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In her latest book Women in their thirties in Japan, Kaori Okano FAHA reveals the ongoing consequences for women who were entering adulthood during the economic slump of the 1990s. Okano’s longitudinal study brings to light the complex interactions between gender and economics and how they impact ordinary people’s lives.
Election to the Academy is the highest honour in the humanities in Australia, recognising scholars whose work has shaped how we understand ourselves, our histories and cultures, and our place in the world.
Fifteen Fellows received funding for new humanities research projects under the Australian Research Council 2026 Discovery Projects, with topics ranging from the ethics of informal sperm donation to the heritage significance of Australia’s oldest archaeological site, Madjedbebe.
Australian historian Marilyn Lake AO FAHA FASSA FBA reviews former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s latest book, Australia: A History.
Archaeologists studying the earliest art and art historians committed to the art of Europe of the last 300 years seem to be talking at cross-purposes. Is it possible to go back to some first principles and understand how and why people with different interest use the same word “art”?
Iain Davidson FAHA makes the case for understanding the ways humans create the stories that make art recognisable and meaningful in his new book Art or Scribbles? In the Eye of the Beholder: The Evolutionary Emergence of Visual Communication.
Operatic narratives traditionally portray women as victims of murder and/or sexual violence. Dr Felicity Wilcox, who will deliver the keynote address at the 2025 Annual Academy Symposium, The Humanities and Creative Practice, is challenging the status quo in opera through artistic practice that is as political in its subject matter as it is in its ways of doing.
Spectacularly popular but persuasively criticised, Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu (2014) provokes a question: how do we navigate the gap between popular taste and scholarly appraisal? Professor Tim Rowse FAHA FASSA notes the Academy’s decision to recognise ‘Indigenous Studies’ as a Section makes this question all the more pertinent.
From Watergate to Media Watch, journalism can protect citizens from political “spin”, support debate and critical thinking. Expert in media & culture, Julianne Schultz AM FAHA, explains why politically independent journalism remains crucial to sustaining open societies with well-informed populations through enhancing accountability of political elites.
Children’s play and imagination is an important part of Australia’s cultural landscape and has the potential to offer wide-ranging and original contributions to our understanding of Australian history. Dr Emily Gallagher, a historian and recipient of a 2025 AAH Publication Subsidy, writes about her new book Playtime: A History of Australian Childhood.
Disregard of, even disdain for, human rights and international law is evident all around us. Philosopher Raimond Gaita FAHA considers the discourse of human rights, arguing that we need a richer ethical vocabulary grounded in obligations to human need.
The 2025 Publication Subsidy will assist the publication of new research in the humanities from eight early career scholars, with topics including a history of childhood imagination in Australia, nuclear colonialism and Aboriginal resistance, and the experiences of women on trial in colonial Australia.
The stories of South Asian and Chinese ayahs and amahs – nursemaids and domestic servants – reveal crucial details about women’s domestic labour, race and class in Australia’s settler colonial history. Victoria Haskins FAHA FRSN, Professor of Australian history at the University of Newcastle, wonders: why do these stories remain so elusive?
The Australian Academy of the Humanities recognises Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of this land, and their continuous connection to country, community and culture.