Dr Geoff Gray

Dr Geoffrey Gray, a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Studies (AIATSIS), Canberra and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland, has published extensively on the history of Australian social anthropology, particularly the tripartite relationship between anthropologists, government and Indigenous (colonised) peoples. He is keenly interested in the ways anthropologists sought to influence governments – commonwealth, state and colonial – in the formulation and implementation of policy, anthropologists’ associations with missions and other agents of colonial rule, and the way in which anthropologists represent the voice of Indigenous peoples in these arenas, for the period 1920-1970. He has published on a wide range of topics including academic freedom, race and racism (whiteness studies), colonialism, citizenship, expert witnesses, Native title, World War II in the South West Pacific and the role of anthropology and individual anthropologists during the war, and the pastoral industry in northern Australia.  He is the editor of Before It's Too Late: Anthropological Reflections, 1950-1970, Sydney (2001);  A Cautious Silence: A Political History of Australian Anthropology, Aboriginal Studies Press (2007), the first comprehensive history of modern Australian anthropology. His most recent book, Abrogating Responsibility: Vesteys, anthropology and the future of Aboriginal people, (Australian Scholarly Publishing, is due for release in October 2010.

His published work has appeared in books and both national and international journals such as Anthropology Today, Histories of Anthropology Annual, Journal of Politics and History, Health and History, Australian Historical Studies, Aboriginal History, Oceania, Journal of Pacific History, Australian Aboriginal Studies and Journal of Australian Studies, He is a contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Contact

geoff.gray@aiatsis.gov.au