The ANU Australian Studies Institute (AuSI) is delighted to welcome this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s ‘Australia and the World’ Visiting Fellow, Professor Kiera Ladner. A Professor of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, Canada, Professor Ladner’s Visiting Fellowship will allow her to further her long-standing research on comparative constitutional law and Indigenous politics (Canada, Australia & NZ).

The Vice-Chancellor’s ‘Australia and the World’ Visiting Fellowship Program was established in 2019 to support visits by outstanding external academics to contribute towards building a culture of research excellence at ANU.

Kiera’s Fellowship Project, The long and winding road … Yarning about the Voice: Restor(y)ing Constitutional Narratives, Representation and Transformative Possibilities, aims to deepen our understanding of comparative Indigenous politics, and to respond to existing gaps in the literatures and existing community research needs. Her research focusses on treaties and truth-telling to story and theorises constitutional narratives and visions through yarning with youth, activists, leaders and academics, as well as existing literatures, archival sources, policy and case law.

During her Fellowship, Kiera will lead a discussion at AuSI’s March 2024 Visiting Fellows Dinner on how, "The Voice failed, the queen is dead & her sovereignty remains intact on Indigenous lands: Restor(y)ing Narratives and Imagining Transformative Possibilities". She will also deliver a lecture at the ANU College of Law and with the ANU First Nations Portfolio.

“Like so many here, I was devastated by the voice referendum - both during the campaign and the results. Returning to ANU for this Fellowship will provide an opportunity to engage in some pretty hard discussions about what went wrong and how people move on. These conversations and this time to process comes at a critical juncture as I am in the process of writing about the referendum and how it is a reflection of both Australian exceptionalism and trends we are witnessing across CANZUS as anglo-settler states confront the prevalence of mis/dis-information in politics and conservative demands to reinforce settler narratives or myths.

I think that there is much to share and learn among Indigenous scholars (communities, and allies) in Canada and Australia and I hope to use my time at ANU to build a foundation for continued intellectual exchange.”

- Professor Kiera Ladner, Vice-Chancellor’s ‘Australia & the World’ Visiting Fellow, ANU Australian Studies Institute

Professor Kiera L. Ladner is Canada Research Chair in Miyo we'citowin, Indigenous Governance and Digital Sovereignties, and Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, as well as former Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Politics and Governance. Her research focuses on Indigenous Politics and Governance; Digital Sovereignties and Archiving (MMIW, PARSD, and CLIP); gender (diversities); women and governance; and resurgence (in terms of both women and youth). Professor Ladner’s publications include This is an Honour Song: Twenty Years Since the Blockades (Arbeiter Ring Press) co-edited with Leanne Simpson, and Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal co-authored with Myra J. Tait, as well as numerous articles and book chapters on a wide variety of topics. Currently, Professor Ladner is working on projects with Dr. Shawna Ferris on a community centred digital archive project which is compiling three archives (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls database, Post-Apology Indian Residential Schools Database, the Sex Work Database). She is also working on project on including the comparative constitutional law and Indigenous peoples project (CLIP project), a digital sovereignties and a comparative treaty project focussing on Anglo-settler societies.