The Politics of Identity

Bronwyn Carlson is a senior lecturer in the Indigenous Studies Unit, Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts at the University of Wollongong. Bronwyn’s research focuses on a number of interrelated themes including the politics of Indigenous identity, with particular interest in what it means to identify as an Aboriginal person today focusing on what constitutes and is constitutive of Aboriginal identity in contemporary times. She was the first Indigenous person at UOW to be granted an Australian Research Council, Indigenous Discovery Grant. Her research project focuses is on how Aboriginal people represent and negotiate identity issues in the online space, more specifically in Facebook. Bronwyn is also one of the conveners of The Forum for Indigenous Research Excellence (FIRE) at the University of Wollongong.

Michelle Harris is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Northern Arizona University. Her scholarly writings have focused on several areas including acculturation and stress among immigrant Americans, how racial discrimination affects the mental health and well-being of Blacks in the United States, and the effects of sociodemographic factors and stress on the mental health of Jamaican adults. She has also published in the area of critical race theory. Dr Harris envisioned and convened the first Working Group on Emergent Identities (2009) when her research interest shifted to issues of identity construction and performance among Indigenous Peoples around the world. This edited volume is the product of scholarly conversations and papers developed and presented over the life of the Working Group.

Martin Nakata is the Director of Nura Gili at the University of New South Wales. He also holds the title of Chair of Australian Indigenous Education. He is the first Torres Strait Islander to receive a PhD in Australia. His mother is an Indigenous person from the Torres Strait Islands, and his dad was born in Kushimoto-cho, Japan. His current research work focuses on higher education curriculum areas, the academic preparation of Indigenous students, and Indigenous knowledge and library services. He has presented eighteen plenary and keynote addresses at national as well as international conferences in ten countries, and published various pieces on Indigenous Australians and education in various academic journals and books in Australia and abroad. His book, Disciplining the Savages – Savaging the Disciplines, was published in 2007 by Aboriginal Studies Press.