As we learn from First Nations peoples throughout Australia, creativity is deeply embedded in culture, and culture is deeply creative. The CCCR’s seminars explore the ancient, innovative relationship between culture and creativity. We open conversations by presenting new work in a wide range of humanities, social science, creative and applied disciplines. To learn more about the CCCR (Centre for Creative and Cultural Research), head to https://www.canberra.edu.au/research/centres/cccr
Publisher
Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra
Sharpay Wu – The Construction of Imagined Communities through Bilibili Danmu Commentaries: Case Studies of ‘Year Hare Affair’ (2015-2019) and ‘Yao-Chinese Folktales’ (2023)
Abstract
Bilibili isa popular Chinese video-streaming platform known for its synchronised Danmu commentary system which is particularly popular with younger audiences. A growing body of literature has explored digital nationalism in the context of Chinese social media participation, with Bilibili offering some important examples. Applying a digital ethnographic lens, I investigate how these Danmu commentary responses reflect both user-generated digital nationalist sentiment and practice, as well as state-led forms of nationalism. Drawing on one episode of the Year Hare Affair (2015-2019) and a trailer for Yao-Chinese Folktales Season 1 (2023), this article argues the responses shared in Danmu comments not only constitute a form of digital nationalism, shaped partly by the values and interests of the Chinese state government, but are also grassroots expressions of ‘imagined communities’, cultural identity, and a sense of belonging.
Bio
Sharpay Qiong Wu is a PhD Candidate at the University of Canberra. After studying commerce and cultural studies at the University of Canberra and the Australian National University, she is now researching Chinese domestic animation production through the lens of cultural and creative industries studies. Her research aims to provide further understanding of how popular cultural and creative practices in China have been shaped by central policies as well as through other cultural, social and economic factors. Her research addresses recent heated discussions surrounding creative industries, digital cultures, soft power and cultural nationalism in China.
This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to SharpayWu_Presentation.pptx
24 Aug 2026
Rachel M Campbell – Image-Making in Celebrity Culture: Or ‘How Kim Kardashian Broke the Internet with her Butt’
Abstract
Although this seminar takes Kim Kardashian's now-iconic 2014 Paper Magazine cover as its entry point, the argument it makes reaches back two centuries. When Kardashian "broke the internet" with a single image, she was participating in a mechanism of celebrity image-making with a much longer history than we might expect.
Long before the internet, the rapid expansion of print technologies in the nineteenth century unleashed an unprecedented proliferation of celebrity images into everyday life, appearing on sheet music, lithographs, ceramics, and illustrated newspapers. Suddenly, you didn't need to hear Jenny Lind sing or see Nellie Melba perform to feel intimately acquainted with them. Their faces, reproduced and commodified, did that work instead.
Drawing on visual culture and historical celebrity studies, this seminar argues that the relationship between fame and image is not a product of the digital age: the technology has changed, but the mechanics of celebrity have not.
Bio
Dr Rachel M Campbell is a Senior Lecturer in Arts at the University of Canberra. Her research sits at the intersection of Historical Celebrity Studies and Visual Culture, with a focus on the visual representation of musicians and composers in the long nineteenth century. Her doctoral work developed a multidisciplinary methodology to examine how the proliferation of print technologies transformed musical celebrity, exploring figures including Dame Nellie Melba and Jenny Lind. Dr Campbell argues that the relationship between celebrity image and fame is far from a modern phenomenon. Her teaching practice is grounded in a relational pedagogy of kindness, equity considerations, and UDL.
This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to RachelMCampbell_Presentation.pptx
20 Aug 2026
Owen Bullock – The Path to Speaking: Poetry and Wellbeing at UC Hospital
Abstract
This paper reports on the Poetry for Wellbeing and Recovery program at the University of Canberra Hospital. Patients in rehab have been attending weekly sessions focused on reading and writing poetry. Reading poetry often evokes powerful memories and strong emotions, as poems seem to open outwards when the reader’s own experience is engaged, and events from the distant past are revisited and articulated. But for some participants memory is less accessible and writing about present lived experience becomes more important. Some participants have difficulty in writing, for various reasons, sometimes physical, sometimes cognitive; we often scribe for them and create ‘dictation poems’, with fascinating results. This presentation shares anecdotes and findings from the program, including examples of participant writing.
Bio
Owen Bullock has published four collections of poetry, five books of haiku, a bilingual edition of tanka and a novella. A new book of haiku, titled The Scuppered Lily, will be launched in August 2026, and an academic book, How to Write Haiku, in 2027. His research interests include creative arts and wellbeing; haikai literature; poetry and process; semiotics and poetry; prose poetry; and collaboration. He is Discipline Lead for Creative Writing and Literary Studies at the University of Canberra. His other interests include music, juggling and chess.
This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to Owen Bullock_Presentation.pptx
Who has been a guest on Culture and Creativity Seminar Series
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Vic McEwan
Lachlan Brown
Bridget Vincent
Patrick Flanery
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