Professor Irene Watson

Pro Vice Chancellor: Aboriginal Leadership and Strategy/Professor of Law Chancellery and Council Services

City West Campus (H4-05)
tel +61 8 830 20874

email Irene.Watson@unisa.edu.au

Alternative contact

Research Degree Supervisor

About me

Professor Irene Watson is the Pro Vice Chancellor Aboriginal Leadership and Strategy, and Professor of Law with the School of Law, University of South Australia Business School, where her teaching and research focuses primarily on Indigenous Peoples in both domestic and international law.

Professor Watson belongs to the Tanganekald, Meintangk Boandik First Nations Peoples, of the Coorong and the south east of South Australia.

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Orcid
Scopus

About me

Professor Watson belongs to the Tanganekald, Meintangk Boandik First Nations Peoples, of the Coorong and the south east of South Australia.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a PhD in Law from the University of Adelaide, and was awarded the Bonython Prize for best Law Thesis in 2000. She has previously held academic positions at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University Law Schools. Irene was a post-doctoral fellow with the University of Sydney Law School before taking up an appointment in 2008 with the University of South Australia at the David Unaipon College of Indigenous Research and Education and has provided independent academic opinions to First Nations Peoples across Australia for some 30 years.

Professor Watson has been acknowledged for her scholarship and being the first Aboriginal law graduate in the re launch of the 'Irene Watson Room' at the Adelaide University Law School in 2016, and first dedicated in 1989, a further room was dedicated to her at the University of Adelaide in 1999 by the student union and in 1987 she was nominated as 'SA Aboriginal of the Year'.

She has held a legal practicing certificate since 1985 and been a member of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement in South Australia since 1973, where she has in the past served as a board member, legal practitioner and CEO. Professor Watson is the current Chairperson of Kungari Aboriginal Association, established in 1988 by elders for the purpose of managing and protecting Aboriginal lands and culture in the south east region. She has served on numerous Aboriginal bodies across Australia primarily concerned with advancing Aboriginal rights. In 2013 she was awarded an ARC Indigenous Discovery Fellowship which has enabled her to work on a three year project titled: Indigenous Knowledge: Law, Society and the State.

Professor Watson is a peer reviewer in the law discipline for the Australian Research Council (ARC) and is also an External Assessor for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters, recently the author of Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism, and International Law: Raw Law (Routledge 2015), and also the forthcoming publication, Indigenous Peoples as Subjects in International Law (Routledge 2017).

Research

Research focus

Law
Cultural Studies
Other Studies in Human Society
Aboriginal Peoples and the Law
Historical Studies

Highlights

ARC Discovery Indigenous Award: Indigenous Knowledges: Law, Society and the State (1N130100005),

Research

Outputs

Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus

Open access indicates that an output is open access.

Highlights

Year	Output
2015	Watson, I & Burns, M 2015, 'Indigenous knowledges: a strategy for first nations peoples engagement in higher education', in S Varnham, P Kamvounias & J Squelch (eds), Higher education and the law, Federation Press, Australia, ch. 4, pp. 41-52.
2014	Watson, I 2014, Aboriginal peoples, colonialism and international law : raw law, Taylor and Francis, UK. 31 57
2011	Watson, I 2011, 'Aboriginal(ising) International Law and other centres of power', Griffith Law Review, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 619-640. 14 16

Books

Year	Output
2017	Watson, I 2017, Indigenous peoples as subjects of international law, Routledge, US. 3 3
2014	Watson, I 2014, Aboriginal peoples, colonialism and international law : raw law, Taylor and Francis, UK. 31 57

Chapters

Year	Output
2022	Watson, I 2022, 'Inter-Nation relationships and the natural world as relation', in U Natarajan & J Dehm (eds), Locating Nature: Making and Unmaking International Law, Cambridge University Press, UK, ch. 14, pp. 354-374.
2018	Watson, I 2018, 'Civilizing missions and humanitarian interventions: into the laws and territories of first nations', in Joshua Nichols and Amy Swiffen (eds), Legal violence and the limits of the law, Routledge, US, ch. 7, pp. 108-121. Open access
2017	Watson, I 2017, 'Aboriginal laws of the land: surviving fracking, golf courses and drains among other extractive industries', in N Rogers & M Maloney (eds), Law as if earth really mattered: the wild law judgment project, Routledge, UK, ch.14, pp. 209-218. Open access 2 41
2017	Watson, I 2017, 'First Nations, Indigenous Peoples: our laws have always been here', in I Watson (ed.), Indigenous Peoples as subjects of international law, Routledge, United Kingdom, ch. 5, pp. 96-119. Open access 4
2017	Watson, I 2017, 'Introduction', Indigenous peoples as subjects of International Law, Routledge, US, pp. 1-4. Open access
2017	Watson, I 2017, 'What is the mainstream? The laws of first nations peoples', in R Levy, M ObBrien, S Rice et al. (eds), New directions for law in Australia : Essays in contemporary law reform, Australian National University Press, Canberra, Australia, ch. 18, pp. 213-220. Open access
2016	Watson, I 2016, 'Genocide, the state, and original first nations', in V Negri & I Schulte-Tenckhoff (eds), Mimesis la formation du droit international = Towards international normativity, Editions A. Pedone, France, ch. 10, pp. 171-186.
2015	Watson, I & Burns, M 2015, 'Indigenous knowledges: a strategy for first nations peoples engagement in higher education', in S Varnham, P Kamvounias & J Squelch (eds), Higher education and the law, Federation Press, Australia, ch. 4, pp. 41-52.
2014	Watson, IM 2014, 'First nations stories, grandmother's law: too many stories to tell', in H Douglas et al., Australian feminist judgments: righting and rewriting law, Hart Publishing Limited, UK, ch. 3, pp. 41-54.
2012	Watson, IM & Venne, S 2012, 'Talking up Indigenous Peoples' original intent in a space dominated by state interventions', in E Pulitano (ed.), Indigenous rights in the age of the UN declaration, Cambridge University Press, UK, ch. 3, pp. 87-109. Open access 8 11
2010	Watson, IM & Venne, S 2010, 'Sex, race and questions of Aboriginality', in M Thornton (ed.), Sex discrimination in uncertain times, ANU E-Press, Canberra, ACT, Australia, ch.14, pp. 347-367. Open access
2009	Watson, IM 2009, 'Assimilation agendas of the state: what space remains for Aboriginal law and culture', in P Singh (ed.), Indigenous Identity and Activism, Shipra Publications, India, ch. 7, pp. 124-137.
2008	Watson, IM 2008, 'De-colonising the space: dreaming back to country', in S Morgan, T Mia, B Kwaymullina (eds), Heartsick for Country, Freemantle Arts Centre Press, Australia, ch. 4, pp. 99-107.

Journal Articles

Year	Output
2019	Watson, I 2019, 'Colonial logic and the Coorong massacres', Adelaide Law Review, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 167-171. Open access 1
2018	Watson, I 2018, 'Aboriginal recognition: treaties and colonial constitutions, "We have been here forever..."', Bond Law Review, vol. 30, no. 1, article no. 2, pp. 7-18. Open access
2018	Watson, I 2018, 'Aboriginal relationships to the natural world: Colonial 'protection' of human rights and the environment', Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 119-140. Open access 14 12 8
2017	Watson, I 2017, 'Aboriginal laws and colonial foundation', Griffith Law Review, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 469-479. 6 4
2016	Watson, I 2016, 'First Nations and the colonial project', Inter Gentes, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 30-39. Open access
2014	O'Brien, L & Watson, I 2014, 'In conversation with Uncle Lewis: bushfires, weather-makers, collective management', Alternative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 450-461. Open access 5 1
2014	Watson, I 2014, 'Re-centring first nations knowledge and places in a terra nullius space', Alternative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 508-520. Open access 45
2012	Watson, I 2012, 'The future is our past: we once were sovereign and we still are', Indigenous Law Bulletin, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 12-15. Open access
2011	Watson, I 2011, 'Aboriginal(ising) International Law and other centres of power', Griffith Law Review, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 619-640. 14 16
2011	Watson, I 2011, 'The 2007 declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples: Indigenous survival - where to from here?', Griffith Law Review, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 507-514. 9 5
2010	Watson, IM 2010, 'Universality: what space exists for Aboriginality?', International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 15-25. Open access
2009	Watson, I 2009, 'In the Northern Territory intervention what is saved or rescued and at what cost?', Cultural Studies Review, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 45-60. Open access
2009	Watson, IM 2009, 'Aboriginality and the violence of colonialism', Borderlands E-Journal: New Spaces in the Humanities, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-8. Open access
2009	Watson, IM 2009, 'Sovereign space, caring for country, and the homeless position of Aboriginal peoples', South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 27-51. 61 48

Conferences

Year	Output
2012	Cleland, A, Fredericks, B & Watson, I 2012, 'Cultural competence in Indigenous Australian social work: what's needed in preparing human service practitioners to work effectively with Indigenous Australian people', 5th biennial International Indigenous Development Research Conference 2012, Ngā̄ Pae o te Māramatanga, pp. 115-121. Open access
2008	Watson, IM 2008, 'A journey away from violence to a place of law-fullness', in Te Rito, Joseph S, Proceedings of the traditional knowledge conference 2008 : traditional knowledge and gateways to balanced relationships, Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, pp. 35-45.
2008	Watson, IM 2008, 'The recognition of cultural background in Indigenous sentencing', ANU/NJCA Sentencing Conference 2008, National Judicial College of Australia.

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Highlights

Editorial Board Member International Advisory Board Feminist Legal Studies, 2016

Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies, 2016

Editorial Board Member Australian Journal: Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, 2016

Editorial Board Member Editorial Board Alter Natives Journal, 2016

Member, Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Committee, 2011-2012

Member External Review, of Law Programs Southern Cross University Law Review, 2011.

Chair and member Kungari Aboriginal Heritage Association, 1988-2016

Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT, 2008-2016

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Organisation	Country
Central Queensland University	AUSTRALIA
University of Adelaide	AUSTRALIA
University of New England	AUSTRALIA
University of South Australia	AUSTRALIA
University of Sydney	AUSTRALIA
Working Group on Indigenous Populations	SWITZERLAND

External engagement & recognition

Engagement/recognition	Year
Indigenous Studies Excellence and Engagement (ISEE) Group Australian Research Council (ARC)	2021
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2018
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2018
Editorial Board Member Alter Natives Journal	2018
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2018
Engagement and Impact Assessment EI 2018 Panel Member (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Panel) Australian Research Council (ARC)	2018
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2018
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2017
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2017
Editorial Board Member Alter Natives Journal	2017
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2017
External Assessor, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada	2017
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2017
Peer reviewer for Law Discipline Australian Research Council (ARC)	2017
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2016
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2016
Committee Member Law Society of South Australia, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee	2016
Editorial Board Member Alter Natives Journal	2016
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2016
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2016
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2016
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2016
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2016
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2016
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2015
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2015
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2015
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2015
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2015
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2015
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2015
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2015
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2014
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2014
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2014
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2014
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2014
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2014
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2014
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2014
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2013
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2013
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2013
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2013
Expert Consultation on civil and political rights of Indigenous Peoples Intervention made to the United Nations Independent Expert on The promotion of an Equitable and Democratic International Order - Alfred de Zayas, Expert Consultation Geneva	2013
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2013
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2013
Member Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Committee, Minister of Education, Canberra	2013
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2013
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2013
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2012
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2012
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2012
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2012
Expert Consultation on Aboriginal law, native title and failed recognition Intervention to United Nations Seminar on Strengthening partnership between Indigenous Peoples and States, Treaties, Agreements and Constructive Arrangements, Geneva	2012
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2012
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2012
Member Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Committee, Minister of Education, Canberra	2012
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2012
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2012
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2011
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2011
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2011
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2011
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2011
External Reviewer, Law Programs Southern Cross University Law Review, NSW	2011
Gladys Elphick Award South Australian Aboriginal Community	2011
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2011
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2011
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2011
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2010
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2010
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2010
Editorial Board Member International Journal Critical Indigenous Studies	2010
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2010
International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies Kent University	2010
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2010
Member Juvenile Justice Review Board South Australia	2010
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2010
Vice Chancellor Nomination ATN Women Executive Development Program	2010
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2009
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2009
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2009
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2009
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2009
Member Juvenile Justice Review Board South Australia	2009
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2009
Assessor Australian Research Council (ARC)	2008
Chair Kungari Aboriginal Cultural Association	2008
Editorial Board Member Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Journal	2008
External assessor Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities	2008
Member Artists in the Black Reference Group, NSW	2008
Member Indigenous Studies Research Network, QUT	2008
Member Juvenile Justice Review Board South Australia	2008
University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room The University of Adelaide	2008
Visiting Fellowship Keele University
Visiting Fellowship University of Westminster

Teaching & student supervision

Teaching strengths

Experiential teaching
Innovative teaching

Highlights

Aboriginal Knowledges

Colonialism and the Law

International Law and Aboriginal Peoples

Critical Legal Theory

Legal History

Teaching & student supervision

Research degree supervision

Supervisions from 2010 shown

Thesis title	Student status
Laws that colonise: Aboriginal children, child protection and the Australian legal system	Current
Society and the recognition of First Nations in international and domestic laws	Current
Indigenous education policies in Malaysia and Australia: a study of the recognition of Indigenous rights and self-determination	Completed

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Professor Irene Watson

Alternative contact

Alternative contact details

About me

About me

UniSA Chancellery and Council Services

About me

Professional Associations

Experience

Qualifications

Work history

Research

Research focus

Highlights

Projects

Outputs

Highlights

Books

Chapters

Journal Articles

Conferences

Current research & highlights

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Highlights

Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Indigenous Studies Excellence and Engagement (ISEE) Group

Assessor

Chair

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

Engagement and Impact Assessment EI 2018 Panel Member (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Panel)

Member

Assessor

Chair

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

External Assessor, Social Sciences and Humanities

Member

Peer reviewer for Law Discipline

Assessor

Chair

Committee Member

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

External assessor

International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies

Member

University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room

Assessor

Chair

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

External assessor

International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies

Member

University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room

Assessor

Chair

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

External assessor

International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies

Member

University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room

Assessor

Chair

Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Member

Expert Consultation on civil and political rights of Indigenous Peoples

External assessor

International Advisory Board Member, Feminist Legal Studies

Member

Member

University of Adelaide Student Union Room named Irene Watson Room

Assessor

Chair

Editorial Board Member