12.30pm to 1.30pm Wednesday 6 October 2021

This talk highlights creolization as a creative social practice that manifests itself in, among other things, linguistic creativity. Professor Ansaldo traces the history of colonization of the Cocos-Keeling Islands and describe how migration led to the establishment of a Malay settlement and the development of the Cocos Malay language. He also looks at material and cultural creativity in the community, and reflects on identity and belonging.

Professor Umberto Ansaldo is Head of School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University. He was previously the Head of the School of Literature, Art and Media at the University of Sydney and the Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong.

Umberto’s disciplinary roots are in linguistics, most specifically in the study of language contact, linguistic typology, and language documentation. He has conducted linguistic fieldwork in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, the Cocos-Keeling Islands, and Christmas Island. He is the author of four books to date, has edited or co-edited a further 11 volumes and journal special collections, and has authored multiple journal articles and book chapters. His most recent work is the The Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages (2021), co-edited with Miriam Meyerhoff (Wellington/ Oxford).

Free event. Please register as spaces are limited. Refreshments will be served.
John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Building 200A, Bentley Campus, Kent Street, Bentley WA 6102
For further information, visit jcg.curtin.edu.au or call (08) 9266 4155. If you have special requirements to enable you to participate in this event, please contact JCG. For more information about AccessAbility services at Curtin University please visit curtin.edu.au

The John Curtin Gallery co-presents the central international exhibition with Fremantle Arts Centre for this new festival of contemporary craft IOTA21: Indian Ocean Craft Triennial. 

The artists in the inaugural Indian Ocean Craft Triennial: Curiosity and Rituals of the Everyday are guided by principles of craft as a social practice capable of enhancing community innovation, collaboration and economic improvement. 

Blending traditional practice with contemporary materials and expressions they explore themes such as ceremony, colonisation, gender politics, ritual, and culture. Works include ceramics, fibre and textiles, weaving and painting. 

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