Another review for Inside Story, this one allowed me to let off some steam about what is happening in the US right now, what I always worry about for the humanities, and what I think of people who lean into profiteering arguments. Nussbaum reissued her 2010 book Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities … Continue reading On the Humanities, Profit, and Martha Nussbaum
For Australia Day 2025, I wrote this short piece on The Great Counterfactual of Australian History for the Australian Academy of the Humanities' blog. It was a shortened version of a presentation I gave at the Australian Academy of Humanities' 2024 annual symposium - a recording of that, with Prof. Megan Davis, Prof. Mark McKenna, … Continue reading The Great Counterfactual of Australian History
The AHA's journal History Australia (where I was editor for 5.5 years) published a wonderful forum on the future of history in late 2024 (it starts with this article). My small contribution was to reflect on the shitshow of last year's Spill n Fill at ACU - and lessons about what to nurture most in … Continue reading Reflections on the Hunger Games
Last year I was delighted to become a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, largely because I worked there in the secretariat about 18 years ago or so....And also because I hugely admire their advocacy work for our sector. My first (wonderful) task for them was interview a more senior fellow of my choice. … Continue reading A Fellow’s Fellow
Another review for wonderful Inside Story. Here I am reviewing a new book on Gauguin that coincides with a new show on Gauguin, controversies and all. "Nicholas Thomas’s latest book offers a provocative perspective on two of Paul Gauguin’s most abiding themes — women and Polynesia." To continue reading, head on over to the piece … Continue reading Reframing Gauguin
OPENBOOK at the State Library of NSW asked me to write an essay about writing Bennelong & Phillip. It was fun to do; I also wrote this in reverse, as I wrote the book, reflecting on what the method gave me, how it felt for the book to come out in the same month as … Continue reading On Writing Bennelong & Phillip
My first chat (short!) about my new project, commencing next year: the secret life of an eighteenth-century spy mistress. I explain how and I why I became intrigued by her role in imperial world history in this segment of SBS Dutch Radio. [Love the note on the SBS page about my reference to the character … Continue reading Marguerite Wolters
Here's a short commissioned piece for the North American Conference for British Studies - a group of us were asked to respond to this piece about the crisis of British Studies in North America. Australian humanities scholars have experienced and analysed crises in their fields for somewhat longer than others, so I was pleased to … Continue reading British Studies and the Humanities in Australia
Australia Day comes round again, with the same debates about the significance of 26 Jan. 1788. I wrote about this fateful summer in my latest book. The relevant part is here, if you care to read a narrative, told in reverse, of the three key groups meeting each other then (the Yiyura, the French, and … Continue reading The summer of 1788
In October 2023, I had the great honour of delivering the Annual Greg Dening Memorial Lecture in Melbourne. It does talk about my new book a bit but also talks about Greg Dening, his influence on me, and my growth as a historian (and also contemporary ACU shenanigans, which are ongoing). It's one of the … Continue reading Greg, Arthur, Bennelong, and Me
Kate Fullagar 