Malcolm Allbrook and Michelle Staff introduce a new blog series showcasing articles from the Australian Journal of Biography and History no. 8 (2024), available open access via ANU Press.
Biography is at one and the same time antithetical to some of the basic aims and approaches of women’s history—and the avenue that seems most helpful for those seeking to understand the actual historical experiences of women in all their complexity.
Barbara Caine,1994.
The Australian Journal of Biography and History (AJBH) was first published in 2018 in response to the resurgent popularity of biography. Far from being history’s ‘lesser sibling’, the genre has entered a ‘golden age,’ as Jill Roe put it. In the twenty-first century, many are turning their hand to biographical projects. The quantity and variety of articles published in the AJBH are testament to this fact.
Edited by Malcolm Allbrook of the National Centre of Biography, to date the journal has published eight instalments, with a ninth on the way, and two more in preparation. It has a broad remit and receives submissions on all kinds of biographically related topics, including single-subject studies, personal reflections, and group biographical analyses. It also includes book reviews of the latest titles published in Australia and abroad. Four special themed editions on Canberra and its districts, political biography, Australian legacies of British slavery, and convict lives have been published, while another on Pacific lives is in process.
At first glance, a partnership between the AJBH and VIDA may seem puzzling. The AJBH is not specifically a women’s or gender history journal, with its focus being on biography (broadly defined). However, its contents reveal the quantity and quality of work being undertaken at the intersection of these two fields.
The above quote from Barbara’s Caine’s 1994 article ‘Feminist biography and feminist history’ captures a certain tension between the democratic values at the heart of feminist history, and biography’s traditional focus on a single, usually male, individual. Yet, as she recognises, the two are frequently used together in a bid to understand past women’s lives and experiences. And it is often an effective means of doing so.
There is overwhelming evidence that the practice of feminist biography, including its intersections with collective biography, microhistory, and family history, has introduced methods and approaches that have revolutionised the genre. These developments have in turn helped to drive the evolution of important branches of biography in crucial areas such as Indigenous and labour history.
AJBH – Volume 8
Several articles from AJBH no. 8 attest to the productive relationship between gender analysis and biography. In their article, Phillip Deery and Julie Kimber shine fresh light on the Cold War in Australia through a deep dive on Evdokia Petrov. Patricia Clarke traces the life of one trailblazing journalist to uncover a harrowing story of violence and abuse.
Richard Fotheringham investigates the life of Jenny Howard, whose entry he wrote for the Australian Dictionary of Biography. And Nichola Garvey harnesses group biography to explore the experiences of women aboard the convict vessel the Neptune.
Even where an AJBH article did not adopt a specific focus on gender, it has become clear to both writers and readers that there is potential for further research using this lens. Peter Woodley is one author who has taken up the challenge of extending his research. His article analysed the 1891 bush workers’ strike, digging through the source material in search of women’s experiences of this event.
Over the coming weeks VIDA will publish blogs written by several of the AJBH no. 8 authors. Some of these blogs give a taste of the full journal article, while others allow for further musing on a particular dimension of it. All show the power of biography in historical analysis.
The AJBH is published by ANU Press and is free to access online. The latest issue, plus all past numbers, can be downloaded and read here.
Dr Malcolm Allbrook is managing editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and a senior lecturer in the School of History at The Australian National University (ANU). He has authored and co-authored five books: Never Stand Still with Darraga Watson (Jarlmadangah Burru Aboriginal Corporation, 2013); Henry Prinsep’s Empire (ANU Press, 2014); Carlotta’s Perth with Mary Anne Jebb (City of Perth, 2017); We’re Telling All of You: The Creation, History and People of Dambeemangaddee Country with Valda Blundell et al. (Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation, 2017) and Family History and Historians in Australia and New Zealand: Related Histories (with Sophie Scott-Brown, Routledge, 2021). Soon to be published, with Shino Konishi and Tom Griffiths, is Reframing Indigenous Biography (Routledge 2024).
Dr Michelle Staff is a feminist historian interested in transnational histories of activism and reform. She is the online and outreach manager at the Australian Dictionary of Biography/National Centre of Biography at The Australian National University. Her current project is a joint biography of Bessie Rischbieth and her sister Olive Evans.
Follow Michelle on Twitter/X @michellecstaff.
Copyright remains with individual authors who grant VIDA holding a perpetual, world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce and promote content. For permission to re-publish any VIDA blog post, in whole or in part, please contact the managing editors at auswhn@gmail.com.au