The University of Western Australia
W/Prof David Trigger
Winthrop Professor
Contact details
| Address | Anthropology and Sociology The University of Western Australia (M255) 35 Stirling Highway CRAWLEY WA 6009 Australia |
|---|---|
| David.Trigger@uwa.edu.au |
Biography
David Trigger is Professor of Anthropology at The University of Western Australia. His research interests encompass the different meanings attributed to land and nature across diverse sectors of society and in different countries. His current work on Australian society includes projects focused on a comparison of pro-development, environmentalist and Aboriginal perspectives on land and nature, and a study of ‘nature, culture and belonging’ in an urban city environment. Of particular interest are the issues of ‘nativeness’ and ‘invasiveness’ as understood in both nature and society, with implications for issues of land, cultural identity and environmental management. In Australian Aboriginal Studies, Professor Trigger has carried out more than 25 years of anthropological study on Indigenous systems of land tenure, including applied research on resource development negotiations and native title. He is the author of Whitefella comin': Aboriginal responses to colonialism in northern Australia (Cambridge University Press) and a wide range of scholarly articles. His most recent book is a co-edited cross-disciplinary collection titled: Disputed territories: land, culture and identity in settler societies (Hong Kong University Press).
Key research
- Land, culture & identity, particularly in post-settler societies. Contesting and overlapping senses of cultural belonging, emplacement & indigeneity. Aboriginal relations with the wider Australian society, especially in the context of negotiations over land interests, native title, and associated issues of natural resource development. Environmental anthropology. Interdisciplinary studies with Cultural Geography, Cultural Studies and Sociology.
Major research interests
- Aboriginal Australia
- Applied anthropology
- Australian society
- Environmental anthropology
- Ethnicity, race relations and migration
- Political anthropology
Qualifications
BA PhD Qld
Publications
Indicative publications:
1986 Blackfellas and Whitefellas: the concepts of domain and social closure in the analysis of race relations, Mankind 16, 2: 99-117.
1989 Racial ideologies in Australia's Gulf Country, Ethnic and Racial Studies 12, 2: 209-232.
1992 Whitefella comin’: Aboriginal responses to colonialism in northern Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1997 Mining, landscape and the culture of development ideology in Australia. Ecumene: a journal of environment, culture, meaning 4 (2): 161-180.
1997 Land rights and the reproduction of Aboriginal culture in Australia’s Gulf Country. Social Analysis 4(3): 84-106.
1998 Trigger, D. M. Robinson & L. Gladstone, Anthropology and consultancy contracts in the 1990s: who owns your brain? Australian Anthropological Society Newsletter 74: 5-10
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/journals/trigger/Trigger_-_Newsletter.pdf
1999 Nature, work and `the environment’: contesting sentiments and identities in the southwest of Western Australia. The Australian Journal of Anthropology 10 (2): 163-176
R Blowes & D Trigger 2000. Experts, documents & lawyers in native title claims: the implications of Daniel vs State of Western Australia, Indigenous Law Bulletin 4 (28): 4-9.
[Republished as: Trigger, D. & R. Blowes 2001 Anthropologists, lawyers and issues for expert witnesses: native title claims in Australia, Practicing Anthropology. Vol. 23(1) Winter 2001, pp. 15-20.]
Trigger, D. & M. Robinson 2001 Mining, land claims & the negotiation of Indigenous interests: research from the Queensland Gulf Country & Pilbara region of Western Australia. In Senri Ethnological Studies (Journal Issue titled: ìParks, Property, Power: Managing Hunting Practice and Identity within State Policy Regimesî, David G. Anderson & Kazunobo Ikeya guest eds, pp. 101-116. National Museum of Ethnology: Osaka, Japan.
[Republished in: From myth to minerals: mining and Indigenous lifeworlds in Australia & Papua New Guinea. A. Rumsey & J. Weiner eds. Adelaide: Crawford House.]
Baldassar, L. & D. Trigger 2001 Australia. In Encyclopedia of National Cultures, M & C Ember eds. Macmillan Publishing.
Trigger, D.S. 2003. Language, culture and science: reflections on the work of George Seddon, Thesis Eleven 72 (2): 89-104
Trigger, D. 2003. Disputed territories: land, culture and identity. In Disputed Territories: land, culture and identity in settler societies, Trigger, D. & G. Griffiths (eds.). Hong Kong University Press: Hong Kong.
Trigger, D. 2004. Anthropology in native title court cases: 'mere pleading, expert opinion, or hearsay'. In Crossing Boundaries: cultural, legal, historical & practice issues in native title. S. Toussaint ed. Melbourne University Press.
Trigger, D. & J. Mulcock 2005. Forests as spiritually significant places: nature, culture and belonging in Australia, The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 16, 3: 306-20.
Trigger, D. 2005. Mining projects in remote Aboriginal Australia: sites for the articulation and contesting of economic and cultural futures. In Culture, Economy & Governance in Aboriginal Australia, D. Austin-Broos and G. Macdonald (eds.), pp.41-61. Proceedings of a Workshop of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, University of Sydney, Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Sydney: University of Sydney Press (e-book).
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/88818/CEGAA_Trigger.pdf
Head, L., D. Trigger & J. Mulcock 2005. Culture as concept and influence in environmental research and management, Conservation and Society 3, 2: 251-64.
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/88818/Head,_Trigger_&_Mulcock.pdf
1986 Blackfellas and Whitefellas: the concepts of domain and social closure in the analysis of race relations, Mankind 16, 2: 99-117.
1989 Racial ideologies in Australia's Gulf Country, Ethnic and Racial Studies 12, 2: 209-232.
1992 Whitefella comin’: Aboriginal responses to colonialism in northern Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1997 Mining, landscape and the culture of development ideology in Australia. Ecumene: a journal of environment, culture, meaning 4 (2): 161-180.
1997 Land rights and the reproduction of Aboriginal culture in Australia’s Gulf Country. Social Analysis 4(3): 84-106.
1998 Trigger, D. M. Robinson & L. Gladstone, Anthropology and consultancy contracts in the 1990s: who owns your brain? Australian Anthropological Society Newsletter 74: 5-10
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/journals/trigger/Trigger_-_Newsletter.pdf
1999 Nature, work and `the environment’: contesting sentiments and identities in the southwest of Western Australia. The Australian Journal of Anthropology 10 (2): 163-176
R Blowes & D Trigger 2000. Experts, documents & lawyers in native title claims: the implications of Daniel vs State of Western Australia, Indigenous Law Bulletin 4 (28): 4-9.
[Republished as: Trigger, D. & R. Blowes 2001 Anthropologists, lawyers and issues for expert witnesses: native title claims in Australia, Practicing Anthropology. Vol. 23(1) Winter 2001, pp. 15-20.]
Trigger, D. & M. Robinson 2001 Mining, land claims & the negotiation of Indigenous interests: research from the Queensland Gulf Country & Pilbara region of Western Australia. In Senri Ethnological Studies (Journal Issue titled: ìParks, Property, Power: Managing Hunting Practice and Identity within State Policy Regimesî, David G. Anderson & Kazunobo Ikeya guest eds, pp. 101-116. National Museum of Ethnology: Osaka, Japan.
[Republished in: From myth to minerals: mining and Indigenous lifeworlds in Australia & Papua New Guinea. A. Rumsey & J. Weiner eds. Adelaide: Crawford House.]
Baldassar, L. & D. Trigger 2001 Australia. In Encyclopedia of National Cultures, M & C Ember eds. Macmillan Publishing.
Trigger, D.S. 2003. Language, culture and science: reflections on the work of George Seddon, Thesis Eleven 72 (2): 89-104
Trigger, D. 2003. Disputed territories: land, culture and identity. In Disputed Territories: land, culture and identity in settler societies, Trigger, D. & G. Griffiths (eds.). Hong Kong University Press: Hong Kong.
Trigger, D. 2004. Anthropology in native title court cases: 'mere pleading, expert opinion, or hearsay'. In Crossing Boundaries: cultural, legal, historical & practice issues in native title. S. Toussaint ed. Melbourne University Press.
Trigger, D. & J. Mulcock 2005. Forests as spiritually significant places: nature, culture and belonging in Australia, The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 16, 3: 306-20.
Trigger, D. 2005. Mining projects in remote Aboriginal Australia: sites for the articulation and contesting of economic and cultural futures. In Culture, Economy & Governance in Aboriginal Australia, D. Austin-Broos and G. Macdonald (eds.), pp.41-61. Proceedings of a Workshop of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, University of Sydney, Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Sydney: University of Sydney Press (e-book).
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/88818/CEGAA_Trigger.pdf
Head, L., D. Trigger & J. Mulcock 2005. Culture as concept and influence in environmental research and management, Conservation and Society 3, 2: 251-64.
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/88818/Head,_Trigger_&_Mulcock.pdf
Roles, responsibilities and expertise
Director of the Centre for Anthropological Research, a leading university-based applied anthropology group.
Future research
My research will continue to focus on contesting assumptions and worldviews about nature, land, place and identity. I am developing a project (jointly with Dr Jane Mulcock) investigating how 'nativeness' is understood in nature and society in urban Australia. In future work I will seek to build international comparisons for this study.
My work in environmental anthropology builds on a long involvement with studies of Australian Aboriginal relations with land. I intend continuing the work in Aboriginal Studies in both academic and applied areas of anthropological research, the latter dealing particularly with native title and related issues of cultural heritage in Australia.
My work in environmental anthropology builds on a long involvement with studies of Australian Aboriginal relations with land. I intend continuing the work in Aboriginal Studies in both academic and applied areas of anthropological research, the latter dealing particularly with native title and related issues of cultural heritage in Australia.
Funding received
Australian Research Council (ARC) funded projects:
1999-2001: ARC Large Grant, “Land, culture & resource development in Western Australia: an anthropological study of contesting perspectives and identities”.
2003-2006: ARC Discovery Project, “Nature, culture & belonging in urban landscapes: an anthropological investigation into environmental beliefs, values & practices in Perth, Western Australia” (in conjunction with Dr Jane Mulcock, Postdoctoral Fellow)
2003-4: ARC – Indigenous Researchers Development grant, mentor & postgraduate supervisor for Ms Donna Oxenham.
“Cultural continuity & change at Shark Bay, W.A.: an anthropological and historical study of the Malgana Aboriginal People”
2004: ARC Research Network seed funds; received jointly with Professor L Head, University of Wollongong. “Nature, culture and the challenges of environmental sustainability: bridging the science/humanities divide”. See:
http://www.uow.edu.au/research/rso/grants/outcomes/external/reports/lhead/
2006-1009 ARC Discovery Project, “Isolation, insularity & change in island populations: an interdisciplinary study of Aboriginal cultural patterns in the Gulf of Carpentaria”, joint with P. Memmott et al. (administered through U of Queensland).
Other recent Research Grants:
2004-5: Western Australia Department of Indigenous Affairs, “Stirling Range Indigenous Cultural Heritage”.
2005-6: Southwest Australia Blackwood Catchment Group, “Wagin Lakes Indigenous Cultural heritage”.
1999-2001: ARC Large Grant, “Land, culture & resource development in Western Australia: an anthropological study of contesting perspectives and identities”.
2003-2006: ARC Discovery Project, “Nature, culture & belonging in urban landscapes: an anthropological investigation into environmental beliefs, values & practices in Perth, Western Australia” (in conjunction with Dr Jane Mulcock, Postdoctoral Fellow)
2003-4: ARC – Indigenous Researchers Development grant, mentor & postgraduate supervisor for Ms Donna Oxenham.
“Cultural continuity & change at Shark Bay, W.A.: an anthropological and historical study of the Malgana Aboriginal People”
2004: ARC Research Network seed funds; received jointly with Professor L Head, University of Wollongong. “Nature, culture and the challenges of environmental sustainability: bridging the science/humanities divide”. See:
http://www.uow.edu.au/research/rso/grants/outcomes/external/reports/lhead/
2006-1009 ARC Discovery Project, “Isolation, insularity & change in island populations: an interdisciplinary study of Aboriginal cultural patterns in the Gulf of Carpentaria”, joint with P. Memmott et al. (administered through U of Queensland).
Other recent Research Grants:
2004-5: Western Australia Department of Indigenous Affairs, “Stirling Range Indigenous Cultural Heritage”.
2005-6: Southwest Australia Blackwood Catchment Group, “Wagin Lakes Indigenous Cultural heritage”.
Industrial relevance
Applied research relevant to natural resource development negotiations involving Aboriginal interests, including the mining, fishing and tourism industries.
Memberships
Fellow, Australian Anthropological Society.
Member, American Anthropological Association.
Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies.
Member, American Anthropological Association.
Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies.
Teaching
Honours, Aboriginal Australia, Environmental Anthropology, Applied Anthropology.
Useful links
ARC Research: http://www.uow.edu.au/research/rso/grants/outcomes/external/reports/lhead/
ARC Network Research funding report: http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/26681/LHDTweb.pdf
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/home/envirosoc/animals
ARC Network Research funding report: http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/26681/LHDTweb.pdf
http://www.anthropology.arts.uwa.edu.au/home/envirosoc/animals
New and noteworthy
Professor Trigger has recently established a Graduate Certificate/Diploma in Applied Anthropology (Native Title & Cultural Heritage) course. This is a specialist qualification for candidates from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds who wish to increase their practical and theoretical knowledge of a growing area of applied anthropological professional practice.
Research profile
