Irene Watson

Irene Watson

"I belong to the Tanganekald and Meintangk peoples and in colonial times our languages, peoples and lands became more commonly known as Ngarrindjeri. Our country lies across the Coorong and the south east of South Australia. I have worked as a legal practitioner and also been a member of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement SA from 1973-2005. As an academic I have taught in all three South Australian universities from 1989 until current. I have worked internationally at the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations and have extensive experience working on questions of international law and Aboriginal peoples. Prior to taking up this position I was a research fellow with the University of Sydney Law School."

• 2003-2009 Juvenile Justice Review Board South Australia
• 1989-2009 Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association.
• 2009 Editorial Board Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Journal
• 2009 Editorial Board Alter Natives Journal
• 2009 Indigenous Studies Research Network
• Editorial Board, International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies

Books

• `Looking at you, looking at me...Aboriginal culture and history of the south-east of South Australia, (self published Adelaide) Volume 1, 2002

Select Publications

• Watson, Irene, 'Assimilation Agendas of the State: What Space Remains for Aboriginal Law and Culture?' in Priti Singh (ed.), Indigenous Identity and Activism (New Delhi: Shipra, 2009), pp. 124-137.
• Watson, Irene, "Aboriginality and the Violence of Colonialism", 2009 Vol 8. No 1. Borderlands e journal,
• Watson, Irene, “Settled and Unsettled Spaces: Are we Free to Roam?” (ed) Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Sovereign Subjects: Indigenous Critical Engagement, Allen and Unwin, North Sydney, 2007.
• Watson, Irene, ‘Aboriginal Sovereignties’, in Suvendrini Perera (ed), Our Patch (2007), Network Books, Perth, 25.
• Watson, Irene, ‘Illusionists and Hunters: Being Aboriginal in this Occupied Space’ (2005) 22 Australian Feminist Law Journal 15.
• Watson, Irene, ‘Power of the Muldarbi, the road to its demise’ (1998) 11 Australian Feminist Law Journal 28.
• Watson, Irene, “There is no Possibility of Rights without Law: So Until Then, Don’t Thumb Print or Sign Anything!” (2000) 5(1) Indigenous Law Bulletin 4-5