April 23, 2013

Venue: Hörsaal A am Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie/Universität Wien

“Children of War: Race, Gender and US troops in Australia 1941 – 1944”

A seminar by Dr. Victoria Grieves of the University of Sydney

Vortrag anlässlich des ANZAC-Day: ANZAC (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps); der 25. April ist in Australien und Neuseeland ein Gedenktag für die Gefallenen des Ersten und Zweiten Weltkrieges.

In Australia's case the Children of War were produced not by occupying but by visiting allied troops. In the period from 1941-1945 almost one million army, navy and air force personnel from the USA were stationed in
Australia. On this eve of ANZAC Day in Australia it is fitting to raise the issue of the children of war and the hidden costs of the shattered and dislocated lives of these and their families.

Many of these children were born to Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander women
who came under the operations of "protection", that is segregation acts in the states and territories, with restrictions on socialities and marriage arrangements. These children were also sometimes born of African and Native US servicemen who were also enduring the circumstances of racial segregation. Research into the contexts and circumstances of the Children of War promises to unlock the patterns of gendered and raced laws, policies, socialities and other behaviours in these societies that came together on the Australian mainland as a result of the vagaries of war. Dr. Victoria Grieves is of Warraimay and Tasmanian descent. She is
currently ARC Indigenous Research Fellow at the University of Sydney developing her second ARC project “More than Family History: Race, Gender and the Aboriginal Family in Australian History”.

Der Vortrag ist in Englisch und für alle Interessierten zugänglich.Die Veranstaltung wird gemeinsam mit der Österreichisch-Australischen Gesellschaft durchgeführt und von der Australischen Botschaft in
Österreich dankenswerterweise finanziell unterstützt. Im Anschluss an den Vortrag findet ein gemütliches Beisammensein statt.

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