Rate My Professor Lisa Slater

Lisa Slater is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, at the University of Wollongong. She holds the position of Associate Dean (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) for the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry. Her academic qualifications include a PhD and Master of Arts from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Canberra. Slater has served as interim Head of the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry and is affiliated with the Centre for Colonial and Settler Studies.

Slater's research examines settler colonialism, gender, race and place, emotions and settler belonging, Indigenous cultural production and the cultural interface, cultural theory, and cultural studies. Her scholarship challenges key concepts informing policies and politics, such as reconciliation, recognition, wellbeing, community, sustainability, and the environment, with a foregrounding of place in remote, rural, and regional Australia. She investigates Aboriginal cultural festivals as sites where Indigenous stories, knowledge, and histories take precedence, and explores settler emotional responses to Indigeneity, including anxiety arising from encounters with Aboriginal political will. Key publications include the book Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism: Australia, Race and Place (2018, cited 104 times), Indigenous cultural festivals: Evaluating impact on community health and wellbeing (2010, cited 74 times), Kim Scott's 'Benang': An ethics of uncertainty (2005, cited 40 times), A politics of uncertainty: good white people, emotions & political responsibility (2020, cited 28 times), A meditation on discomfort (2017, cited 24 times), 'Wild rivers, wild ideas': emerging political ecologies of Cape York Wild Rivers (2013, cited 24 times), and 'Aurukun, we’re happy, strong people' (2008, cited 24 times). Slater has contributed to University of Wollongong Global Challenges projects, including 'Cultural Burning for Resilience: Youth-led participatory action research to promote Indigenous practices for Country' and 'Place-based cultural revitalisation: Culture futures with the Corroboree frog'.