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Asst/Prof Richard Davis

contact pictureAssistant Professor
Anthropology and Sociology

Research Interests

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land and marine tenure
  • Film and performance
  • Gender and masculinity
  • Identity and race
  • Religion and society
  • Resource use and human–environment relationships

Qualifications:

BA PhD <em>A.N.U</em>.

Key Research and Expertise:

My fieldwork has been with Torres Strait Islanders in Torres Strait and the Australian mainland as well as Aboriginal pastoral communities in the Kimberley of northwest Australia.

Research interests include Indigenous masculinities, performance and ritual, social and cultural innovation, culture and economy, culture and identity.

Since I began fieldwork in 1992 in Torres Strait and in 1999 in the Kimberley I have worked on a number of issues through my writing. These include; Indigenous masculinity as it is expressed through televised movies; the working of sorcery as a form of political engagement with bureaucracy and government; Aboriginal cattle ownership, rationality and the symbolic underpinnings of Australian pastoralism.

Publications:

Books
Taylor, L., Ward, G.K., Henderson, G., Davis, R., Wallis, A. 2005, The Power of Knowledge, The Resonance of Tradition, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra

Rose, D.B., Davis, R. 2005, Dislocating the Frontier: Essaying the Mystique of the Outback, ANUEPress, Canberra

Davis, R. 2004, Woven Histories, Dancing Lives: Torres Strait Islander Identity, Culture and History, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra

Book Chapter
Davis, R. 2005, Identity and economy in Aboriginal pastoralism in The Power of Knowledge: The Resonance of Tradition , Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra

Rose, D.B., Davis, R. 2005, Introduction: Transforming the frontier in contemporary Australia in Dislocating the Frontier: Essaying the Mystique of the Outback, ANUEPress, Canberra

Davis, R. 2005, Eight Seconds: Style, Performance and Crisis in Aboriginal Rodeo in Dislocating the Frontier: Essaying the Mystique of the Outback, ANUEPress, Canberra

Davis, R. 2004, The spirit of the image (journeys) in Woven Histories, Dancing Lives: Torres Strait Islander Identity, Culture and History, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra

Journal Article
Davis, R. 2004, 'Aboriginal Managers as Blackfellas or Whitefellas? Aspects of Australian Aboriginal Cattle Ownership in the Kimberley', Anthropological Forum, 14, 3, pp. 23-42.

Davis, R. 2002, 'Enchanting the State: Benjamin in Indigenous Australia ', Journal of Narrative Theory, 32, pp. 293-310.
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