Laura Rademaker is an historian and author who lives and works on Ngunnawal country at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her writings explore themes land and language, spirit and gender. Her research covers histories of race and Indigeneity, religion and spirituality, gender and feminism in Australia.
With a passion for oral history and for learning histories as communities themselves tell them, her research has taken her to Anindilyakwa Country on Groote Eylandt and the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory. Her interdisciplinary historical research in partnership with Aboriginal communities has made important contributions to Australian intellectual life, recognised by national bodies and published in international forums. Her first book, Found in Translation: Many Meanings on a North Australian Mission (University of Hawai’i Press) appeared in 2018 and was awarded the Australian Historical Associations Hancock Prize. It was also shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Australian History Prize. It is the first study of the history of Aboriginal languages in Australia. In an innovative and fresh approach to mission history in Australia, it draws on interdisciplinary perspectives and oral histories to reveal cross-cultural engagements and Aboriginal agency. |