Constitutional Poetics
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Wednesday 18 June, 9am-5pm (Symposium)
William Macmahon Ball Theatre, Old Arts Building
University of Melbourne (Parkville Campus)
Recent legal studies of the writing of state constitutions have begun to emphasise precisely their written status. As written, as writing, constitutions are a genre: like any genre, they have their authors, their models, their influences, their species, their singularities, their successes and their failures. In a word, constitutions are themselves constituted. The modern term poetics still retains a trace of its ancient Greek root: poiesis, a making in the broad sense.
‘Constitutional Poetics’ is a one-day symposium presenting critical examinations of the specifically poetic aspects of state constitutions and associated questions of nation and citizenship, drawing on critical legal and literary theory to investigate the motivated constructedness of specific constitutional practices.
Keynote Speaker:
Our keynote presentation will be delivered by Professor Irene Watson. Professor Watson is a Research Professor of Law with Justice and Society, at the University of South Australia, where her work focuses on Indigenous Peoples, colonialism and international law. Professor Watson belongs to the Tanganekald, Meintangk, Bunganditj and Potaruwutj Peoples, of the South East of South Australia. Irene has provided independent advice and support to Aboriginal Peoples across Australia for some 40 years. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters; her books include Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism, and International Law: Raw Law (Routledge 2015), and Indigenous Peoples as Subjects in International Law (Routledge 2017), Looking at You Looking at me (self-published 2002).
Additional Speakers:
André Dao (Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne)
Deeksha Koul (Arts, The University of Melbourne)
Marc Mierowsky (Arts, The University of Melbourne)
Lucie O’Brien (Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne)
Oishik Sircar (Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne)
Kirrakee Watson (Architecture, Monash University)
Schedule:
| 9.15 – 9.45 | Annette Xiberras, Welcome to Country Sundhya Pahuja, Introduction |
| 9.45 – 10.30 | Marc Mierowsky, The 'Jew Bill', Naturalization and the depths of the novel |
| 10.30 – 11.00 | Morning Tea |
| 11.00- 11.45 | Deeksha Koul, Hideous Progeny: Aus-Con as Text-Creature |
| 11.45 – 12.30 | Lucie O'Brien, Satire, invective and 'Australasian sentiment': the Constitution and the Bulletin |
| 12.30 – 1.30 | Lunch |
| 1.30 – 2.15 | André Dao, 'The Australian nation is woven togerther': race, mythic poetry and legal authority |
| 2.15 – 3.15 | Irene Watson, More of the Same, and the Conundrum of Recognition |
| 3.15 – 3.30 | Break |
| 3.30 – 5.00 | Roundtable Discussion with presenters and Kirrakee Watson, hosted by Justin Clemens |
Paper abstracts available here.
Film Screening
As part of the symposium, we will be screening Our Warrior, a new documentary on the life and work of Robbie Thorpe, a Krauatungalung (Gurnai)/Djapwurrung (Gundditjmara) man, and one of the most renowned Aboriginal activists in the ongoing struggle against the iniquities of the invader Australian state.
The screening will take place the day after the symposium, Thursday 19 June (12pm -2pm) at the Forum Theatre, Level 1, Arts West Building. It will be followed by a panel discussion hosted by Professor Tony Birch, and featuring Gary Foley, the film’s director Anthony Kelly, Robbie Thorpe, and Professor Irene Watson. Please register for the screening separately, here.
The symposium is supported by the Australian Research Council grant ‘Law, Literature and Naturalization in an Age of Empire,’ The Institute for International Law and the Humanities (IILAH), and the Critical Research Association Melbourne (CRAM) at The University of Melbourne.