Museum Studies, Faculty of Science and International Communication, Faculty of Arts are proud to present:

The Macquarie University inaugural lecture for the Soft Power and Public Diplomacy Research Group

“Heritage in Afghanistan : Nine years after Bamiyan”

To be delivered by Professor Amareswar Galla

On Tuesday 8 June 2010, 6-8pm

At Macquarie University, Building X5B, Theatre 1

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Professor Naren Chitty A.M., Foundation Chair in International Communication of the Faculty of Arts and Dr Andrew Simpson, Director of Museum Studies from the Faculty of Science at Macquarie University are pleased to announce an inaugural lecture, by Professor Amareswar Galla, chaired by Professor John Simons, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, on 8 June 2010, for the Soft Power and Public Diplomacy Research Group that has been established this semester at Macquarie University.  Click here for your invitation. 

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Soft power as an important cultural

and developmental resource

Professor Joseph Nye from Harvard University first employed the term 'soft power' to refer to an important cultural and developmental resource available to international actors in influencing other actors. Closer to home, in 2008, a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted a review of Australian public diplomacy.  Mark Scott, Managing Director of ABC, in his Bruce Allen Memorial Lecture at Macquarie University in 2009, spoke of the ABC's role in soft public diplomacy, the use of cultural means to achieve winning outcomes in the field of public diplomacy.  Soft power and public diplomacy are increasingly engaging the attention of the academy.

The inaugural lecture examines a context in Afghanistan where a holistic approach to cultural diplomacy may be possible.

Public Lecture at Macquarie University

by Professor Amareswar Galla

Heritage in Afghanistan : Nine years after Bamiyan

Community building through ecomuseology and sustainable heritage development as tools in poverty alleviation has taken on a new dimension in the 21^st Century. Bamiyan Buddha to the Bamiyan Ecomuseum; Ustads as carriers and transmitters in Safeguarding Intangible Heritage; promotion of cultural diversity where ethnicity is about reconciliation, the challenges in Afghanistan are numerous but the possibilities are heartening for those who believe in world peace. Intercultural dialogue, intergenerational ethic and conflict resolution take on a new meaning even as the dust hardly settles down from frequent bomb blasts. Hopes and aspirations impregnate the lives of people stoically rebuilding neighbourhoods. This lecture provides comparative perspectives on heritage and peace building based on the past fifteen years of the speaker's firsthand knowledge in Afghanistan , East Timor, South Africa and Vietnam.

About the presenter

Professor Amar Galla

Image courtesy University of Queensland website.

Amar is the first Professor of Museum Studies in Australia and resides at the University of Queensland. He provides strategic cultural leadership in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region as the founding Director of the UNESCO Project Pacific Asia Observatory for Cultural Diversity in Human Development. He has been Vice President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Paris 2004-2007, and is the founding Chairperson of the ICOM Cross Cultural Task Force.

Amareswar Galla is one of the leading experts in the world on museums, sustainable heritage development and poverty alleviation through culture, and has worked extensively in Vietnam, South Africa , Afghanistan , the Pacific, Europe, Asia and Australia. He has been a key advisor for the UNESCO World Commission for Culture and Development, and was UNESCO Technical Advisor and Guest Curator of International Projects in Vietnam responsible for the development of World Heritage sites in Hoi An and Ha Long Bay working on the development of the world's first floating museum, the Cua Van Cultural Centre in Ha Long Bay.

A keen spokesperson and champion of cultural diversity, Amar was a Director on the Board of SBS Radio and TV, and worked on inclusive policy development both in Australia and the Netherlands as a specialist adviser on cultural diversity promotion. He was a member of the Australia Council Multicultural Advisory Committee (ACMAC) and the first Australian to be elected as the President of the Asia Pacific Executive Board (1998-2004).