Aileen Moreton-Robinson facts for kids

Aileen Moreton-Robinson is an Aboriginal Australian professor, writer, and activist. She works hard to make things fairer for Indigenous people. She is a Goenpul woman from the Quandamooka people, who come from Minjerribah (also known as North Stradbroke Island) in Queensland.

She earned her PhD degree from Griffith University in 1998. Her important research paper, called a thesis, was titled Talkin' up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism in Australia. This thesis was later published as a book in 1999. It was even considered for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and the Stanner Award. A special 20th Anniversary Edition of the book was released in 2020.

In 2015, she wrote another book called The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. This book won a prize from the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) in 2016.

Professor Moreton-Robinson was the first Aboriginal person to teach women's studies at a major university in Australia. She was also Australia's first Indigenous Distinguished Professor. She was the first Indigenous scholar from outside the United States to become an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has taught at Flinders University, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, and RMIT. She used to lead the National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network. She was also the President of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium (NATSIHEC). Today, she is a Professor of Indigenous Research at the University of Queensland. She also works at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures. This is Australia's first research center led by Indigenous people.

Early Life and Education

Aileen Moreton-Robinson belongs to the Goenpul (Koenpul) people. They are part of the Quandamooka nation from Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia. When she was in high school, Aileen was a very good student. She was offered a scholarship to a Catholic boarding school, but she chose not to go.

During high school, she experienced unfair treatment because she was Aboriginal. This led her to not finish high school. Instead, she became involved in groups working for Aboriginal land rights and human rights for Aboriginal people.

Later, Aileen Moreton-Robinson was accepted into the Australian National University. At that time, she was the only Aboriginal student there. She earned a top-level honours degree in sociology from the Australian National University. She then completed her doctorate degree at Griffith University. Her doctoral research was titled Talkin' up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism in Australia. This research was published as a book in 1999. It was recognized for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and the Stanner Award.

Career and Contributions

Professor Moreton-Robinson has taught Indigenous studies at Griffith University in Brisbane. She also taught Women's Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide. She was a special research fellow at the Australian Studies Centre, University of Queensland. From 2006 to 2019, she worked at Queensland University of Technology. There, she became a Professor of Indigenous Studies. She also became the Dean of Indigenous Research and Engagement. On June 17, 2016, she was the first Aboriginal Professor to be given the title of Distinguished Professor at that university. She has also been a Professor of Indigenous Research at RMIT in Melbourne. She was an Indigenous Elder Scholar in Residence there.

Professor Moreton-Robinson leads the National Indigenous Research Knowledges Network. She was also a member of the Native American Indigenous Studies Association. She is an executive member of National, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education. She is also the President of the Australian Critical Whiteness Studies Association. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She has served on many different boards and committees. She also started and edits the International eJournal of Critical Indigenous Studies.

She has been invited to speak at many universities around the world. These include the University of Washington, University of California Los Angeles, Oberlin College, University of London, University of Geneva, University of Illinois, Dartmouth, Wesleyan University, University of Hawaii, University of Michigan, and the University of Alberta.

Professor Moreton-Robinson created a special program for Indigenous postgraduate students. This program helps them build their research skills. It also helps more Indigenous researchers complete their studies. This program, called the Indigenous Research Methodologies Masterclass, is the only one of its kind. It was designed by Indigenous people and helps close the education gap in Australia.

Ideas and Research

Professor Moreton-Robinson's research and writing focus on the experiences of Aboriginal Australians. She studies how life has changed for them since colonial settlement. Her work also looks at topics like race, whiteness, post-colonialism, women's studies, and indigenous feminism. She also studies native title law and Aboriginal land rights.

Her book The White Possessive is a collection of her journal articles. This book is seen as a very important contribution to the field of Indigenous studies. A Maori academic, Hemopereki Simon, even calls her ideas "The White Possessive Doctrine." He uses her ideas to understand things in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Awards and Recognition

• 2024: Became a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
• 2020: Became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the first Indigenous scholar from outside the US to receive this honor.
• 2010: Received the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Award for Excellence in Indigenous Education. This was for creating the Indigenous Research Methodologies Masterclass.

Books and Other Writings

Books

• Aileen Moreton-Robinson (editor). 2016. Critical Indigenous Studies: Engagements in First World Locations. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN: 978-0-8165-3273-5.
• Aileen Moreton-Robinson. 2015. The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 978-1-8597-3629-6.
• Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Maryrose Casey, Fiona Nicoll (editors). 2008. Transnational Whiteness Matters. Lexington Books. ISBN: 978-0-7391-3221-0.
• Aileen Moreton-Robinson (editor). 2007. Sovereign Subjects: Indigenous Sovereignty Matters. Allen & Unwin. ISBN: 978-1-7411-5701-7.
• Aileen Moreton-Robinson (editor). 2004. Whitening Race: Essays In Social And Cultural Criticism. Aboriginal Studies Press, ISBN: 978-0-8557-5465-5.
• Moreton-Robinson, A. 1999. Talkin' up to the White Woman: Aboriginal Women and Feminism. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.

Other Writings

• 2004. Aileen Moreton-Robinson, "Whiteness, epistemology, and indigenous representation", in Whitening Race: Essays In Social And Cultural Criticism, edited by Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Aboriginal Studies Press, ISBN: 978-0-8557-5465-5.
• Moreton-Robinson, A. 2004. Treaty Talk: Past, Present and Future. Ngunnawal Centre, University of Canberra, pages 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., (Editors) Uprootings/Regroundings: Questions of Home and Migration. Berg: Oxford. pages 23–40. ISBN: 978-0-8166-9214-9.
• Moreton-Robinson, A. 2003. 'Resistance, Recovery and Revitalisation', in M Grossman (editor), 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 (editors), 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, volume 19, number 3, pages 275–289, doi=10.1080/0159630980190302.