Dr Julie Lahn

Research Foci 1: Cultural Heritage research:

• Repatriation of Ancestors debates
• Archival Returns
• Cultural Protocols for Return of Research to Community
• Anthropology of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islands)

I have a longstanding interest in the relocation, reengagement and return of stolen or forgotten cultural materials belonging to First Nations peoples held in academic and cultural institutions including:

• reconnecting Japanese research materials with Zenadth Kes  communities - geographical and ethnological scholarship created 50 years ago by Japanese survey teams to Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait region) (e.g. Lahn 2023; Lahn 2018; Thomassin etal 2024).

• relocating and documenting cultural heritage from Zenadth Kes in removed and stolen in 1836 - renamed the 'Lewis Collection' and held by the Australian Museum and the National Museum of Denmark (Lahn 2013);

• repatriation debates concerning the return of Kow Swamp ancestral materials - the subject of my honours thesis (Lahn 1996a; 1996b; 2007; 2014; 2020).

Research Foci 2: Indigenous Policy research:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Experiences of Work in Government Bureaucracies
• Professional forms of Work
• Anthropology of Bureaucracy

This research foregrounds employment issues and insights raised by First Nations peoples employed in state bureaucracies and other professional forms of employment. I combine qualitative insights, statistical data and policy analysis to:

• understand the effects of workplace cultures on retention and early exit (Lahn 2018; Lahn & Ganter 2018);
• analyse obstacles to career progression (Faulkner and Lahn 2019);
• engage questions of value and contribution of First Nations peoples to contemporary workplaces (Lahn 2024; Conway et al 2023).

Career Highlights

A researcher and educator at ANU since 2003, career highlights include being an ANU Press Series Editor on CAEPR Monographs (2021-2023); receiving a CASS Dean's Teaching Award with Mandy Yap for 'Excellence in Indigenous Education' (2020); being Program Convenor of the Indigenous Policy and Development Specialisation a stream within the CASS-CAP Master of Applied Anthropology and Development (2017-2023); supporting students, academics and college processes and policy discussions as Higher Degree by Research Convenor and member of the CASS HDR Committee (2016-2021) and Co-Editor of the Australian Journal of Social Issues with Boyd Hunter (2013-2015). An external highlight includes serving Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) communities as a Native Title Consultant, authoring multiple research reports supporting seven successful claims to Native Title for (1999-2004) and post-Native Title dispute resolution (2023-2024).

Recent Projects