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Author/Editor: Diane Bell for the Ngarrindjeri Nation
Biography: Diane Bell’s home town might be Melbourne, but she has lived in many different places – a decade in Canberra, several years in the Northern Territory, several in NSW and seventeen years in the USA. When George Bush was re-elected, she came home and settled on the banks of the Finniss River, South Australia. “It’s where I feel at home; where I know the Ngarrindjeri stories for the place, the names and songs of the birds,” she says. “And it’s where I continue to work. Knowing the people who are the traditional owners of the land, creates the possibility of being at home on someone else’s land. There is the possibility of negotiation.”
Diane is a feminist anthropologist who lives her politics and does not shy away from controversy. Her commitment to social justice is apparent in her work in the area of land rights, law reform, violence against women and environmental causes. She is equally at home in the halls of academe (Professor Emerita of Anthropology at George Washington University and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Adelaide) as she is giving expert anthropological testimony in the Federal Court or being a “talking head” for National Geographic programs.
Her books include Daughters of the Dreaming (1983/93/2003); Generations: Grandmothers, mothers, and daughters (1987); Law: The old and the new (1980); Religion in Aboriginal Australia (co-edited 1984); Gendered Fields: Women, men and ethnography (co-edited 1993) and Radically Speaking: Feminism reclaimed (co-edited 1996) and Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A world that is, was, and will be (1998), which won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and was a finalist for the Age Book of the Year Award, the Queensland Premier’s History Award and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medallion. Her first venture into fiction, Evil: A novel, was published in 2005 and was adapted to the stage and performed at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC in 2006. She is already plotting a sequel for her feisty feminist sleuth. “Fiction,” she says, “allows a freedom to explore critical issues of our time and to create characters with a range of backgrounds and ideas. "And”, she adds, “there are no footnotes.”
Now Diane is working at retiring. She plans on having more time to write, garden, sew, politic and spend time with friends. She is particularly looking forward to being in Braidwood and reviving her interest in quilting. “I love the smell, feel and sound of fabric,” she says. “My sewing room is full of pieces that evoke particular relationships, places, ideas and events.” Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dibell/; http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=1127064338; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImqRXTRNKE Forthcoming Events and Appearances:
Awards and Translations: 1999 Finalist: Age Book of the Year for Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A World that is, was, and will be. (Melbourne: Spinifex, 1998) 1999 Finalist: Queensland Premier's History Award for Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A World that is, was, and will be. (Melbourne: Spinifex, 1998) 1999 New South Wales Premier's Gleebook Award received for cultural and literary criticism for Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A World that is, was, and will be. (Melbourne: Spinifex, 1998) 2000 Finalist: Gold Medal for the Australian Literary Society for Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin: A World that is, was, and will be. (Melbourne: Spinifex, 1998) 2000 Senior Scholar Special Commendation of Honor received from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) 2000 - 2003 Regional Editor for the Latin and North America Women’s Studies International Forum 2002 Inducted into the Golden Key Honor Society, November 28, as an Honorary Member for "commitment to higher education and an outstanding job in capacity as Director of Women's Studies" |
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