Humanities Lectures

Professor Rachel Spronken-Smith, Dean of the Graduate Research School, delivers her Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Educating Undergraduates for Uncertain Futures”. 3 December 2013

Professor Rachel Spronken-Smith, Dean of the Graduate Research School, delivers her Inaugural Professorial Lecture: “Educating Undergraduates for Uncertain Futures”. 3 December 2013

Hosted by the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, Professor Will Storrar presents this lecture on the Scottish Referendum. Professor Storrar is Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton and formerly Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh. He holds visiting professorships at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Professor Storrar was active in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament in the 1980s and 90s, and has been involved in public debates in Scotland in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum. 28 November 2013

Hosted by the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, Professor Will Storrar presents this lecture on the Scottish Referendum. Professor Storrar is Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton and formerly Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh. He holds visiting professorships at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Professor Storrar was active in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament in the 1980s and 90s, and has been involved in public debates in Scotland in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum. 28 November 2013

Hosted by the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, Professor Will Storrar presents this lecture on the Scottish Referendum. Professor Storrar is Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton and formerly Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh. He holds visiting professorships at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Professor Storrar was active in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament in the 1980s and 90s, and has been involved in public debates in Scotland in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum. 28 November 2013

Professor Geremie Barmé, Director, Australian Centre on China in the World, Australian National University presents his lecture “Thirty Years of Spiritual Pollution” as part of an all day workshop held at the University of Otago on ‘Chinese soft power and culture: between complicity and independence’. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the NZCCRC (New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre), the CIW (Australian Centre on China in the World), the Chinese Programme of the Department of Languages and Cultures, Division of Humanities, University of Otago, and the Confucius Institute in Auckland, Otago Office. 20 November 2013

Chaired by Professor Murray Rae, Head of the Department of Theology and Religion, this is a panel discussion with Judge Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge, Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Chris Marshall, Victoria University, Wellington and Dr Shayne Walker, Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work. One often hears laments about the loss of moral standards and the high rates of criminal offending among youth. In fact, however, rates of youth offending in New Zealand have been declining in recent years. But there is work yet to be done. The panel will consider the progress made thus far, the things that could be done to improve things further, and also the larger question of the goals toward which our justice system should be directed: what does justice consist of and what does it mean for justice to be done? 5 November 2013

Chaired by Professor Murray Rae, Head of the Department of Theology and Religion, this is a panel discussion with Judge Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge, Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Chris Marshall, Victoria University, Wellington and Dr Shayne Walker, Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work. One often hears laments about the loss of moral standards and the high rates of criminal offending among youth. In fact, however, rates of youth offending in New Zealand have been declining in recent years. But there is work yet to be done. The panel will consider the progress made thus far, the things that could be done to improve things further, and also the larger question of the goals toward which our justice system should be directed: what does justice consist of and what does it mean for justice to be done? 5 November 2013

Chaired by Professor Murray Rae, Head of the Department of Theology and Religion, this is a panel discussion with Judge Andrew Becroft, Principal Youth Court Judge, Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Chris Marshall, Victoria University, Wellington and Dr Shayne Walker, Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work. One often hears laments about the loss of moral standards and the high rates of criminal offending among youth. In fact, however, rates of youth offending in New Zealand have been declining in recent years. But there is work yet to be done. The panel will consider the progress made thus far, the things that could be done to improve things further, and also the larger question of the goals toward which our justice system should be directed: what does justice consist of and what does it mean for justice to be done? 5 November 2013

Emeritus Professor Jim Flynn discusses with Associate Professor Charles Pigden the challenges of growing up in the 1940s/1950s and the influences of religion and racism during his upbringing. He goes on to talk about his academic career, beginning with a scholarship at the University of Chicago to study Politics and Philosophy. Professor Flynn first came to New Zealand to lecture at the University of Canterbury before coming to the University of Otago as the Foundation Chair in Political Studies in 1967. 15 August 2013