Week 2011 on the topic of “Keeping the Legal System Relevant”. 12 September 2011.
The Faculty of Law is pleased to host Mr Jack Hodder, Chairman and Partner, Chapman Tripp as the 2011 FW Guest Memorial speaker.
The topic is "Capitalism, Revolutions and our Rule of Law". Held August 10, 2011.
Annette Baier, Department of Philosophy presents the first annual Dan and Gwen Taylor lecture.
Public forum held 31 May, 2011. Rev Dr Peter Carrell (Director of Education, Theology House, Diocese of Christchurch), Karen Clements (Area Manager, Red Cross Otago), Dr Andrew Gorman (Department of Geology, University of Otago), Sarah Hexamer (Co-ordinator, Neighbourhood Support Otago), Dr Caroline Orchiston (School of Business, University of Otago), Sue Russell (Executive Officer, Council of Social Services, Dunedin)
Peter Stupples, Senior Lecturer, Dunedin School of Art.
Abbey College is celebrating its first three years as the University's residential college for postgraduate students.
Associate Professor Andy Miah, Director of Creative Futures Research Centre, Faculty of Business and Creative industries, University of the West of Scotland presents at the 2011 Future of Fairness Symposium. Whether in the sporting arena, the genetics lab or the exam hall, new technologies present new challenges for ideas of 'fairness' and justice. The Future of Fairness speakers will consider the complex and intriguing relationship between technological advances and ideas of fairness. March 22/23, 2011.
Professor Ronald Green, the Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values, Dartmouth College presents at the 2011 Future of Fairness Symposium. Whether in the sporting arena, the genetics lab or the exam hall, new technologies present new challenges for ideas of 'fairness' and justice. The Future of Fairness speakers will consider the complex and intriguing relationship between technological advances and ideas of fairness. March 22/23, 2011.
Associate Professor David Gerrard OBE, CNZM, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago presents at the 2011 Future of Fairness Symposium. Whether in the sporting arena, the genetics lab or the exam hall, new technologies present new challenges for ideas of 'fairness' and justice. The Future of Fairness speakers will consider the complex and intriguing relationship between technological advances and ideas of fairness. March 22/23, 2011.
The New Zealand Law Foundation and the University of Otago Faculty of Law present the New Zealand Law Foundation 2011 Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Emeritus Professor Ben Boer. Professor Boer is Emeritus Professor in Environmental Law at the University of Sydney. Here he delivers a public lecture on the topic of "Climate Change, Biodiversity and Protected Areas: The need for an integrated approach". 19 April 2011.
The Faculty of Law and the New Zealand Law Foundation Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies hosted a panel discussion chaired by Colin Gavaghan, Director of the New Zealand Law Foundation Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies.
In this public lecture Mr Jeffrey Matsuura, Fullbright Senior Scholar and Counsel, Alliance Law Group Washington DC, and Andy Miah, Professor of Ethics and Emerging Technologies from the University of West Scotland, offer their expert perspectives on this vexed and engaging question. March 24, 2011.
Dr. Dan Bendrups and Dr. Robert Burns, Department of Music with the help of Dunedin band subject2change and Marimba player Pedro Carneiro show us some new directions in jazz.
He kai kora nui te riri - "War Consumes everything like a raging fire".
Open lecture by Sir Paul Reeves, former Governor General and Archbishop of Aotearoa New Zealand, Chancellor of AUT University.
Sir Paul Reeves' whakapapa is to Taranaki. His talk focuses on Te Whiti's non violent resistance at Parihaka and the subsequent imprisonment and deportation of the resisters to Dunedin. He reflects on what Parihaka and the New Zealand wars mean for New Zealanders' concept of nationhood in the 21st century. Given on March 17, 2011.
Professor Vernon E. Jantzi, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, co-founder and former director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. Given on November 24, 2010.
As a secular society in New Zealand, do we exclude religious voices from the ‘public square’? Professor Bradstock argues that a new type of public discourse is necessary as we seek solutions to the serious issues we face today. He highlights three of these issues – soaring prison numbers, the gap between rich and poor, and the threat to the environment. Given on September 16, 2010.
Dr. Paul Tankard, Department of English, University of Otago and Dr. Ken Smith, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Bradford, present readings from Samuel Johnson. Given on September 10, 2009.
Tim Bayliss-Smith, De Carle fellow 2010, University of Otago; Reader in Pacific Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John's College presents the 2010 De Carle lectures. Given on October 12, 2010.
Tim Bayliss-Smith, De Carle fellow 2010, University of Otago; Reader in Pacific Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John's College presents the 2010 De Carle lectures. Given on October 5, 2010.
Tim Bayliss-Smith, De Carle fellow 2010, University of Otago; Reader in Pacific Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John's College presents the 2010 De Carle lectures. Given on October 19, 2010.
Tim Bayliss-Smith, De Carle fellow 2010, University of Otago; Reader in Pacific Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John's College presents the 2010 De Carle lectures. Given on September 28, 2010.
Open lecture by Maj Britt Theorin, a Swedish social democratic politician and life long advocate for the non violent resolution of conflict. Given on November 17, 2010.
Professor Kim Economides, Director of the University of Otago Legal Issues Centre, Faculty of Law, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on September 22, 2010.
Professor Liam McIlvanney, Stuart Chair in Scottish Studies, Department of English, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on October 13, 2010.
Professor Andrew Bradstock, Theology and Religion talks to Jim Wallis about faith, ethics and public life. Sept 28, 2010.
Jim Wallis, best-selling author, public theologian, international speaker and one of President Barack Obama's key advisers on religious and ethical issues, delivered the first Howard Paterson Memorial Lecture in Public Theology at Dunedin's historic First Church. Lecture given Sept 28, 2010.
Dr Kate Dewes, member of the United Nations Disarmament Advisory Board presents the 2008 Annual Peace lecture - Visions of hope for a terrorised planet. Lecture given Aug 11, 2008.
Alistair Fox presents "Symbolising the shadow-side of New Zealand experience in contemporary literature and film". The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Round table with Malcolm Mulholland, Massey University, editor of Weeping Waters: The Treaty of Waitangi and Constitutional Change (Huia 2010): "How appropriately is New Zealand symbolised in the current flag, name of the country, and national anthem, and should they be changed? The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Panel: Malcolm Mulholland, Grant Gillett, Jacinta Ruru, Tony Ballantyne and Murray Rae. Held September 10, 2010.
Associate Professor Murray Rae. The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Mick Abbott and Jacinta Ruru present "100% Landscape". The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Associate Professor Tony Ballantyne. The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Professor Grant Gillett. The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Mark Stocker presents "Devaluing the Pound? A consideration of The Invention of New Zealand. The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Lynne Briggs presents "Changing countries - changing cultures: can individuals who have developed in one cultural environment learn to live in another?" The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Dr Ed Hanfling, Media Arts, Waikato Institute of Technology. The Centre for Research on National Identity - Symbolising New Zealand conference. Held September 10, 2010.
Professor Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Political Science, Thammasat University, Thailand presents Annual Peace lecture - Overcoming cultural resistance to non-violence. Lecture given Jul 12, 2010.
Professor John Coffey, who is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK, presents the Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures for 2010. His theme: ‘Let my people go’: Exodus and Deliverance from Calvin to Obama. Lectures given August, 2010.
Professor John Coffey, who is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK, presents the Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures for 2010. His theme: ‘Let my people go’: Exodus and Deliverance from Calvin to Obama. Lectures given August, 2010.
Professor John Coffey, who is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK, presents the Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures for 2010. His theme: ‘Let my people go’: Exodus and Deliverance from Calvin to Obama. Lectures given August, 2010.
Professor John Coffey, who is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK, presents the Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures for 2010. His theme: ‘Let my people go’: Exodus and Deliverance from Calvin to Obama. Lectures given August, 2010.
Professor John Coffey, who is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK, presents the Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures for 2010. His theme: ‘Let my people go’: Exodus and Deliverance from Calvin to Obama. Lectures given August, 2010.
Professor John Coffey, who is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK, presents the Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures for 2010. His theme: ‘Let my people go’: Exodus and Deliverance from Calvin to Obama. Lectures given August, 2010.
The Right Honorable Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom presents a public lecture on Treating like cases alike and unlike cases differently: some problems of anti-discrimination law. Lecture given 16 August, 2010.
The Honorable Simon Powers, Minister of Justice, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Commerce, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Associate Minister of Finance, and Deputy Leader of the House presents a public lecture on Challenging Traditions - New Zealand's Justice System. Lecture given 25 August, 2010.
Professor Pan Rui, School of Institue of International Relations, Fudan University presents "China and International Organizations: the Case of the WTO Accession". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Dr Marco Buente, German Institute of Global and Area Studies presents "China's Policy towards the ASEAN organisation". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Dr Marc Lanteigne, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews presents "China and FTAs in International Trade". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Dr Jian Yang, Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland presents "China and the South Pacific: A Political and Economic Analysis". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Professor Jin Canrong, School of International Relations, Renmin University of China presents "US-China Relations". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Professor Gerald Chan, Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland presents "China's Rise in Global Economic Governance". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Dr Katherine Morton, Department of International Relations, Australian National University presents "China and Climate Change: Surviving an Uncertain Future". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Professor Sam Zhao, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver presents "Between the Head Low and the Head Up: China's Pursuance of its Core Interests". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Professor Shen Dingli, Institute of International Relations, Fudan University presents "Nuclear and Space Programme". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Associate Professor Anne-Marie Brady, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Canterbury presents "China and the New Media". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Professor David Shambaugh, Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University presents the keynote speech "China's Global Identities: the Schizophrenic Superpower?". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Professor Ian Taylor, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews presents "China's Political and Economic Policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 25 June to Sunday 25 June 2010.
Justice Edwin Cameron, Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and James and Jean Davis Prestige Visitor presents a public lecture on Constitutionalism, the politics of power and AIDS.
Professor Graham J. Zellick, Emeritus Professor of Law of the University of London, formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of London and chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, England, presents the New Zealand Law Foundation's Distinguished Visiting Fellow lecture for 2010. His theme: the investigation of possible miscarriages of justice and the quashing of wrongful convictions. Lecture given August 18, 2010.
The 2010 Otago Arts Fellows talk about themselves and their art. Karen Trebilcock - Children's Writer in Residence, University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand, Christopher Adams - Mozart Fellow, Michele Powles - Robert Burns Fellow, Joanna Langford - Frances Hodgkins Fellow, Suzanne Cowan - Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance.
Herbert Wulf, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg/Essen, Germany.
Wednesday 30 June, 2010
Professor Andrew Bradstock, Howard Patterson professor of Theology and Public Issues, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on June 2, 2010.
Justice David Baragwanath, New Zealand Court of Appeal talks about an indigenous New Zealand jurisprudence.
Professor Peter Robertson, Business School, University of Western Australia presents "China's Economic Transformation and Implications for World Political Economy". 45th Otago Foreign Policy School. 25 June 2010.
Dr. David Cortright, Director of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame and Chair of the Board of the Fourth Freedom Forum in Goshen, Indiana.
Wednesday 9 December, 2009
Dr. Leslie Leve, Senior Scientist Oregon Social Learning Center and Center for Research, Practice Honorary Senior Research Fellow Centre for Research on Children and Families presents "Parenting Interventions for High-Risk families: Improving Children's Well-Being Through Parenting Support Programs".
Centre for Research on Children and Families Research Symposium - St Margaret's College, Dunedin, New Zealand. Wednesday 17 March, 2010
Professor Carolyn Pape Cowan and Professor Philip Cowan present "Adopting a Family Bases Approach to Intervention".
Centre for Research on Children and Families Research Symposium - St Margaret's College, Dunedin, New Zealand. Wednesday 17 March, 2010
Dr. Gordon Harold, Alexander McMillian Chair in Childhood Studies, Professor of Psychology, University of Otago presents "How Inter-Parental Conflict Affects Children's Psychological development: Theory, Research and Practice Implications".
Centre for Research on Children and Families Research Symposium - St Margaret's College, Dunedin, New Zealand. Wednesday 17 March, 2010
Associate Professor of Law, Andrew Geddis discusses the electoral finance act and beyond.
2008 Winter Lecture Series
Professor Barbara Einhorn, Department of Sociology, University of Sussex and William Evans Visiting Fellow talks about engendering peace and conflict and the role of religion.
Held 18 May, 2010.
Professor Timothy Darvill, Deputy President Society of Antiquaries, Director of the Centre for Archaeology, Anthropology & Heritage, Bournemouth University, UK. Timothy talks about Stonehenge as part of the 300th Anniversary of the Society of Antiquaries.
Held 22 May, 2008.
The leader of the Human Genome Research Project, the University of Otago’s Professor Mark Henaghan, looks at how far we should regulate, or if at all, to determine control of genetic testing – and is New Zealand law up to the task? Should we trust in parental choice to make the right decisions with the new technology?
2009 Winter Lecture Series
Lady Hale presents the 2010 F.W. Guest Memorial Lecture for the University of Otago Faculty of Law, 'Justice for the Jains: Remedies for Bad Administration'
Lady Hale became the United Kingdom’s first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in January 2004, after a varied career as an academic lawyer, law reformer, and judge. She is now the first woman Justice of The Supreme Court.
Justice for the Jains: Remedies for Bad Administration.
Wednesday 5 May, 2010
Professor Terry Anderson, Canada Research Chair in Distance Education, Athabasca University, Canada, has an incredible knowledge of online learning, and his work on the uses of technology in support of open and distance education is at the forefront of research in this area. He will address the challenges of expanding access to high quality distance learning and the growing opportunities to create and sustain learning connections using both old and new approaches to distance education.
Held 30 April, 2010.
Professor Henry Johnson, Professor of Music, Department of Music.
Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given August 6, 2009
Professor Stan Taylor, Kennedy Center for International Studies, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah presents the 2010 Abbey College Prestige Lecture - The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight: the CIA and Fidel Castro
Professor Taylor has enjoyed a distinguished career in both academics and public policy. As a former Senior Staff member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee he brings to the Otago audience unique insights into little-known aspects of US-Cuban relations.
Abbey College is celebrating its first two years as the University's residential college for postgraduate students.
Barry Coates, Oxfam, New Zealand presents "Need and greed: Food security, trade and global supply chains". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Professor Jules Pretty, Department of Environmental Studies, Essex University presents "Sustainability and the State of the World Food System". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Professor Caroline Saunders, Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University presents "Feed the world: the role of New Zealand's food exports". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Professor Geoff Lawrence, Head of School of Social Science, University of Queensland presents "Emerging Pressures on First World Food Exporters: From Climate Change to Supermarkets". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK presents "Identifying appropriate agricultural production systems in the context of the contemporary 'food crisis'". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Associate Professor Bill Pritchard, Department of Geography, University of Sydney presents "'Rewriting the global food equation', but to what script? Priorities and strategic choices in addressing food insecurity within vulnerable population". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Claire Mahon presents "The right to food: putting food security in context" for Jean Ziegler, Project on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, (Geneva). 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
2009 Burns Fellow Michael Harlow and previous Burns Fellow Bernadette Hall read their poems, October 30, 2009.
A conversation with Meg Munn MP, former Minister in the Blair and Brown governments. Hear an 'insider's' take on the UK political scene - a crucial general election due within six months, the 'expenses scandal' entangling Westminster MPs, an unpopular Labour leader, and the UK’s relationship with Europe being questioned again. Held 7 December, 2009.
A conversation with Meg Munn MP, former Minister in the Blair and Brown governments. Hear an 'insider's' take on the UK political scene - a crucial general election due within six months, the 'expenses scandal' entangling Westminster MPs, an unpopular Labour leader, and the UK’s relationship with Europe being questioned again. Held 7 December, 2009.
Professor Lydia Wevers, Director, Stout Research Centre for NZ Studies, Victoria University, presents the 2009 Margaret Dalziel lecture, given September 17, 2009.
"Jam Tarts for the Mind," an exploration of the webs of intersection between nineteenth-century New Zealand rural readers and popular fiction a hundred years ago.
Professor Tom Brooking, Department of History and Art History. Michael King Memorial Lecture, given October 14, 2009. Tall Tales: Richard John Seddon and the Building of "God's Own Country".
A conversation with Rod Oram - one of NZ's leading commentators on economic affairs. Rod Oram and Professor Andrew Bradstock of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues discuss the current economic recession and the possibilities for going forward. Held 18 September, 2009.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Keynote address. Alistair Morrison, Director-General of the Department of Conservation.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Keynote address. Alistair Morrison, Director-General of the Department of Conservation.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Combating climate change: a new role for wildlife corridors? Nicola Wheen, Faculty of Law.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters.
Linking landscapes: where there needs to be a focus on urban biodiversity? Dr Yolanda van Heezik, Department of Zoology.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Recreation access: how to enhance visitor experiences in our parks? Dr Anna Thompson and Dr Brent Lovelock, Department of Tourism and co-directors of the Center for Recreation Research.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Safe havens for hector dolphins: what more needs to be done? Associate Professor Liz Slooten, Department of Zoology.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Maori owned parks: should iwi be given title to specific parks? Jacinta Ruru, Faculty of Law.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. What is biodiversity? The challenge for our parks. Dr James Maclaurin, Head of the Department of Philosophy.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Be involved! How can a greater sense of public engagement in the conservation estate be built? Mick Abbott, Department of Design.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters. Keynote ministerial address - Hon Tim Groser, Minister of Conservation.
With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges exist for its future development and management? On Friday 10th July, the University of Otago Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law tackled these issues head-on at a significant symposium entitled The Future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters.
Professor Kevin Clements, Foundation Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies and Director of the New Zealand National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS), and Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given September 23, 2009.
Reverend Father John Dear S.J. is a Jesuit Priest, Peace Activist, Organiser, Lecturer, Retreat leader, and author/editor of 20 books on peace and nonviolence, including Living Peace. He was nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. Reverend Father John Dear introduces some of the individual leaders who have made a courageous lifetime vocational commitment to promoting peace and justice. These people often paid for their ideals with their lives and demonstrated positive non-violent alternatives to violence.
Open Peace and Conflict lecture given by Reverend Canon Paul Oestreicher, Chaplain, University of Sussex.
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Jacinta Ruru, senior law lecturer, University of Otago and Coordinator of Otago's Research Cluster for Natural Resources Law, "The common law doctrine of native title possibilities".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Linda Te Aho, senior law lecturer, University of Waikato and member of the Guardians Establishment Committee created under the Waikato River Agreement in Principle, "Negotiating co-management of the Waikato River".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Law Professor Lee Godden and Director of the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental law, University of Melbourne, Australia, "Indigenous Property Rights to Water: Environmental Flows, Cultural Values and Tradeable Property Rights in Australia".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Steven Ross, coordinator of the Murray Lower Rivers Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations, Australia, "Cultural flows in the Murray River".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Dr Robert Joseph, law lecturer, University of Waikato, "Indigenous water issues in North America".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Law Professor Bradford Morse, University of Ottawa, Canada, "Indigenous Peoples and Water Rights: A Canadian Perspective".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Tom Bennion, barrister sole, editor of Maori Law Review, and specialist in environmental law and Treaty of Waitangi claims, "Maori rights to water: an historical overview".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Sacha McMeeking, General Manager of Strategy and Influence at Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, "Navigating the National Landscape".
A forum to explore the rights of Indigenous peoples to be involved in the governance of freshwater. Justice Joe Williams of the High Court and past Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court and Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Hon. Pita Sharples, Minister of Maori Affairs.
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents “In Conversation with Jeanette Fitzsimons”. Jeanette is a former lecturer in Environmental Studies at the University of Auckland, and served as a Member of Parliament from 1995 – 2010, including a period as Green Party co-leader from 1995 - 2009. 9 October 2009.
Professor Chris Ackerley, Department of English, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on May 22, 2008.
Professor Kwok-Wing Lai, Director of Centre for Distance Education and Learning Technologies, College of Education Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given November 6, 2008.
Professor Nicola Peart, Faculty of Law Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on October 23, 2008.
Professor Robert Hannah, Department of Classics, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given May 29, 2008.
Professor Lisa Smith, College of Education, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on March 11, 2009.
Professor Majella Franzmann, Pro Vice Chancellor for Humanities, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on October 8, 2008.
Professor Robert Patman, Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics. Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given October 16, 2008.
Professor Rex Tauati Ahdar, Faculty of Law, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on August 21, 2008.
Professor Peter Kuch, Eamon Cleary Professor of Irish Studies, presents his Inaugural Professorial Lecture, “Thinking about Irish Studies”. 6 August 2008
Professor J Stuart Anderson, Faculty of Law, Otago, delivers the 2008 F.W. Guest Memorial Lecture – ‘Grave Injustice,’ ‘despotic privilege’: the insecure foundations of crown liability for torts in New Zealand. 6 August 2008
Professor Geoff Hall, Faculty of Law, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on May 15, 2008.
Professor Amanda Barusch, Head of Social Work and Community Development Department Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on March 12, 2008.
Professor Jeffrey Smith. University of Otago College of Education, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on 21 November, 2007.
Professor Kerry Shephard, Higher Education Development Centre, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on November 7, 2007.
Professor Tony Binns, Department of Geography, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on October 24, 2007.
Professor Terry Crooks, Otago University College of Education, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on October 4, 2007.
Professor Tom Brooking, Department of History, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on September 27, 2007.
Professor Peter Anstey, Department of Philsosphy, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on September 12, 2007.
Professor John Dawson, Faculty of Law, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on September 6, 2007.
Professor Richard Morgan, Department of Geography, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, given on August 23, 2007.