Citizenship, Diaspora and Belonging: migrant-Indigenous relations

In this President’s Conversation, we begin discussion on the themes of Citizenship, Diaspora and Belonging. These themes will be explored at the Academy Symposium in November. Join us in Ballarat for even more in-depth discussion of these issues. 

Themes of citizenship, diaspora and belonging are often approached through a dominant white settler framing, and this Conversation brings together scholars who have sought to unsettle and decolonise this framing by centring more diverse migrant perspectives and relations, often in interaction with Indigenous perspectives. We will explore what new understandings of belonging might emerge.

Event details

When: 1-2.30pm AEST, Wednesday 7^th September 2022 Where: Zoom, Webinar

Speakers

Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson

Sophie Loy-Wilson is a senior lecturer in Australian History at the University of Sydney. She researches the history of Chinese-Australian communities in Australia and is currently working on her ARC DECRA, Chinese Business: economic and social survival in white Australia, 1870-1940. She leads the History Panel at the Museum of Chinese Australia (MOCA).

Dr Francesco Ricatti

Dr Francesco Ricatti is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at The Australian National University. He has published extensively of the history of Italian migration to Australia, including his most recent book, Italians in Australia: History, Memory, identity (Palgrave 2018).  His most recent research focuses on decolonial and transcultural approaches to migration and ethnic history – including a special forum in the journal Altreitalie on decolonising Italian migration to Australia (open access). He has also conducted participatory projects and research on the role of art and sport in informal processes of transculturation within superdiverse cities, including the project Youth in the City: La nostra Prato, which was supported by the National Geographic and the Scanlon Foundation.

Twitter: @FrancescoRicat3 Google Scholar ORCID: 0000-0002-0745-7287

Dr Ruth Desouza

Dr Ruth DeSouza is a 2020 RMIT University Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, based in the School of Art. With a background in nursing, Ruth is a highly experienced multidisciplinary educator, researcher and consultant, specialising in cultural safety, racism and birth, and the potential role of digital technologies in health equity. Ruth is the host of the Birthing and Justice podcast. She lives on the Bass Coast of Victoria with her partner and enjoys catching waves, and spending time in the garden.

Twitter: @desouzarn LinkedIn profile

Professor Yin Paradies

Professor Yin Paradies is a Wakaya man and Chair in Race Relations at Deakin University. He conducts research on the health, social and economic effects of racism, anti-racism theory, policy and practice as well as Indigenous knowledges and decolonisation. Yin is an anarchist ecological activist committed to interrupting the devastating impacts of modern societies. He seeks mutuality of becoming and embodied kinship with all life through transformed ways of knowing, being and doing grounded in wisdom, humility, respect, generosity, down-shifted collective sufficiency, voluntary simplicity, frugality, direct participation and radical localisation. He has authored 230 publications that have been cited 15,000 times, is an invited reviewer for 120 journals, and was awarded 60 grants, with a combined worth of $40 million.

Twitter: @ParadiesYin

Chair

Professor Lesley Head

Lesley Head studied at Monash University and worked at the University of Wollongong from 1987-2015. She held an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship at Wollongong from 2009-14. Since 2016 she has been Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne. Lesley’s research has focused on both prehistoric and contemporary human interactions with the Australian environment, drawing on archaeology, physical geography and cultural geography. From this empirical base she has contributed to international debates about relationships between society and nature. Her most recent research has been on the cultural dimensions of environmental issues including climate change. Lesley was King Carl XVI Visiting Professor in Environmental Science in Sweden (2005-06), and was awarded the Vega Medal of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (2015).

Twitter: @ProfLesleyHead