Passing: A multi-disciplinary Symposium

Friday 29 February 2008

Venue: Old Canberra House, Lennox Crossing, ANU

Convened by

Carolyn Strange (carolyn.strange@anu.edu.au)
T: 6125 0044

Monique Rooney (monique.rooney@anu.edu.au)
T: 6125-0531

This one-day event explored the phenomenon of passing from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including literary studies, history, media studies, law and art history. Nine speakers presented papers and artist Margot Sears mounted an exhibit of her photographic work and discussed her photographic interpretations of passing. The final speaker of the day, Prof. Brooke Kroeger, presented a paper that updated the question of passing as a survival technique, first explored in her book, Passing, When People Can't Be Who They Are.
The symposium showcased national and international scholars who presented cutting edge scholarship on passing. In bringing together North American and Australian scholars of passing, it provided new perspectives on a phenomenon (an identity crossing) that has largely been theorised and historicised in an exclusively North American context. Of particular significance, especially in terms of new academic contributions to the field, were those papers that explored passing who demonstrated its relevance to Australia (Kirsten McKenzie, Wayne Morgan and Melissa Hardie); Japan (Vera Mackie); 18th century England (Kate Lilley) and a transnational context (Kirsten McKenzie and Melissa Hardie).