Kay Schaffer

Kay Schaffer (1945–2019), née Iseman, was an American-born Australian academic and writer, who made important contributions to Australian cultural history, feminism, and human rights (as well as the visibility of Australian studies abroad). She is the author of Women and the Bush: Forces of Desire in the Australian Cultural Tradition (1988), In the Wake of First Contact: The Eliza Fraser Stories (1995), and Human Rights and Narrated Lives (2004).

Kay Schaffer reviews 'Edward Eyre: Race and Colonial Governance' by Julie Evans

May 2006, no. 281 • 01 May 2006

Much critical historical interest in Edward John Eyre has centred on the apparently radical contradictions in his life. Known variously as ‘the enlightened defender of Aboriginal rights in Australia, but also as the reviled “butcher of Jamaica” in England and the Caribbean’, Eyre’s notorious career began in the late 1830s and included exploration and colonial administration in Australia, ... (read more)

Kay Schaffer reviews 'Soft Weapons: Autobiography in transit' by Gillian Whitlock

June 2007, no. 292 • 01 August 2007

Anyone browsing in bookstores in the past five years has undoubtedly come across one of the dozens of life narratives that emerged in the aftermath of 9/11. The attack on the World Trade Centre and the consequent ‘war on terror’ produced a new market for the publishing industry – and it has deluged us with offerings. Prominent among them are the sensational, eroticised best-sellers by Muslim ... (read more)