PROFILE
Dr Ethan Blue
Started at UWA: 2005
Investigating US history, prison studies and immigration history
Getting to introduce students to new ideas and ways of understanding the world is an absolute joy. Helping students grow and become deeper versions of themselves, to discover and pursue their intellectual passions, is profoundly rewarding.Dr Ethan Blue
Dr Ethan Blue was first inspired to pursue history by his high school teacher and later by professors at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas. A multi-award-winning teacher and regular nominee for UWA’s Excellence in Teaching award, Dr Blue’s work has been crucial in expanding knowledge and understanding of complex social and historical issues.
His contributions to the local and international community have included supervising the archiving of records from the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee of Western Australia at the State Library of Western Australia, and extensive research into the history of incarceration and deportation.
His first book, Doing Time in the Depression, was published in 2012. His second major book project, Seventeen Stops on the Deportation Special, will document the history of mass deportation.
Dr Blue’s research now focuses on incarceration and policing, immigration control and border protection – some of the world’s most pressing issues. As people are displaced by war, climate change and economic insecurity, tracing the history and consequences of these processes provides a foundation that’s necessary for making informed decisions today.
UWA Award Nominee for Excellence in Teaching, 2017
Nominated invitee to University Hall Academic Achievement Awards celebration, 2016
UWA Student Guild, Students’ Choice Award, Arts Faculty, 2014
Australia Learning and Teaching Council Nominee for Early Career Teacher Citation, 2011
UWA Award Recipient for Excellence in Teaching for Early Career, 2008
UWA High Commendation for Excellence in Research Supervision, 2007
The Deportation Terror: UWA’s Ethan Blue weighs in
In the middle of the nineteenth century, disruptions caused by European and U.S. military and economic penetration into China - the Opium Wars being a prime example - forced many Chinese to seek better opportunities in the United States, Australia, Canada and across Latin America.
Read moreElijah Doughty and Trayvon Martin: Victims of Vigilantism
UWA’s Ethan Blue writes: vigilantism is a concept often - wrongly, it turns out - associated with the nineteenth century, before the development of a fully modern legal system.
Read moreSupervisor opportunities
Since the beginning of his tenure at UWA, Dr Blue has supervised research on a range of topics within the discipline of history, including the following projects:
- Christian Evangelical romance and science fiction writing
- The history of the death penalty and madness in Texas, USA
- The growth of Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder in the late 20th century USA
- “Gamergate” and the foundations of the American alt-right
Dr Blue welcomes applications from new PhD candidates. To discuss your options, use the details below.
Teaching
A passionate, multi-award-winning teacher, Dr Blue ensures his classes are engaging by using music, popular culture and historical sources to introduce students to complex ideas and broaden their understanding of the world, both past and present.
He teaches the following units: