Stephen Muecke BA (Hons, Monash), Mes.L (Paris), PhD (UWA) FAHA is Emeritus Professor of Ethnography at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, Australia and Adjunct Professor at the Nulungu Institute, University of Notre Dame, Broome. He studied

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

, completing his PhD on storytelling techniques among

Aboriginal people 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 ...

Broome, Western Australia Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru people, is a coastal pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. In the the population was recorded as 14,660. It is the largest town in the Kimberley reg ...

Publications

Muecke's PhD research resulted in ''Gularabulu: Stories from the West Kimberley'',

Fremantle Arts Centre Press Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing Western Australian writers and writin ...

, 1983. The storyteller was Indigenous leader

Paddy Roe Paddy Roe (1912 (estimate) – 2001), also known as Lulu was an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal Elder of the Goolarabooloo tribe (also spelt ''Gularabulu'') of the Nyigina people, Nyigina (also spelt ''Nyikina'', and listed as ''Njikena'' by N ...

(OAM). They later collaborated on the prizewinning ''Reading the Country: Introduction to Nomadology'' (Fremantle, 1984) with landscape painter Krim Benterrak, a postmodern ethnography of Roebuck Plains, near Broome. A recent book with Paddy Roe is ''The Children's Country: The Creation of a Goolarabooloo Future in North-West Australia ''(2020). In 1993 Muecke became the first Professor of Cultural Studies in Australia, at the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

, where he worked from 1985 to 2009. Muecke is a significant proponent of fictocritical writing, the travelogue ''No Road (bitumen all the way)'' (Fremantle 1997) being the first Australian monograph in this genre; a later collection is ''Joe in the Andamans and Other Fictocritical Stories'' (Local Consumption, 2008). Both books were shortlisted for major literary prizes. With Adam Shoemaker he edited the writings of

David Unaipon David Ngunaitponi (28 September 1872 – 7 February 1967), known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Ngarrindjeri people. He was a preacher, inventor and author. Unaipon's contribution to Australian society helped to bre ...

, ''Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines'' (

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

, 2001), and co-edited with Jack Davis and Mudrooroo Narogin the first anthology of Black Australian writings, ''Paperbark: A Collection of Black Australian Writings'', ( University of QLD Press, 1990). He identified that the book '' Myths and Legends of the Aborigines'' by

William Ramsay Smith William Ramsay Smith (27 November 1859 – 28 September 1937), frequently referred to as Ramsay Smith, was a Scottish physician, educator, naturalist, anthropologist and civil servant, who worked in South Australia after moving there at the ag ...

was actually mainly written by Unaipon. Again with Adam Shoemaker, he co-authored a book about

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 Islands ...

entitled (2002), which was published in the French

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

“

Découvertes Gallimard (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an editorial collection of illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in pocket format. The books are concise introductions to pa ...

”. The English edition, ''Aboriginal Australians: First Nations of an Ancient Continent'', appeared in 2004, published by

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

. Cultural Studies research on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

from 2000 has led to ''Cultures of Trade'', edited with Devleena Ghosh (Cambridge Scholars, 2007), and a collaborative work with the photographer

Max Pam Max Pam (born 1949) is an Australian photographer. Pam's first survey exhibition was held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1986, followed by a mid-career retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1991, his largest sol ...

, ''Contingency in Madagascar'' (Intellect, 2012).

Personal life

Muecke is a descendant of pioneering Germans in the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley ( Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destinati ...

and Adelaide, and he is the father of three sons, Joe, Hugo and Sebastian with his partner Prudence Black. They live in Adelaide and Sydney, Australia. His sister, Frances Muecke, is a retired classicist at the University of Sydney.

References

External links

*https://hal.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/people/stephen-muecke/ *http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/ras/article/download/205/242 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101952/http://berkelouw.com.au/browse/all/by/Stephen-Muecke {{DEFAULTSORT:Muecke, Stephen Linguists from Australia Living people University of New South Wales faculty University of Technology Sydney faculty People from Sydney Year of birth missing (living people)