AUT academic first Kiwi for Cambridge position
AUT University anthropology lecturer Sharyn Graham Davies is off to Cambridge University as New Zealand’s first recipient of a Leverhulme visiting professorship.
Associate Professor Davies from the School of Social Sciences and Public Policy specialises in sex and gender research especially with regard to Indonesia and will be at Cambridge for the Michaelmas term (October-February). She was invited by the university as an eminent researcher and will run classes for masters students as well as presenting three public lectures entitled Kinships of Shame: Moral Connectivity in Contemporary Indonesia; Surveilling Sex, Sculpting Sex: The Shaping of the Sexual Self; and The ‘G’ Factor: Gangam Style and the anthropology of policing.
Associate Professor Davies’ talks will focus on ways in which social media is impacting contemporary ideas of sexuality, looking particularly at how people craft sexual identities in a world where even the most private of activities can be broadcast to a global audience within minutes.
“To be selected as Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Cambridge is without doubt the highlight of my career so far. To be recognised for the research I have done on notions of gender and sexuality and to be able to present this work at Cambridge and interact with colleagues and students there, will be both intellectually and culturally rewarding.
“When the Cambridge accommodation office contacted me to help with finding a place to stay the email ended saying, ‘We have been helping Cambridge people find accommodation since the 1800s’. It really struck home then that I was going to a place steeped in academic excellence.”
Associate Professor Davies says the experience she gains at Cambridge will be brought back to AUT where she will pass on new knowledge to colleagues and post graduate students.
“This opportunity will pave the way for further staff and student exchanges with Cambridge.”
Associate Professor Davies will also present her work at Durham University and the London School of Economics.
Prior to the UK she will visit the University of California - Irvine, New York University and Yale University as part of a Fulbright Scholarship and speak at sociology conferences in San Francisco and Japan