The School of Historical and Philosophical Studies

2-day Symposium: Conflict and Conciliation Across Empires: Objects and Performances in Historical Perspective

Date: 17-18 November 2011

Location: Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, University of Melbourne

Convenors: Professor Kate Darian‐Smith (Director, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne), Dr. Julie Evans (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne), and Dr. Penny Edmonds (School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne) in conjunction with the Department of Indigenous Cultures, Museum Victoria.

Hosted by the Australian Centre, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne.

Download: Symposium flyer (170kb pdf) and symposium program (525kb pdf) and symposium abstracts (710kb pdf)

Information

It has long been accepted that the twin notions of conflict and conciliation that underpinned relations between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous peoples in European colonies continue to resonate in contemporary postcolonial societies. Yet little attention has been paid to how former European colonies have understood the role of both Indigenous and non‐Indigenous performances of diplomacy and resistance in events such as colonial trade, land use, peacemaking and treaty signing.

This 2‐day symposium explores how the legacies of both conflict and conciliation between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous peoples have contributed to nation building and the popular historical imagination in Australia and other locations in the Asia‐Pacific, from the era of European colonization to the present. It seeks to highlight, in particular, how different interpretations of these complex legacies have been reworked and expressed in the visual and material cultural heritage of individual nations and in forms of public history‐making that include performance, re‐enactment and centenary commemorations. We welcome contributions from academics, curators and artists in the examination of imperial histories of contact and conciliation, and of diplomacy ‘on the ground’ in these varied locations. Speakers are encouraged to consider the extent to which objects, images and political performances – both Indigenous and non‐Indigenous – might work together both to inscribe and consolidate and/or resist and subvert dominant narratives of settlement and nationhood. Comparative and transnational perspectives across and within European empires in the region are particularly welcome.