Africa in Australia

Entangled Objects, Living Histories

Published by UWA Publishing
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Since the turn of the millennium, ties between Africa and Australia have grown substantially. However, connections between the two continents are not new. To the contrary, human contacts pre-date the arrival of the First Fleet to Australia in 1788, and they continued to grow throughout European colonial period, and into the post-colonial era. This volume examines the entire history of Africa-Australia relations through the material culture it left behind. There are today tens of thousands of African-born artefacts held in museum collections across Australia, each of which was conveyed to Australia through one of the many networks that have connected the two continents. Each chapter in this book tells the story of one African-born artefact that is now housed in Australia, and what its journey reveals about the character Africa-Australia ties. In amalgam, all of this African-born material culture has an extraordinary amount to tell, revealing much that is new for African Studies, about Africa-Australia connections, and in the Australian Story itself.  

About The Author

Richard Vokes is Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the University of Western Australia; Research Affiliate of Oxford University, and; Research Associate of the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip. He has been conducting ethnographic and archival research in South-western Uganda and the African Great Lakes region for over 25 years. Since the completion of his D.Phil in Anthropology, at Oxford University, in 2004, he has published extensively, especially in visual, media and museum anthropology, and on heritage futures. His research has won numerous prizes and awards, including the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Curl Prize, and it has been used by the Office of the Secretary General of the UN. He has recently held Visiting Fellowships at All Souls College, Oxford University, Trinity College, Cambridge University, and Makerere University, Uganda. 

Product Details

  • Publisher: UWA Publishing (September 29, 2026)
  • Length: 250 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781760803421

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