Courses
The Melbourne Free University runs courses on a range of different topics. Scroll down the page to see all the courses we’ve run in the past, and click on the links for full details of each course, including recordings of each session.
Sessions generally include a 45 minute presentation, followed by a 45 minute open discussion, although this format sometimes varies. We run sessions on weeknights (and the occasional weekend) in Melbourne’s inner North.
There are no entry requirements, and you don’t need to enrol. Access is free of charge.
Everyone is welcome.
We welcome ideas for new courses. If you want to be involved in teaching at the MFU, email: melbournefreeuniversity@gmail.com
(special seminar)
Thursday 27th June 2013, 6.30 – 8pm
What is the connection between the oppression of women and animals?
(Ada Conroy)
Ada Conroy takes a critical look at the intersection of violence against women and animal abuse in the context of family violence and animal use in general. Ada has worked in the family violence sector for over 12 years.
(course)
From the 25th of April to the 30th of May 2013
all creatures great and small: animals and us
This series will explore animal-human relationships from a range of different philosophical, political and practical perspectives. It aims to look deeply at the social, ethical and individual implications of how we, as humans, understand and interact with non-human animals in today’s world.(course)
From the 23rd of April to the 28th of May 2013
Classics of Crime Fiction
This short course will look at some major successes of crime fiction, reaching over time and place from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1840s America (but set in France), through Arthur Conan Doyle’s uncertain London, Agatha Christie’s disrupted rural English peace and Raymond Chandler’s threat-laden Los Angeles, to the modern complexity of Sara Paretsky’s feminist Chicago and Peter Temple’s conflict-ridden Australia.(special seminar)
Wednesday 10th April 2013
Melbourne Free University in collaboration with the New Internationalist Bookshop present ‘Everybody Deserves a Place at the Table’
(Shanaka Fernando and Tim Thornton)
Shanaka Fernando is often hailed as a modern-day revolutionary. As the founder of the Lentil As Anything community restaurants in Melbourne that feed thousands every week, he advocates a unique business and life perspective. An advocate and practitioner of “pay as you feel” the business model, Shanaka believes that, “when money loses its value, the goodwill and kindness we extend to each other will emerge as the ultimate and most sustainable currency of exchange.” Shanaka will be in conversation with La Trobe University economist Tim Thornton about money, food, fairness and Shanaka’s new book Everybody Deserves a Place at the Table.(special seminar)
Tuesday 9th of April March 2013
Structures of Inequality: Men, Women and Power on the Streets
(Emily Maguire, Alanna Inserra, Rodney Vlais)
A number of high-profile incidents of violence against women in public places have captured the media in Melbourne in the past six months, reigniting debates about why this violence or harassment happens, where it comes from, and what can be done to address it. This panel discussion will explore these issues, focusing particularly on questions around women’s freedom of movement, the structural dynamics that make gender-based harassment so common, and the use of social media in raising awareness and sharing experiences. We’ll also ask how men can be engaged in the prevention of men’s violence against women through addressing gender inequality and the underlying structures of male privilege and entitlement.(special seminar)
Wednesday 20th March 2013
Uni-what? The state and future of the tertiary system in Australia
(Altman, Arvanitakis, Di Napoli)
The tertiary education system in Australia has shifted over the past few decades towards a system driven by managerialism and motivated by vocational outcomes, rather than the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. What are universities actually for? And what role do academics play in them? How can academics respond to the social pressures that have shaped universities into what they are today? Francis Bacon thought that wonder is the seed of knowledge: is there any wonder left in Australia’s tertiary system?
(course)
From the 19th of February to the 26th of March 2013
Politics, Pruning and Paint: Case studies in Art History
The course will explore an eclectic range of subjects in art history. Meandering from Renaissance art and its contemporary re-appropriation, to the history and social dynamics of life drawing, to photography, iconography and beyond, this series will question what art tells us about society, while revelling in a whole lot of sumptuous art.(course)
From the 21st of February to the 28th of March 2013
Economics for Everyone
Economic concepts and theories shape many aspects of our lives, yet most citizens have little knowledge of economics, which constrains their ability to fully understand and evaluate many of the big issues of our age. While one can pursue the study of economics through the conventional channels, all too often the curriculum encountered is far too intellectually and ideologically narrow. This six-week course explains the big ideas in economics, including some very important dissenting and alternative ideas. The focus is on plurality, interdisciplinary and relevance to the pressing demands of the real-world.(special seminar)
Wednesday 21st November of 2012
Angles and Angels: Medieval and Modern Literacies
(Bob DiNapoli)
In our own time, the advent of digital information culture and the new “literacies” it continues to spawn looks set (to many—not least in the marketing divisions of Apple and Microsoft, among others) to render the culture of the book as archaic as the oral literacy of the ancient Celtic bard and the Anglo-Saxon scop…(course)
Thursdays from 1st November 2012
The Media: What does the future hold?
(McLennan, Lewis, Spencer, Ketchell, Hansen)
What does the changing media landscape mean for the way the media industry works, and how will it effect us, the audience?(course)
Tuesdays from 30th October 2012
What if … ?
(Westendorf, Conor, Smith, Zyngier, Parkes, Green)
Speakers explore radical ideas about how our world might be.(special seminar)
Wednesday the 19th of September 2012
Moneyshot: A journey into porn and censorship
(Jeff Sparrow)
Debates about pornography and censorship are usually pitched as contests between a libertarian Left and a puritanical Right. But does that schema adequately describe the arguments taking place today? What happens to censorship and sexuality in a world of radical market freedom?(course)
Thursdays 30th August – 4th October 2012
The Naked Brunch: Food, Consumption & Culture
(Addison-Smith, Kemelfield, van Ryn, Lewis, Wykes, Mallis, Jones)
“Eating is a mundane activity, sometimes pleasurable, sometimes routine. But how often do we think about what we eat as a social phenomenon rather than an exercise in personal taste? This course will be a six week long naked lunch, a collection of ‘frozen moments’ when we’ll stop chewing and attempt see exactly how ‘what is on the end of our forks’ got to be there. It’ll investigate issues surrounding the pursuit of ethical food consumption; why some eating practices are privileged and some are pathologised; who gets to eat what; the lifestyling of food; and the role of cooking and eating in popular culture. There’ll be breastmilk and Masterchefs and cooking shows and fat and locavores and vegans and meat.”(course)
Tuesdays 28 August – 9 October 2012
Progressive Politics: What’s Left?
(Marks, Clement, Davidson, Brett, Bowtell, Parkes, Marks, Altman, Kerin)
What is progressivism and how does it map onto the issues and ideas that drive Australian politics? Join our speakers as they grapple with the competing priorities of people who call themselves progressive and the hard decisions they have to make at election time.(special seminar)
Wednesday the 22nd of August 2012
Demilitarisation and nonviolence in the context of a conscript society: What are the effects of the ongoing occupation and conscription on Israeli society?
(Sahar Vardi, Micha Kurz)
From the perspective of a conscientious objector and a former soldier seeking to publicise the routine atrocities of occupation, Micha and Sahar will give their unique insights into the the current situation and grassroots efforts at change in Israel, weaving their personal narratives into this discussion of demilitarisation and nonviolence.Stephen Wright manages a service that intervenes with men with a history of violent and abusive behaviour. Once upon a time he worked extensively in early childhood education.
(special seminar)
Tuesday 31 July 2012, 6.30-8pm
Where the Bad Things are: The pathologising of childhood
(Stephen Wright)
Childhood is the location of immense anxiety for those who aren’t children. All the fears and hatreds we cannot ourselves bear as adults, we give to children. If a distressed or disturbed child is often the one calling for help for his or her family, what does that mean when childhood itself is depicted as disturbed?Stephen Wright manages a service that intervenes with men with a history of violent and abusive behaviour. Once upon a time he worked extensively in early childhood education.
(course)
From the 12th June – 24th July 2012
“The Politics of Myth”
(Stephen Knight)
In stories, images and casual references, around the names of mythic figures (whether they really existed or not) there cluster through time a remarkably changing series of ideas, concepts, obsessions, all with some social and so political meaning. To look at these myths will both indicate just how much politics, past and present, there is about in our world, and how strange some of the past politics can be – and that might even make us wonder if our own politics of myth is always all that sensible ? The figures of mythic politics can be turned inside out and read as examples of how people, even today, find meaning, consolation, escape, in the myths they use so casually and so much. The topics chosen for examination here are a set of myths that are still with us, have changed significantly over time, and may well still be changing in our own mythic minds.(special seminar)
Wednesday the 30th of May 2012; 6:30 – 8pm
Raging Against The Rich: Occupy and its Antecedents
(Verity Burgmann)
The Occupy movement has vividly drawn attention to the interests of the 99% against the 1% of fabulously rich people around the world. However, Occupy is best understood not as an extraordinary eruption but as the latest expression of three decades of opposition to increasing inequality caused by neo-liberal globalisation. Its antecedents include structural adjustment riots, antimarketisation campaigns, global justice protests and anti-austerity mobilisations.(course)
19th April – 24th May 2012
Activists, Activism and Change
(Willett, Connors, Tavan, Burgmann, Scalmer)
How does what activists do matter? How does actvism bring about social and political change? In this series a number of scholars bring their various perspectives to this very pressing issue.(course)
From the 17th April – 22nd May 2012
On Language
(Loakes, Rover, Nordlinger, McCormack, Cooke)
Speakers explore the study of language from different perspectives, to highlight the centrality of language in the wide arrays of human endeavour. Sessions explore different languages and their structures, how they vary and change, how they are learnt and used in different societies and cultures, and the links between language and literature, rhetoric, and philosophy. (special seminar)
7th of March 2012
Special Seminar: International Women’s Day at the MFU
Four women from different walks of life will discuss what they see as one of the biggest challenges facing women, and propose their big solution. The panel will be opened with a piece by Fadzai Jaravaza of the Still Waters Women’s Storytelling Collective.(special seminar)
12th of February 2012
Special Seminar: Contagious Strikes – Workers’ Struggles in China
In mid-2010 a strike wave rolled through China’s factories, the most widespread and militant struggle of China’s internal migrant workers so far. The struggle shook the Chinese regime and provoked a world-wide debate: Is this the beginning of the end of the low-wage-model that stands behind China’s rise to the “factory of the world” and provides the rest of the world with cheap consumer products? The strikes continued in 2011, and together with riots and peasant uprisings they are indicators for the increasing pressure for social change in China. This talk/ discussion (including a ten-minute film) will focus on the strikes, the formation of a new working class movement in China, and the implications for social struggles around the world.(course)
From the 16th of February to the 29th of March 2012
Controversies on Film
This course will address a range of issues to do with the theme of controversy in cinema: controversial films, filmmakers and film topics; controversial film theories; and controversies regarding film financing and production. (special seminar)
13th of February 2012
Education / Trauma / Violence
Stephen Wright manages a service that intervenes with men with a history of violent and abusive behaviour. Once upon a time he worked extensively in early childhood education. (special seminar)
8th of December 2011
Robin Hood and Maid Marian: The Politics of a Myth
The tradition of Robin Hood and Maid Marian has been around for over 600 years, appearing in song, poetry, prose, drama, and notably in film and television. The myth has remarkable variety in theme as well as form: this story of resistance to authority has constantly been reworked in terms of contemporary ideas about authority, and why and how it ought to be resisted (or in some cases, not). This talk and discussion will survey the major variations across time and place, including the varying, and now growing, importance of Maid Marian, and the recent obsession with whether Robin Hood really existed.(special series)
From the 06th of December 2011 to the 27th of March 2012
MFU@City Square
In the context of the global Occupy movement, questions of how our economy, society and politics could be organised differently have once again taken centre stage. This series of seminars will invite speakers to explore radical practical ideas on how our world might be, in relation to topics as diverse as inequality, Indigenous politics, democracy, law, gender, climate change, economics and more. This series will run throughout summer.(special series)
From the 29th of October to the 29th of November 2011
The politics of Madness: Listening to lived experience
This series will discuss mental distress/madness from the perspective of people with lived experience. The voices of other experts have been dominating community understanding of “mental health”– this is a chance to engage differently.(special seminar)
19th of October 2011
The Future of Feminism
Neda Monshat and Alexia Staker of the Melbourne Feminist Collective discuss ‘The Future of Feminism: Collaborative action and moving beyond internal divisions.(course)
From the 13th of October to the 17th of November 2011
What If …?
Speakers explore radical ideas about how our world might be(course)
From the 11th of October to the 15th of November 2011
Refugee Realities: Risk Rights & Resettlement
Speakers provide unique takes on issues facing refugees and the countries that host them, as well as posing important questions about current policy directions and frameworks.(special seminar)
21st of September 2011
Dirty Deeds: Sexuality and Agency in Commodity Culture
One hour panel discussion, followed by another hour of open discussion, and our panellists will be Helen Addison-Smith (Melb Uni), Liz Conor (Monash Uni), Breanna Sheets (Sex Industry Professional), and Christian Vega (Victorian Sex Industry Network)(special seminar)
24th of August 2011
Religious Courts in the Secular State
Maryam Namazie, human rights and refugee activist, will talk about the experiences of the United Kingdom in accommodating an official recognition of Sharia Councils and Arbitration Tribunals. Focusing on legal, women’s rights and social cohesion aspects Maryam’s talk will offer grounded points of discussion as this debate starts to develop here in Australia.(course)
From the 18th of August to the 22th of September 2011
Indigenous perspectives: past and present
Speakers from various backgrounds will discuss the many forms of Australian indigeneity, and their relevance to our society.(course)
From the 16th of August to the 20th of September 2011
The Law of the Land
Experience the law through the eyes of practitioners and see loopholes, strange stories of the law and why we can’t live without it.(special seminar)
20th of July 2011
On Aesthetic resistance to occupation in Japan
The aesthetics of the 1960s in Japan, across film, performance and visual arts and literature, captured the thoughts and feelings of people expressing their frustration in prolonged waves of protest. This talk will show samples of celebrated and lesser known art works from the period and discuss how ordinary people can and do continue to say NO to military belligerence.(special seminar)
15th of June 2011
On Motherhood under Turbo Capitalism
The entrance of women in the workplace is touted as a social revolution of unprecedented success. Feminists have argued that there hasn’t been a corresponding revolution in the organisation of childcare and this has left mothers stranded between the timewarp of domestic and corporate identities. Many mothers long for the supports of proverbial ‘village’ it takes to raise a child. Lots feel torn by the unsustainable demands on them, guilt about being unable to do anything well, grief about the autonomy they experienced in their careers. An unquantified number suffer maternal guilt, and sink into depression as a result of exhaustion, irritability with their children and disillusionment with mothering. Mothers put on a brave face, but many are in silent crisis. Is it time for a mother’s revolution?(course)
From the 14th of June to the 12th of July 2011
An Introduction to the Politics of Representation and Aesthetics in Cinema
‘An Introduction to the Politics of Representation and Aesthetics in Cinema’ will involve the screening of a film or clips from films, a short lecture by academics, critics or filmmakers, and an open discussion.(special seminar)
18th of May 2011
The politics of madness
Piers Gooding (Monash Uni) and Flick Grey (Our Consumer Place) speak on the Politics of Madness. A fantastic event, looking at issues around madness, mad-pride, mental health issues and services, the consumer movement and much more.
(course)
From the 07th of April to the 19th of May 2011
Voices from the South
Speakers from the global South will explore what is meant by ‘the good life’ for local, national and global communities by sharing their and their communities’ perspectives and stories.(course)
From the 05th of April to the 25th of May 2011
War and Peace
Against the current context of violent conflicts in the world, speakers will ask and address questions around why conflicts turn into wars, how wars play out, and how they can be resolved or avoided.(course)
From the 17th of February to the 24th of March 2011
Racism in the 21st century
This course provides a variety of approaches to better understand the concept of racism in the 21st century. Lectures will deal with history, theory and practice.(course)
From the 15th of February to the 22nd of March 2011
I (heart) Philosophy
This course grapples with big issues and key thinkers in philosophy. Topics are broad and diverse and meant to engage people with the big topics, paradoxes and conundrums.
(course)
From the 30th September to the 4th of November 2010
The Asia-Pacific and Us: Australia in the Region
This course focuses on Australia’s role in the region as well as the impact the region is having on Australia. We will unravel the complex traffic of ideas and people between Australia and the Asia-Pacific and discuss social change and development in the region.(course)
From the 29th of September to the 3rd of November 2010
I (heart) Philosophy
This course grapples with big issues and key thinkers in philosophy. Topics are broad and diverse and meant to engage people with the big topics, paradoxes and conundrums. (special seminar)
24th of September 2010
On The Production, Consumption, & Commodification of Knowledge
James Arvanitakis, a fantastic academic and activist from Sydney, will be in town to speak to us about the production, consumption and commodification of knowledge.(course)
From the 5th of August to the 9th of September 2010
Sustainability and Permaculture
This course looks broadly at the debates around sustainability, locating it within the broader discourse of environmental politics, and then exploring a number of different types of sustainability.(course)
From the 3rd of August to the 7th of September 2010
Australian Identities?
The aim of this course is to provide a wide range of opinions on what the concept of ‘national identity’ represents in Australia in the twenty-first century. While focusing mostly on the present situation, this course examines the development of trends which have led to what we think of as ‘being Australian’.
