Leading Australian scholars Professor Barbara Pini and Professor Nicole Moore have been appointed to the annual Visiting Professor in Australian Studies position at the Centre for Pacific and American Studies (CPAS), University of Tokyo, for 2020–21 and 2021–22 respectively.
This announcement is in the context of a rapidly changing environment, and comes with the caveat that neither candidate will be travelling until everything has settled down and it is safe to do so.
The University of Tasmania’s Professor Kate Darian-Smith, Executive Dean and Pro Vice Chancellor of the College of Arts, Law and Education, and the Chair of the Selection Committee, congratulated both candidates in the meantime, saying that “the appointments of these distinguished scholars in Australian Studies is essential to developing Australia-Japan relations across our university sector”.
Professor Darian-Smith also thanked the strong field of candidates who applied, and encouraged scholars interested in promoting Australian studies in Japan to consider applying in future rounds.
Barbara Piniis a Professor in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences at Griffith University. As part of her appointment Professor Pini will teach classes which focus on rural Australia as represented and lived in the 21st century.
Professor Pini said “I look forward to introducing students to rural Australia and exploring the connections between the urban-rural divide as it is manifest in Australia with the situation in Japan”.
Nicole Mooreis Professor of English and Media Studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the UNSW Canberra and Associate Dean Special Collections.
Professor Moore says she is “greatly honoured by the appointment and looking forward to further exploring the many connections between Japan and Australia, and in the region.”
Background:
Barbara Pini’sresearch is in the areas of rural studies, gender studies, sociology, and management. She has held Visiting Fellowships at Trontheim University (Norway), Queen’s University (Northern Ireland), and Guelph University (Canada). She has published widely in the area of rurality, gender, and class, and is the author of Postfeminism Down on the Farm: Reading Australian Rural Romance, which will be published in 2020. In 2011-13 she was awarded an Australian Research Council grant to study Disability and Rurality and has held ARC grants previously in the areas of social citizenship and secondary students, and farm women and technology.
Nicole Moore’s area of research is Australian literature, combined with interdisciplinary and comparative research in cultural history, gender and sexuality studies, and book history, with a special interest in censorship. She is the author of The Censor’s Library: Uncovering the Lost History of Australia’s Banned Books, which won the Walter McCrae Russell award from the Association for the Study of Australian Literature and was shortlisted for a Queensland Literary Award, the Penny Pether prize from the Australian Law, Literature and the Humanities Association, and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in Australian History. An ARC Future Fellowship has supported research towards the biography of Australian writer Dorothy Hewett.
The position:is supported by the Australia-Japan Foundation (AJF). The AJF is a non-statutory, bilateral foundation in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It was established in 1976 with the aim of strengthening and further developing Australia-Japan relations. The AJF provides funds in support of a range of projects that help advance Australia’s engagement with Japan. The International Australian Studies Association (InASA), the peak global Australian Studies organisation, manages the selection process on behalf of the Australia-Japan Foundation. Applications for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 rounds for the Professorship will open in mid-2021.
Further details about the position can be found at: