Staff profile

Dr Sally Edna Ninham Honorary Associate and Independent Scholar

Honorary Associate

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Social Sciences

Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BA HONS, PhD

Membership of professional Associations

Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association, Oral History Association of Australia, American Studies Association, African Studies Association, Oral History Association of Victoria.

Area of study

Religion and Spirituality
Politics
History
Australian Studies

Brief Profile

I consider myself to be an oral historian.  Most of my research to date has involved oral interview and the use of these alongside secondary source material.  I have completed projects on Australian education including the Dawkins Reforms of the late 1980s under the Hawke Labor Government, and on the impact of the American Postgraduate Experience on social and intellectual cultures in Australia after the Second World War.  The latter resulted in the publication of my book “A Cohort of Pioneers, Australian postgraduates and American postgraduate degrees, 1949-1964” with Connor Court Publications in 2011, which is now being followed up with an online discussion with NBN in New York and a couple of invitations to talk at university departments at Temple University and the  City University of New York.

Recently I spent time at the University of California, Berkeley, working with scholars from the Regional Oral History Office on advanced oral history methods.  Subsequently I have begun a project that involves recording interviews with the eight living African cardinals of the Catholic Church. I am also working with curriculum advisers in two Melbourne High Schools developing a syllabus for teaching oral history methods to high school students as a way to integrate Australian students more closely with the local community.

Research interests

Australian History

- Australian postgraduate students and American postrgraduate degrees

- The Dawkins Educational Reforms of the late 1980's

North American History

- Foreign student programs as foreign policy during the Cold War.

Religion and Society

- Indigenous African religions and Catholicism in Africa post-WWII

Consulting

I am currently consulting with two curriculum advisers in two Melbourne high schools developing a syllabus for teaching oral history to high school students.

Recent Publications

“Australian Postgraduates in the United States, 1949-1964”, Journal of Australian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2010.

A Cohort of Pioneers, Australians and American Postgraduate Degrees, 1949-1964, Connor Court Publishers, 2011.

Research projects

African Cardinals: A Gallery of Portraits.  An oral history project that involves interviews with the eight living African cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.

Interview with NBN New York on “A Cohort of Pioneers”