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Dr James Wafer

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Position Conjoint Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities and Social Science
The University of Newcastle, Australia

Biography

I am an anthropologist with a specialisation in the sub-fields of anthropological linguistics and anthropology of religion. I have published on Australian Aboriginal languages, religions of the African Diaspora (in particular Brazil), Islam, and queer theory and politics. My current research interest entails a reconstruction of the texts composed in the Hunter River-Lake Macquarie language by Lancelot Threlkeld in the early 19th century.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Newcastle
  • Diploma in Education, Newcastle College of Advanced Education
  • PhD (2nd Qual), Indiana University - USA
  • Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Newcastle
  • Master of Arts (Anthropology), Indiana University - USA
  • Master of Arts (Religious Studies), Indiana University - USA

Research

Research keywords

  • Australian Indigenous Languages

Research expertise

Australian Indigenous languages, with a focus on those of NSW in general and of the Hunter River-Lake Macquarie region in particular.

Collaboration

I am a member of the Endangered Languages Documentation, Theory and Application group at the University of Newcastle.

Languages

  • Portuguese

Fields of Research

Code Description Percentage
160103 Linguistic Anthropology 100

Awards

Research Award.

2012 Murray Chapman Award
Geographical Names Board of NSW (Australia)
Aboriginal placename research in NSW
1992 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing
Society for Humanistic Anthropology (United States)
Awarded for a published ethnography.
1990 Esther L. Kinsley Prize
Indiana University (United States)
Prize for best doctoral dissertation