National Conference On Racism In A Global Context Invited Speakers - Biographies
(Biographical material appearing on this page has been supplied by speakers)
Mr Harry Allen - Hip-Hop Activist & Media Assassin
 Harry Allen, Hip-Hop Activist & Media Assassin, writes about race, politics, and culture for Vibe, The Source, The Village Voice, and other publications, and has been doing so for over twenty years.
As an expert covering hip-hop culture, he has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, on National Public Radio, MTV, VH-1, CNN, the BBC, and other information channels, and is also well known for his association with the seminal band Public Enemy.
Allen serves as an advisor to the Archives of African American Music and Culture at Indiana University, and as the volunteer host / producer of the weekly WBAINY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION.
Presently, he is working on a book about architectural design in computer and video games; research which has already been recognized by the Graham Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Architectural League of New York, and the MacDowell Colony.
Harry Allen lives in Harlem, NY.
At NCRGC Mr Allen 's presentation will be titled "Is There Media in the Racism?".
 Martha Augoustinos is Professor of Psychology at The University of Adelaide. Her major research interests are in the areas of social psychology and discourse. Most of her research in the last ten years has focused specifically on the peculiarities of racist discourse in Australia and has involved mapping the trajectory of the 'race debate' that has dominated Australian public discourse during the last decade. Her work has included an analysis of the ways in which Indigenous Australians are constructed in ordinary talk by university students; an analysis of argumentative forms, discursive practices and rhetorical devices mobilised in everyday public reasoning on the appropriateness of apologising to the Stolen Generations; constructions and representations of reconciliation; the analysis of political rhetoric on debates over Native Title and Wik; and the categorisation and representation of asylum seekers in public discourse and everyday conversation.
Martha is co-editor with Kate Reynolds (Australian National University) of "Understanding Prejudice, Racism and Social Conflict" (Sage, 2001) and co-author of "Social Cognition: An Integrated Introduction" (2nd ed, Sage, 2006) with Iain Walker and Ngaire Donaghue (Murdoch University).
At NCRGC Professor Augoustinos's presentation will be titled "The language of 'race' and prejudice".
 Tom Calma is an Aboriginal elder from the Kungarakan tribal group and the Iwaidja tribal group whose traditional lands are south west of Darwin and on the Coburg Peninsula in Northern Territory, respectively. He has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level and worked in the public sector for over 30 years.
Mr Calma has broad experience in public administration, particularly in Indigenous education programs and in developing employment and training programs for Indigenous people from both a national policy and program perspective.
He served three terms as a Director of Aboriginal Hostels Ltd and as a Company Director for a private tourism and hospitality venture in the Northern Territory.
Until his appointment as Commissioner, on 12 July 2004 for five years, Mr Calma managed the Community Development and Education Branch at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) where he worked with remote Indigenous communities to implement community-based and driven empowerment and participation programs. In 2003, he was Senior Adviser Indigenous Affairs to the Minister of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
From 1995-2002, he worked as a senior Australian diplomat in India and Vietnam representing Australia's interests in education and training. During his time in India, he also oversaw the management of the Australian international education offices in Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. He moved to Canberra in 1992 and undertook various assignments, including Executive Director to the Secretary and Senior Executive of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).
In the early 1980s, Mr Calma and Indigenous colleagues established the Aboriginal Task Force (ATF) at the Darwin Community College (which later became the Darwin Institute of Technology ), which provided second chance education programs for Indigenous people. He became a senior lecturer and head of the ATF for six years.
Mr Calma has also been appointed as acting Race Discrimination Commissioner for a one-year term.
Commissioner Calma is a White Ribbon Day Ambassador for 2005 and 2006. White Ribbon Day is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Commissioner Calma is also a national patron of Wakakirri National Story Festival.
Patrick Dodson is a Yawuru man from Broome in Western Australia. He is Chairman of the Lingiari Foundation (an Indigenous non government advocacy and research Foundation), and Chairperson of the Kimberley Development Commission (established to work towards balanced economic and social development of the Kimberley region).
Pat appears in Liyarn Ngarn, and will be present at the WA launch of the film on Friday 9 November.
At NCRGC Mr Dodson's presentation will be titled "'WHAT NOW?' Moving beyond shame, guilt and the right to rule".
 Pat Dudgeon is from the Gregorys family of the Bardi people in the Kimberley. Pat is a psychologist and is well known for her role in higher education. She was appointed as Head of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University in 1990 and led the organization through significant growth and change. Since then it has maintained national recognition and leadership as an important provider in Indigenous higher education. Under her leadership Curtin was the first University to adopt a Statement of Reconciliation, and developed a University wide policy on Indigenous Governance. The establishment of the Curtin Indigenous Research Centre (CIRC) in 1997 was one of many significant projects, grants and awards achieved during her time as Head. Pat is about to submit her doctorate entitled Mothers of Sin: Indigenous Women's Perspectives of their Identity and Sexuality.
As well as leadership in Indigenous higher education, Pat has also had significant involvement in psychology and Indigenous issues for many years. She was the first convener of the Australian Psychological Society Interest Group, Aboriginal Issues, Aboriginal People and Psychology and has been instrumental in convening many conferences and discussion groups at National levels to ensure that Indigenous issues are part of the agenda in the discipline. She has numerous publications in this area and is considered one of the 'founding' people in the area of Indigenous people and psychology.
Pat is actively involved with the Aboriginal community and has a commitment to social justice for Indigenous people. She has participated in numerous community service activities, was a member of the Parole Board of Western Australia for several years, and was a psychologist in the defence forces. Pat has undertaken many projects and has publications in the areas of psychology, education and women's issues. Currently, she is a private consultant and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia. Pat has strong community networks and is a respected facilitator in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous contexts. In a recent successful initiative, she played a key role in organizing and delivery of a three day state wide summit of Indigenous professionals and community people involved in child protection issues - Gathering Towards Making Safer and Healthier Communities (14th to 16th August 2007). This initiative was jointly sponsored by Curtin University, the Ministerial Advisory Council for Child Protection. Pat was also recently involved with the 2007 Western Australian Indigenous Women's Gathering, and is currently convenor and speaker at the planned Western Australian Indigenous Healing Journeys - Dimensions of Working Through Trauma Conference.
At NCRGC Associate Professor Dudgeon will chair a panel titled "Why do Indigenous Women continue to be invisible?".
Robert Eggington has worked in Nyoongah community based organisations for the past 25 years.
During this period of time he has had extensive experience in a wide range of varying employment interests such as Health, Prison work, Child Care, Arts and Cultural advocacy, and he has been pivotal in addressing issues such as Intellectual Property Rights and Cultural ownership issues.
He has instigated both National and international campaigns regarding these issues, the most noted being the Marlo Morgan Down Under Campaign, the Elizabeth Durack Campaign, and the Colin Johnson Campaign.
Robert was the founder and co-ordinator of the very successful Kyana festival gatherings run in the early 90's.
Robert established the non-commercial Kyana gallery and keeping rooms situated at the old Clontarf building. This gallery maintains Nyoongah cultural material with integrity and dignity.
The gallery hosts keeping rooms where sacred and significant Aboriginal materials are maintained as part of the very important repatriation roles of the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation.
This gallery promotes the cultural and spiritual revival of maintaining cultural traditions through the Kootamiarra Quab Aboriginal Women's Healing Program.
At NCRGC Mr Eggington will deliver a joint presentation titled "Racism and Cultural Dispossession in South Western Australia : A Noongah Perspective".
Selina Eggington is the co-ordinator of the Kootamiarra Quab (Healthy-Strong) Aboriginal Women's Healing Program based at the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation.
This program utilises cultural and spiritual knowledge to strengthen the lives of women who have suffered experiences of child sexual abuse and other related violence.
Selina has worked in a number of community-based welfare agencies such as the Mercy Family Services, Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service, co-ordinated the Aboriginal NOW (New Opportunities for Women) Program at Balga TAFE, was responsible for the running of a youth hostel for young Aboriginal female students, co-ordinated and chaired several Aboriginal and Parent Support Programs in several local primary and high schools and received a Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Arts from the Curtin University.
Selina is a proud mother of three children and one grandchild.
At NCRGC Ms Eggington will deliver a joint presentation titled "Racism and Cultural Dispossession in South Western Australia : A Noongah Perspective".
 David Freeman is Director of the Edmund Rice Institute for Social Justice, Fremantle. Social justice has been the main focus of David's work over three decades, providing the motivation and unifying focus across social and political activism, study, teaching and writing, and paid and volunteer work.
David has taught Sociology and/or Political Science at Murdoch, Melbourne and La Trobe Universities and Ormond College, and has been a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. He has worked in, or consulted to, the government, community, church, youth and trade union sectors, and been deputy director of an applied ethics centre. Volunteer commitments have included being secretary of an Amnesty International branch, working at an Indochinese refugee hostel and a shelter for homeless men, being a member of the Aboriginal Treaty Support Group, and involvement from 1976 in campaigns to build support for a UN-supervised act of self-determination by the East Timorese (as occurred in 1999).
David has over 90 publications, the majority pertaining to social justice. His work has been used in every continent, and translated into several languages. Most recently, he has a chapter in a forthcoming Greek-language book on contemporary developments in democratic concepts and practice.
At NCRGC, Mr Freeman's presentation will be titled "Old themes, new conundrums: Indigenous Australian self-determination, 'human capital' and state intervention".
 Appointed Commissioner for Equal Opportunity in June 2003. A former high school science teacher and politician, Commissioner Henderson practiced law for five years after retiring from the WA Parliament. A Minister in the WA Government for five years Commissioner Henderson held the portfolio of Industrial Relations, Consumer Affairs, Housing and Construction.
Commissioner Henderson is passionate to ensure that the Western Australian Act works effectively in practice, promoting equal opportunity and eliminating discriminatory practices.
 Born in Scotland, Graham Hornel has been a migrant to both Australia and the USA - and he is a citizen of both countries.
A graduate of Britain's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, Graham was an Infantry Officer with the 6th Gurkha Rifles for six years, serving mainly in South East Asia and in Hong Kong. He first migrated to Western Australia in 1970 to join his parents who had retired there following their twelve years of residence in India.
Graham has maintained 40-years of close connections with East and South East Asia and with the Indian Ocean Region. His three positions with top international tourism industry bodies have enhanced these links. From 1977 until the end of 2000, Graham was an executive with the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) in Hong Kong; the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in San Francisco, California, USA and was the Foundation CEO and Secretary General of the then Perth, Western Australia-based Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation (IOTO) - a position he held for six years, prior to studying Migration Law.
Questbay Migration Services (QMS) of City Beach, WA is owned and managed by Graham - and over the five years that he has practised as a Registered Migration Agent, QMS has specialised in Employer Sponsored Visas.
A WA State Committee Member of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA), Graham donates probono migration services to Perth-based community groups which support Humanitarian Migrants.
At NCRGC, Mr Hornel's presentation will be titled "Exploitation and Racism : The Dark Side of Australia's Skills Shortage".
 Dr Carmen Lawrence's parliamentary career began in State politics in 1986 when she won for the Australian Labor Party the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Subiaco, held by the Liberal Party for the previous 27 years.
She was promoted to the State Government Ministry in 1988, as Minister for Education.
She was re-elected to Parliament in 1989, representing the seat of Glendalough. Following the State Labor government's re-election her responsibilities were increased with the addition of the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio.
In a leadership change on 12 February 1990, Dr Lawrence made history by becoming Premier of Western Australia and Australia's first woman Premier.
Following Labor's narrow defeat at the 6 February 1993 State election, Dr Lawrence became Western Australia's first woman Opposition Leader. She also held the positions of Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Employment and Federal Affairs.
Dr Lawrence entered Federal politics by winning the Federal seat of Fremantle in a by-election on 12 March 1994. She was appointed Minister for Human Services and Health and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women on Friday 25 March 1994.
Following the defeat of the Keating Government in the March 1996 general election, Dr Lawrence was appointed Shadow Minister for the Environment; the Arts; and Assistant to the Leader of the Opposition on the Status of Women, posts she held until April 1997. In September 2000 Dr Lawrence was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Industry, Innovation and Technology, and Shadow Minister for the Status of Women.
Dr Lawrence also held the Reconciliation, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Affairs; the Arts, and Status of Women Portfolios until December 2002.
On November 14, 2003, Dr Lawrence was elected by the first popular ballot of ALP members as President of the Australian Labor Party. Her one year term ended on January 29, 2005.
Since her return to the backbench, Dr Lawrence has been an active and vocal peace campaigner, speaking at rallies and forums around the country.
Dr Lawrence also speaks and writes regularly about refugee policy and democratic reform.
Many of her articles are regularly published on the Sydney Morning Herald Web-Dairy, and she continues to speak out in Parliament on these and other important issues.
At NCRGC, Dr Lawrence's presentation will be titled "Those People".
 Colin Wayne Leach is a social psychologist interested in how people emotionally experience their status-oriented comparisons to other people. He studied at Boston University (B.A., 1989; M.A. 1991) and the University of Michigan (Ph.D. 1995) and has been on the faculty of Swarthmore College and the University of California-Santa Cruz in the United States. Currently, he is Reader in psychology at the University of Sussex, England.
A former Ford and Chancellor's fellow, Colin has been a visiting scholar in Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including the European Journal of Social Psychology, Journal of Social Issues, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Colin's recent research examines the "pain of inferiority" and how it leads to malicious feelings toward others. He also examines guilt, anger, and sympathy about group injustice and its role in the willingness for political action. Colin has published this and other work in the major social psychology journals, as well as in the journals of political psychology, sociology, and peace and conflict. He has also co-edited two books: Immigrant Life in the U.S.: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives (Routledge, 2003) and The Social Life of Emotions (Cambridge, 2004).
At NCRGC Dr Leach's presentation will be titled "Three faces of group advantage: Racism, mis-recognition, and resistance".
 Professor Malcolm retired from his position as Chief Justice of Western Australia on 7 February 2006 after nearly 18 years, and commenced his new role as Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Australia on 8 February 2006.
In 1960, David Malcolm was the Rhodes Scholar from Western Australian. He was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1964, in New South Wales in 1980 and in the ACT in 1986. He was a Lecturer in Constitutional Law and Equity at UWA Law School in 1966-1967 and again in Equity in 1989-1992. In 1980, Professor Malcolm was appointed Queen's Counsel in WA and in NSW in 1983. He has undertaken legal work in many Asian countries as Counsel or Deputy General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank in 1967 - 1970 and appeared as counsel in Singapore.
On 26 February 1990, David Malcolm was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia and in 1992 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. He was elected as an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, London in 1999 and in 2000 he was awarded the Honour of Citizen of the Year in Western Australia in the category of the Professions for service to Law and Justice.
David Malcolm practised widely in many areas of the law including commercial and corporate law, mining, media, shipping and administrative law during his extensive career.
He has been Trustee for Youth at Fairbridge since 1997, Chairman of the Special Airborne Service Resources Trust since 1996; President of the WA Branch of the International Commission of Jurists; WA Branch 1992 - 2002, Vice President of the Australian Section of the ICJ since 2002; Ambassador for the Red Cross; and is Patron or Chairman of a significant number of charitable and community organisations.
It was not all work and no play for David Malcolm. He was Captain of the WA State Rugby Union Football Team 1964-1965 and also played Australian Rules during his studies at The University of Western Australia. Professor Malcolm is Vice-Patron of the WA Rugby Union of WA and Vice-Patron of the Fremantle Dockers Australian Rules Football Club.
Professor Malcolm is married with a young daughter.
At NCRGC Professor Malcolm's presentation will be titled "Aboriginal People and the Criminal Justice System".
 Michael Mansell is an Aboriginal from Tasmania. He has developed the ideas about sovereignty put forward by NSW Aboriginal Paul Coe, and the late Kevin Gilbert. Michael is one of the founding members of the Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG) set up to explore and promote the full recognition of Aboriginal sovereignty.
He has also successfully campaigned with his people in Tasmania for land rights and has seen 50,000 hectares returned to Aborigines. The Tasmanian government also recently provided a $5 million fund for compensating the Stolen Generations in Tasmania.
He works at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre which recently challenged the British Museum's right to hold and test human remains. Those remains are now in Tasmania.
He has written numerous articles on Aboriginal rights including works on treaty issues and sovereignty which are available on the APG website in the APG Papers Vols 1-4.
While Michael accepts that Aborigines favoured by the federal government like Noel Pearson and Warren Mundine believe they are helping their people, Michael strongly disagrees with their approach which he describes as shortsighted and doomed to cause greater hardship for Aborigines.
At NCRGC Mr Mansell's presentation will be titled "On the road towards self determination".
 Aileen Moreton-Robinson is a Geonpul woman from Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Quandamooka First Nation (Moreton Bay) in Queensland, Australia. Prior to her appointment as Professor of Indigenous Studies at Queensland University of Technology she taught Women's Studies at Flinders University and Indigenous studies at Griffith University and the University of South Australia.
Her books include Talkin' Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism (2000), University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, two edited collections entitled Whitening Race: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism (2004), Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra and Sovereign Subjects: Indigenous Sovereignty Matters (2007), Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Her work in progress is an edited collection with Dr Maryrose Casey and Dr Fiona Nicoll entitled Postcolonising Whiteness in Theory and Text, Lexington Books, Maryland (USA).
Professor Moreton-Robinson has been involved in the struggle for Indigenous rights at local, state and national levels and has worked for a number of Indigenous organisations. She was the founding President of the Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association which can be accessed at www.acrawsa.org.au. Her research interests include Whiteness, Gender and Race within Law, Nation, Society and Knowledge Production and she has published in journals and anthologies in Australia and abroad. Professor Moreton-Robinson is recognised as one of Australia's leading theorists in the field of Critical Race and Whiteness Studies.
At NCRGC Professor Moreton-Robinson's presentation will be titled "Racism Matters: the Workings of White Possession".
 Pierre Sob is the holder of a Ph.D. in International Relations (International Economic relations) from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon/Graduate Institute of International Relations in Geneva and a Ph.D. in Law (International Human Rights Law from the Faculty of Law, the University of Geneva). He is currently serving in Research and Right to Development Branch at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva where he is Adviser for Women's Rights and Gender Unit.
Prior to holding this position, Pierre served as Coordinator of Global Economic Issues Unit, and Coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Unit. In this capacity, he was respectively Secretary of: (i) Commission Open-ended Working Group on the Right to Development; (ii) Commission Open-ended Working Group on Structural Adjustment Policies and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; (iii) Sub-Commission Working Group on Working Methods of Transnational Companies and Other Businesses; (iv) Council Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action; (v) Council Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; and (vi) the Independent Eminent Experts group. He also supported six special procedures in these areas. Pierre has been assigned to short or medium term missions in Haiti, Somalia, Cameroon arid Cote d'Ivoire.
Before joining the United Nations Secretariat 12 years ago, Pierre had respectively held the following positions in Cameroon Public Service: (i) Legal Adviser of the Minister of Foreign Affairs; (ii) Adviser to the President of the Republic for Diplomatic Affairs; (iii) Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva. During his terms of office, he participated in the sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council, the Commission on Human Rights and the HCR Executive Committee between 1982 and 1994. At the international level Pierre served in a capacity of Alternate Member of the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Coordinator of the African group of States during the preparatory process leading to the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993).
Pierre holds awards and honours from Switzerland, Belgium, France, Nigeria and Cameroon, and is a member of some twelve scientific societies, including the Interdisciplinary Institute of Ethics and Human Rights at the University of Fribourg. He has contributed to four books, authored one (with a second one underway) and published more than 50 articles on human rights, humanitarian affairs, international economic issues and disarmament.
At NCRGC Dr Sob's presentation will be titled "Developing a Racial Equality Index : An Investigation of a tool to measure racial inequalities at national level.
 Raymond A. Winbush is the Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University in Baltimore Maryland. He is the former Benjamin Hooks Professor of Social Justice at Fisk University and Director of the University's Race Relations Institute. He also served as Assistant Provost and Director of the Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University. Raymond is a native of Cleveland Ohio, and a product of public school education, K through 12. In 1970, he graduated with honors in psychology from Oakwood College in Huntsville Alabama, and during his undergraduate education there, won scholarships to both Harvard and Yale Universities. After graduation he won a fellowship to the University of Chicago and received both his Masters and Ph.D. in psychology in 1973 and 1976 respectively.
Raymond's research interests include infusing African American studies into school curricula, African American adolescent development, Black male and female relationships and the influence of hip hop on contemporary American culture. He is the author of numerous articles on the "politics" of Afrocentricity and the resistance it encounters among scholars who wish to maintain existing intellectual paradigms. His book, The Warrior Method: A Program for Rearing Healthy Black Boys, (Harper Collins, 2001), is a comprehensive African-centred program for rearing Black boys in a racist society. Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate over Reparations was published in 2003 and hit Essence Magazine's best-sellers list shortly after its publication. It has been called by Cornel West a "must read" when it comes to understanding the struggle for reparations.
His consultations are numerous. He is a former member of the Executive Board of the National Council for Black Studies, a former President of the Southern Region of the Association of Black Culture Centers, and has consulted widely with organisations ranging from the Joint Center for Economic and Political Studies, National Research Council and the Ford Foundation and several American universities. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of both the Journal of Black Studies, and Africalogical Perspectives and also holds Board memberships on the Center for Democratic Renewal, and the National Vanguard Leadership Program which has been instrumental in recording the lives of elders in the American African community.
His travels include Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, France, England, Holland, Barbados, Belgium, Honduras, Ecuador, Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire and Jamaica, where he seeks to understand how African people have influenced world culture. He has made appearances on the CBS Morning Show and Black Entertainment Television and the Oprah Winfrey Show with the cast of the critically acclaimed film, Crash.
His hobbies include, writing, jazz, rap music, computers and photography. Raymond is the proud father of three children, Omari, Sharifa and Faraji Winbush.
At NCRGC Professor Winbush's presentation will be titled "Close Encounters of the Difficult Kind: Addressing Systemic Racism in Education"
If you need any further information about the conference and associated events and activities, or have any problems with this website, please contact Girish Lala at the Centre for Social and Community research, Murdoch University by email (ncrgc@murdoch.edu.au) or telephone ((61-8) 9360 6969)
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