Find out about the world of a film-maker who the Nazi regime's Dr Goebbels wanted to enlist as head of German film when an exciting new series of humanities-based lectures begins soon at The University of Western Australia.

Fritz Lang's expressionist film, Metropolis, the world's most expensive silent movie, will be screened after a lecture, "The Very Modern World of Fritz Lang", to be given by Mark Bould of the University of the West of England at 6pm, on March 18.

Indigenous heritage consultant Noel Nannup will talk about "Aboriginal Spirituality" on May 13, while former WA Premier, Geoff Gallop, now at The University of Sydney, will discuss another aspect of spirituality in his July 3 lecture, "Religion and Politics: Trusted Friends or Sworn Enemies?"

Author Alice Pung, whose book Unpolished Gem tells of an ethnic Chinese family who fled the Khmer Rouge and whose grandfather dreams of pig's blood jelly while his relatives make festive chains from Target catalogues, will present her lecture, "Growing Up Asian in Australia", on June 17.

Chloe Hooper, an Orange Prize-shortlisted Australian author who studied creative writing under Philip Roth at Columbia University, will present "Life and Death on Palm Island: The Case of Senior Sergeant Hurley" on August 12.  After a court case that gripped the nation, Sergeant Chris Hurley was found not guilty of killing Aboriginal man, Mulrunji, in an island watch house in far north Queensland.

An anthropologist interested in Japanese society and culture, Leng Leng Thang of the National University of Singapore, will present "Cos Play" on September 8 and the series will conclude with Princeton University's Eduardo Cadava's "Of Veils and Mourning: Fazal Sheikh's Widowed Images" on October 27.  The subjects of Cadava's scholarly works include photography, mourning and even 19th century fertiliser importation while Sheik was a photographer of refugee communities. 

The lecture series is hosted by the Institute of Advanced Studies.  Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies and UWA Press, Associate Professor Terri-ann White said that she hopes to make the humanities series a regular part of the UWA calendar of events.

"The vitality and openness of a university community can be measured - and enhanced - by the strength of its interest in the humanities," she said.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Anne Pauwels, said the faculty was delighted to be a part of this inaugural series that introduces a range of great thinkers and practitioners from around the world to the West Australian community.

For more information about the lectures, held at different venues at 6pm, contact IAS on 6488 1340.

Media references

Audrey Barton (Institute of Advanced Studies)  61 8  6488 4797
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  61 8  6488 5563  /  0432 637 716