The 3rd Annual Conference of the

Australian Girard Seminar

Mimesis, Movies
and Media

18th-19th January 2013

Parramatta Campus, University of
Western Sydney
Conference Program
Friday, 18th January, 2013
3-3.30pm (Foyer outside Lecture Theatre EA.G.19)
Registration

3.30-4.45pm (Lecture Theatre EA.G.19)

"Introduction to René Girard's Mimetic Theory".
Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Cowdell (Charles Sturt University).

5-6pm (Boilerhouse Restaurant)

Book Launch of Violence, Desire, and the Sacred: Girard’s Mimetic Theory
Across the Disciplines (edited by Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming and Joel
Hodge; published by Continuum/Bloomsbury).
Speaker: Rev. Professor Anthony Kelly CSsR (Australian Catholic
University).
MC: Dr. Joel Hodge (Australian Catholic University).

6-7.30pm (Boilerhouse Restaurant)

Conference Dinner

7.30-9pm (Lecture Theatre EA.G.19)

Keynote Address: "Mirrors of Nature: Artificial Agents in real life and virtual
worlds”.
Professor Paul Dumouchel
Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences
Ritsumeikan University, Japan.
Chair: Dr. Chris Fleming (University of Western Sydney).

Postgraduate Gathering and Drinks immediately follows the

lecture (Venue TBC).
Saturday, 19th January, 2013
9-10.15am (Lecture Theatre EA.G.19)
Keynote Address:“The Scapegoating of Cheerleading and Cheerleaders”.
Dr. Emma A. Jane, Senior Lecturer at the University of NSW and
award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author.
Chair: Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Cowdell (Charles Sturt University).

10.15-10.45am: Morning Tea (Foyer of Building EA)

10.45am-12.15pm: Paper Session 1 (EA.G.19)

Dr. John O’Carroll (Charles Sturt University), “The All-Too-Human
Machine: Mimesis, Scapegoat, Medium”.
Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Cowdell (Charles Sturt University), “Against
Romantic Love: Mimeticism and Satire in Woody Allen’s Vicky, Cristina,
Barcelona and To Rome With Love”.
Dr. Rosamund Dalziell (Charles Sturt University), “Media, Murder and
Memoir: Girardian Baroque in Robert Drewe’s The Shark Net (2000)”.
Chair: Rev. Rebecca Newland (St Philip's Anglican Church, O'Connor
ACT).

12.15-1.30pm: Lunch (Foyer of Building EA)

1.30-3pm: Paper Session 2 (EA.G.19)

Dr. Joel Hodge (Australian Catholic University), “Superheroes,
Scapegoats and Saviours”.
Dr. Matthew Tan (Campion College), “Conversion in Dexter”.
Dr. Nigel Zimmermann (University of Notre Dame Australia), “The
Butler did it: A Girardian reading of the problem of class in the
popular British period drama, Downton Abbey”.
Chair: Assoc. Prof. Marie Joyce (Australian Catholic University).
3-3.30pm: Afternoon Tea (Foyer of Building EA)

3.30-4.30pm: Paper Session 3 (Concurrent Sessions)

Concurrent Session 1 (Lecture Theatre EA.G.19)
Carly Osborn (University of Adelaide), “Dreams Decaying: American
Utopias and Tragic Violence”.
Debra MacDonald (University of Auckland), “The Dark Knight and My
Community Gotham”.
Chair: Dr. Jo de Groot (The Academy of the Word).

Concurrent Session 2 (Room EA.G.10)

Rev. Assoc. Prof. Bruce Stevens (University of Canberra), “Sleeping
Beauty (2011) ‘Once upon a perverse time...’”.
Rev. Nikolai Blaskow (Radford Anglican College, ACT), “24 frames per
second: ‘aporia’ as an act of God”.
Chair: Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Cowdell

4.30-5pm (Room EA.G.10)

Business Meeting for the Australian Girard Seminar (all welcome).

5pm: Departure
(If you would like to share a taxi to the airport, please let the confer-
ence organisers know).
Thank-you for your participation and safe travels.

A special thanks to the sponsor and host for this

conference, the Writing and Society Research
Centre, University of Western Sydney.