2024

Articles

The beginnings of fashion: why do we wear clothes?

From stone tools that prepared animal skins for humans to use as thermal insulation, to the advent of bone awls and eyed needles to create fitted and adorned garments, why did we start to dress to express ourselves and to impress others?

Bell Shakespeare's new King Lear understands the joy of a good tragedy

Dr Kirk Dodd, lecturer in English, reviews the new King Lear at Bell Shakespeare, directed by Peter Evans and starring one of Australia's finest classical actors, Robert Menzies.

Now open: The Judith Yates Essay Prize in Economics

The Judith Yates Essay Prize in Economics is now open for entries until 12 October 2024. Eligible Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Advanced Studies students are encouraged to apply.

Bridging the past and present: The new Vere Gordon Childe Centre

The Vere Gordon Childe Centre, a recently launched research hub at the University of Sydney, aims to understand global human diversity through the study of material culture, artistic representation, and intangible heritage.

Sydney Anthropologist awarded three prestigious book prizes

Dr. Sophie Chao, a DECRA Fellow and Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sydney, has been recognised with three prestigious awards for her monograph, In the Shadow of the Palms: More-Than-Human Becomings in West Papua (Duke University Press, 2022).

Arts and Social Sciences students shine at the Honours Showcase

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences celebrates the brilliance and accomplishments of six outstanding Honours students from the 2023 cohort at the Faculty Honours Showcase and Award Ceremony.

Reforming Tertiary Education Access and Financing Policies

At the 2024 RC Mills Lecture, Professor Lorraine Dearden highlighted the need for early education investment to improve tertiary access. She emphasised the use of detailed data analysis to inform education policy reforms.

The new power and politics of comedy

Dr Benjamin Nickl, a humour expert from the School of Languages and Cultures, and his co-author Dr Mark Rolfe, Honorary Lecturer at UNSW, discuss the politicisation of comedy in the new academic book The Moral Dimensions of Humour.

Is age verification for pornography access reliable? Research suggests no

A new study by Professor Alan McKee and Dr Zahra Stardust (QUT) suggests that age assurance technologies restricting access to pornography are unreliable and ineffective, and that there are better, evidence-based alternatives to facilitate access to diverse and healthy representations of sexuality online.

The Dispossessed at 50: Ursula K. Le Guin's anarchist utopia endures

Dr Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer in English, discusses the enduring political power of Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking science-fiction novel, The Dispossessed.