InASA and Journal of Australian Studies are very pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 Barrett Prize.

Background

Dr John Barrett (1931-1997) established this award by way of a bequest to La Trobe University in 1987. Dr John Barrett was a lecturer and reader at La Trobe University from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. His research specialisation was 20th century Australian history, particularly national involvement in the world wars. Dr Barrett was a member of the Journal of Australian Studies editorial board from 1979-1990.

The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is awarded annually for the best written article published by the Journal of Australian Studies (JAS). The award is administered by the International Australian Studies Association.

Two prizes are awarded each year:

  • the best article by a scholar (open)
  • the best article by a scholar (post-graduate).

The award comprises a cash prize of AUD$500 plus a two year membership to InASA (including a subscription to the Journal of Australian Studies).

The prize committee for the 2016 awards comprised:

  • Dr Kiera Lindsey (University of South Australia)
  • Professor Kate Darian-Smith (University of Melbourne)
  • Professor Gillian Cowlishaw (University of Sydney)

WINNERS

The 2016 winners of the John Barrett Award: Open Category are Alison Bartlett and Margaret Henderson, for their article, “‘What is a Feminist Object?’ Feminist Material Culture and the Making of the Activist Object”, Journal of Australian Studies, 40.2 (June) (2016): 156-171.

“Bartlett and Henderson take up an ambitious analytic project. While focussing on defining feminist objects, this is more than an exercise in categorisation. Drawing on Baudrillard, Susan Pearce and others the essay provides an original contribution to museology in a number of ways. They provide a compelling argument and illustrations of the essentially political nature of feminism and thus the shifting dynamic of collections of feminist objects.”

The 2016 winner of the John Barrett Award: Postgraduate Category is Petra Mossman, for “Encountering Feminist Things: Generations, Interpretations and Encountering Adelaide’s ‘scrap heap’”, Journal of Australian Studies, 40.2 (June) (2016): 172-189.

“Petra Mosmann’s article offers a rich meditation on relationships between feminist objects, institutional responses and feminist scholarship, highlighting the changing significance of objects over time and generations. Objects that meant a great deal to her activist forebears are unfamiliar to the author who is tasked with constructing a feminist archive from the scattered ‘scrap heap’ of second wave feminist objects — banners, badges, posters and papers. She reflects upon the way that ‘touching history’ can produce an intimate encounter that not only evokes both memory and futurity but also provides opportunity for the ‘re/making of feminist identity’.”

The judging panel identified one essay for High Commendation in the Postgraduate category:

Nick Irving’s “Answering the ‘international Call’: Contextualising Sydney Anti-Nuclear and Anti-War Activism in the 1960s”, Journal of Australian Studies, 40.3 (September) 2016: 291-301.

“Nick Irving makes a new contribution to scholarship concerned with ‘peace movements’ and anti-war protests in twentieth-century Australia. While it has been previously assumed Australian activist traditions were exclusively influenced by the radical forms of USA New Left responses to the Vietnam War, Irving demonstrates how Australian movements also drew inspiration from non-violent and legal forms of activism from the British Campaigns for Nuclear Disarmament.”

Background

Dr John Barrett (1931-1997) established this award by way of a bequest to La Trobe University in 1987. Dr John Barrett was a lecturer and reader at La Trobe University from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. His research specialisation was 20th century Australian history, particularly national involvement in the world wars. Dr Barrett was a member of the Journal of Australian Studies editorial board from 1979-1990.

The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is awarded annually for the best written article published by the Journal of Australian Studies (JAS). The award is administered by the International Australian Studies Association.

Two prizes are awarded each year:

  • the best article by a scholar (open)
  • the best article by a scholar (post-graduate).

The award comprises a cash prize of AUD$500 plus a two year membership to InASA (including a subscription to the Journal of Australian Studies).