Reframing Indigenous Biography

This book explores the history, practice, and possibilities of writing about the lives of First Nations’ peoples in Australia as well as Aotearoa New Zealand, North America, and the Pacific.

This interdisciplinary collection recognises the limitations of Western biographical conventions for writing Indigenous long‑ and short‑form biographies. Through a series of diverse life stories of both historical and contemporary First Nations figures, this book investigates innovative ways to ameliorate the challenges we face in recovering the stories of Indigenous people and reimagining their lives in productive new ways. Many of the chapters in this collection are deeply reflective, aiming not just to relate the life story of an individual but also to reflect on the archival, intellectual, and emotional journeys that biographers undertake in researching Indigenous biography.

This volume will be of value to scholars and students interested in Indigenous Studies, biography, history, literature, creative writing, archaeology, and colonial and postcolonial studies.

Shino Konishi FAHA is a Yawuru historian and Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous Studies and School of Humanities at the University of Western Australia. She is the author of The Aboriginal Male in the Enlightenment World (2012) and The Lives and Legacies of a Carceral Island: A Biographical History of Wadjemup/Rottnest Island (2023) with Ann Curthoys and Alexandra Ludewig.

Malcolm Allbrook is Managing Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Editor of the Australian Journal of Biography and History, and Senior Lecturer in history at the Australian National University. His most recent book is Family History and Historians in Australia and New Zealand (with Sophie Scott‑Brown, 2021).

Tom Griffiths AO FAHA is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University. His books and essays have won prizes in literature, history, science, politics, and journalism and include Hunters and Collectors (1996) and The Art of Time Travel: Historians and their Craft (2016).