UC EVENTS

Speaker: Dr Bilquis Ghani, Dr Kim Huynh, and Prof. Elena Isayev

Date\Time: Thursday16 November2023, 12:30-13:30

Location: Building 2 Level A Room 2A13, University of Canberra (https://www.canberra.edu.au/maps/buildings-directory/building-2); or Zoom https://zoom.us/j/97433655149

Abstract

A conversation between scholar-activists and arts workers, Dr Bilquis Ghani, Dr Kim Huynh, and Prof. Elena Isayev.

Bio

Bilquis Ghani?is Lecturer in Arts at the University of Canberra. Before that she was Head of Inclusion at the Sydney Opera House where she drove the House's Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy. She was a founding member of?Refugee Art Project, and now leads the?Hunar Collective, working at the intersection of theory and practice, through major events like the 2022?Art ÷ Conflict?symposium—Hunar?means “art” in Dari. Bilquis's research focuses on the mobilisation of the creative process through moments of social and cultural rupture. Her work takes a decolonial approach to making sense of arts movements in conflict spaces, Kabul in particular.?

Kim Huynh is a teacher, writer, researcher and broadcaster who helps people to tell their stories. His latest book analyses Australia's Refugee Politics in the 21st Century (Routledge) and develops ways to enhance national security, refugee rights and social cohesion. Kim’s published a collection of stories about contemporary Vietnam entitled Vietnam as if ... (ANU Press). His biography of his parents Where the Sea Takes Us (HarperCollins) attracted academic and literary acclaim. He co-authored Children and Global Conflict (Cambridge University Press) and co-edited The Culture Wars (Palgrave-McMillan). Kim convenes courses on refugee politics and political philosophy and writes essays on a wide range of topics. Kim ran as independent candidate in the 2016 ACT election and in the 2022 federal election. He is an ABC Radio Canberra presenter and Deputy Director of the ANU Humanities Research Centre.

Elena Isayev?is a historian and archaeologist focusing on migration, hospitality, and displacement. Keywritings?include?Migration, Mobility and Place in Ancient Italy, “Between hospitality and asylum,” for the Red Cross, and?Displacement and the Humanities,?co-edited with Evan Jewell.?She works with colleagues in Palestine, under the banners of?Campus in Camps,?and?Decolonising Architecture, and as co-founder of?Al Maeisha,?to understand and move beyond the cracks in the nation-state regime, exposing the role of culture, heritage and mobility.?A member of UNDRR/ICCROM expert panel on the role of traditional knowledge systems in disaster risk reduction, Elena’s current collaborations include?Knowledges in Transit,?with Staffan Müller-Wille, and?The Tricks of Belonging,?with Paul Magee,?and she is leading the team of?Imagining Futures through Un/Archived Pasts?(AHRC/UKRI). She teaches on themes in ancient history, material culture and mobilities at the University of Exeter (UK), as Professor of Ancient History and Place.

Culture and Creativity Seminar Series is hosted by the Centre for Cultural and Creative Research (CCCR), Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra. To discover upcoming seminars, please follow us on Facebook @uccccr, or Instagram and Twitter @uc_cccr. Alternatively, join our mailing list by emailing cccr@canberra.edu.au.

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