Aileen Moreton-Robinson is an Australian academic, Indigenous feminist, author and activist for

Indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

. She is an Aboriginal woman of the Goenpul tribe, part of the

Quandamooka nation The Quandamooka people are Aboriginal Australians who live around Moreton Bay in Southeastern Queensland. They are composed of three distinct tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi people, Ngugi, and they live primarily on Moreton Islan ...

Stradbroke Island Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Islan ...

in Queensland. She was the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to a mainstream lecturing position in

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

in Australia. She has held positions in women's studies at Flinders University and Indigenous studies at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian ...

and

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

. She is currently Professor of Indigenous Research at RMIT and formerly Dean, Indigenous Research and Engagement at the

and Director of the National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network. She completed a PhD at

in 1998, with a thesis titled ''Talkin' up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism in Australia''. The thesis was later published as a book in 1999 and was short-listed for the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

and the

Stanner Award The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

Early life

Moreton-Robinson is of the Goenpul (Koenpul) people, who are part of the

on Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia. Moreton-Robinson showed promise as a student in high school, where she received an offer of a scholarship to a Catholic boarding school, which she declined. Her experience of racism and discrimination in high school led to her failing to graduate and becoming politically involved in movements for

Aboriginal land rights Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...

and

human rights for Aboriginal people Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

. Moreton-Robinson was later accepted to the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

as a mature student, and at the time she was the only Aboriginal student at the university. She completed a 1st class honours degree in Sociology from the

and her doctorate from Griffith University. Aileen's doctoral thesis was titled ''Talkin' up to the white woman : Indigenous women and feminism in Australia''. Her thesis was subsequently published as a book in 1999 which was short-listed for the

and the

for Indigenous writing.

Career

Moreton-Robinson taught Indigenous studies at Griffith University in Brisbane and Women's Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide. She was an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian Studies Centre, University of Queensland. She worked at Queensland University of Technology from 2006 until 2019, becoming Professor of Indigenous Studies and Dean of Indigenous Research and Engagement. On 17 June 2016 she was the first Aboriginal Professor to be conferred the title of Distinguished Professor there. She is currently Professor of Indigenous Research at RMIT in Melbourne, and an Indigenous Elder Scholar in Residence. Moreton-Robinson is the Director of the ''National Indigenous Research Knowledges Network'', a former Council Member of the ''Native American Indigenous Studies Association'', Executive member of National, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education, President of Australian Critical whiteness studies Association, Member of

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

, and has held positions on a number of boards, advisory committees and associations. Moreton-Robinson established and is an editor for the ''International eJournal of Critical Indigenous Studies''. She has been invited to and presented at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, Oberlin College,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, Dartmouth,

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

. Distinguished Professor Moreton-Robinson developed a masterclass for Indigenous postgraduate students. The program is designed to build research skills and to improve the completion rates of Indigenous researchers. The Indigenous Research Methodologies Masterclass is the only Indigenous-designed and evidence-based model contributing to closing the education gap in Australia.

Contributions to theory

Moreton-Robinson's research and writing has focused on the experience of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

since colonial settlement and issues of race and

Whiteness studies Whiteness studies is the study of the structures that produce white privilege, the examination of what whiteness is when analyzed as a race, a culture, and a source of systemic racism, and the exploration of other social phenomena generated by the ...

post-colonialism Postcolonialism is the Critical theory, critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More speci ...

, women's studies and indigenous feminism, indigenous studies, native title law and Aboriginal land rights. Moreton-Robinson, through her series of journal articles which were compiled to create the book ''The White Possessive'', is considered to have made a significant contribution to the field of

Indigenous Studies Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Maori academic, Hemopereki Simon, refers to this collection of articles and the theory derived from them as "The White Possessive Doctrine" in his application of Moreton-Robinson's theory to Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Recognition and awards

* 2020 Fellow,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

. The first Indigenous scholar from outside of the US to be chosen. * 2010 Australian Learning and Teaching Council Award for Excellence in Indigenous Education for the development of The Indigenous Research Methodologies Masterclass

Works

Books

* Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed.). 2016.
Critical Indigenous Studies: Engagements in First World Locations
'. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. . * Aileen Moreton-Robinson. 2015.
The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty
'. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. . * Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Maryrose Casey, Fiona Nicoll (eds.).2008.
Transnational Whiteness Matters
'. Lexington Books. . * Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed.). 2007.
Sovereign Subjects: Indigenous Sovereignty Matters
'. Allen & Unwin. . * Aileen Moreton-Robinson (ed.). 2004.

'.

Aboriginal Studies Press The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

, . * Moreton-Robinson, A., 1999.
Talkin' up to the White Woman: Aboriginal Women and Feminism
'. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.

Other

* 2004. Aileen Moreton-Robinson, "Whiteness, epistemology, and indigenous representation", in

', ed. Aileen Moreton-Robinson,

, . * Moreton-Robinson, A., 2004.
Treaty Talk: Past, Present and Future
'. Ngunnawal Centre, University of Canberra, pp. 18 * Moreton-Robinson, A. 2003. I Still Call Australia Home: Indigenous Belonging and Place in a White Postcolonizing Society in Ahmed, S., Castaneda, C., Fortier, A and Sheller, M., (Eds)
Uprootings/Regroundings: Questions of Home and Migration
'. Berg: Oxford. pp. 23–40 (QUT). . * Moreton-Robinson, A., 2003a, 'Resistance, Recovery and Revitalisation', in M Grossman (ed.), Blacklines: Contemporary Critical Writing by Indigenous Australians, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne * Moreton-Robinson, A., 2000. "Troubling Business: Difference and Whiteness within Feminism". '' Australian Feminist Studies'' * Moreton-Robinson, A., 2001. "A Possessive Investment in Patriarchal Whiteness: nullifying native title?", in P Nursey-Bray and CL Bacchi (eds), ''Left Directions: Is There a Third Way?'', UWA Press, Crawley * Moreton-Robinson, A., 1999. "Unmasking Whiteness: A Goori Jondal's look at Some Duggai Business", '' Queensland Review'' * Moreton-Robinson, A., 1999, 'Wrestling Whiteness, on the Journey to Truth, Justice and Reconciliation', Graduate * Moreton-Robinson, A., 1998. Witnessing Whiteness in the Wake of Wik. Social AlternativesWomen * Moreton-Robinson, A., 1998, 'When the Object Speaks, A Postcolonial Encounter: anthropological representations and Aboriginal women's self‐presentations, ''Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education'', vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 275–289, doi=10.1080/0159630980190302.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreton-Robinson, Aileen Indigenous Australian writers Indigenous Australian feminists Australian feminists Flinders University faculty Indigenous Australian academics Australian women academics Australian feminist writers Australian sociologists Australian women sociologists People from South East Queensland Australian indigenous rights activists Australian human rights activists Women human rights activists Living people 1950s births People from Redland City Indigenous Australian women academics Griffith University faculty Queensland University of Technology faculty RMIT University faculty