Short Abstract:

This roundtable invites reflection and engagement with the history of what might be called a 'feminist' tradition in Australian anthropology. In doing so we hope to gather insights into the work of producing theory and the labour involved in its reproduction through the maternal line.

Long Abstract:

This roundtable invites reflection and engagement with the history of what might be called a 'feminist' tradition in Australian anthropology as a vantage point on broader Australian anthropological and scholarly traditions. In doing so we hope to gather insights into the work of producing theory and the labour involved in its reproduction through the maternal line.

This roundtable comes against a backdrop of a recent turn in popular and scholarly discussion towards the university itself and the kind of relationships it engenders as a site for contestations over gender and power. For example, the feminist philosopher Sara Ahmed's recent work (i.e. On Being Included; Living a Feminist Life) considers the role of institutions in reproducing norms, whereas different kinds of online mobilisation have resulted in renewed attention to how gender, sexuality and race structures knowledge production itself.

The roundtable invites participants to reflect on these events from the specific historical and cultural context of Australian feminist anthropology from the mid 20th century to present. It will ask a number of invited participants to reflect on a particular theme via their own experiences, whether during fieldwork or in the university.

Roundtable participants:

Christine Helliwell (The Australian National University)

Margaret Jolly (The Australian National University)

Martha MacIntyre (The University of Melbourne)

Francesca Merlan (The Australian National University)

Kalpana Ram (Macquarie University)

Kathryn Robinson (The Australian National University)