Karen Hughes

Karen Hughes is an Australian historian whose academic career is informed by Indigenous studies, visual studies, gender studies and cultural geography. Her career is distinguished by a more than 20-year commitment to deep engagement and collaborative research with Aboriginal communities in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Since 2015, she has undertaken research in North America, on the interconnected histories of Indigenous Australians, Native Americans and African Americans, a result of the mobility occasioned by the Second World War. Her theoretical innovations in the field of microhistory, to explore contemporary settler colonial race relations and Indigenous lived experiences, has defined her contributions to Australian history and Indigenous history. While she publishes widely, she also devotes considerable time to public histories expressed in exhibitions and digital knowledge platforms and collaborates on Aboriginal community-based heritage projects. Aligned with this, she was the Subject Matter Expert for the development of Australia’s recently released $50 banknote, David Unaipon side. Her research is addressing themes of social justice, Indigenous ways of knowing, the impact of settler colonialism on the present and the relationship between reclaiming history and Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing. She maintains ongoing academic engagements with scholars in the USA and Canada.
Prior to her academic career, Karen worked as a documentary filmmaker and journalist and she brings these skills to her academic work.