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| Aboriginal Studies Press | |
|---|---|
| Name | Aboriginal Studies Press |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Country | Australia |
| Headquarters | Canberra |
| Publications | Books, journals, reports |
| Topics | Indigenous Australian studies, Aboriginal history, Torres Strait Islander culture |
Aboriginal Studies Press is an Australian publishing house established to produce scholarly and community-focused works on Aboriginal Australians, Torres Strait Islanders, and related Indigenous topics. It has published research, memoirs, poetry, legal analysis, and children's books that intersect with institutions such as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the National Library of Australia, the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, and community organisations across New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, and South Australia.
Aboriginal Studies Press was created in the context of 1970s cultural policy debates involving the Whitlam Government, the establishment of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, and activism by organisations including the Aborigines Advancement League, the Aboriginal Legal Service, the National Aboriginal Conference, and leaders like Vincent Lingiari, Charles Perkins, and Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Early publishing responded to inquiries from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, scholarship by figures such as W. E. H. Stanner, Daisy Bates, and Mick Dodson, and artistic movements associated with the Papunya Tula Artists and writers linked to the Australian Writers' Guild. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the press worked with archives at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, legal teams at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and academics from the University of Sydney and University of New England to document land rights developments including the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and the Mabo v Queensland (No 2) decision.
The press's mission foregrounds Indigenous voices and evidence-based scholarship engaging with figures such as Eddie Mabo, Marcia Langton, Henry Reynolds, Patricia Maynard, and institutions including the Lowitja Institute and the Australian Institute of Criminology. Editorial priorities include history, law, language revival, and art histories tied to the Stolen Generations, the Native Title Act 1993, the Bringing Them Home report, and community cultural heritage projects in places like Kintore, Kaiadilt, and Ramingining. The editorial board has collaborated with academics from the University of Queensland, Griffith University, Monash University, and community elders such as Michael Mansell and Mick Gooda.
Notable works and series encompass scholarship and creative writing involving authors linked to the Ngarinyin, Yolngu, Yamatji, Wiradjuri, and Noongar nations, and address events including the Wave Hill walk-off, the 1967 Australian referendum, and the High Court of Australia jurisprudence on native title. Signature titles include legal analyses of Mabo v Queensland (No 2), historical studies by Henry Reynolds on frontier conflict, anthologies of poetry by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Ali Cobby Eckermann, language materials like dictionaries for Gamilaraay and Kala Lagaw Ya, and art books documenting movements such as Papunya Tula and exhibitions at the National Gallery of Australia. Series have featured collaborations with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and companion volumes to projects at the Australian Parliament and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Authors and collaborators have ranged from elders and community historians like David Unaipon (posthumous editions), Lowitja O'Donoghue, and Ken Wyatt to scholars including Michele Grossman, Peter Sutton, Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Professor Marcia Langton and poets such as Judith Wright. Collaborations have also included lawyers from the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, anthropologists affiliated with the Australian National University, curators from the National Museum of Australia, and activists from groups like Blacktown Indigenous Youth Services.
Distribution networks involve partnerships with the National Library of Australia, state libraries in Victoria and Tasmania, independent booksellers such as Readings and Gleebooks, academic presses at universities including the University of New South Wales Press, and international distributors linking to collections at the British Museum, the National Museum of Denmark, and university libraries in Oxford and Harvard University. Collaborative projects have been funded or supported by bodies such as the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Research Council, and philanthropic partners including the Myer Foundation.
Publications have won or been shortlisted for prizes including the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, the Miles Franklin Award, the Indigenous Book of the Year acknowledgements, and recognition from the Australian Book Industry Awards, as well as commendations from the Human Rights Commission and cultural honors tied to the Order of Australia for contributing authors and editors.
Controversies have arisen over debates on cultural appropriation involving works connected to Papunya Tula Artists and disputed authorship claims in community histories, tensions with institutions such as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies over repatriation and archival access, and critical responses from scholars like Geoffrey Blainey and activists involved in the Stolen Generations debate. Discussions have also engaged with policy shifts under administrations including the Howard Government and critiques in media outlets such as The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald regarding editorial decisions, representation, and the handling of sensitive oral histories.
Category:Publishing companies of Australia Category:Indigenous Australian literature