Woman Mackie, Vera Christine

Born
Glasgow, Scottland
Occupation
Historian

Written by Sharon M. Harrison, The University of Melbourne

Vera Christine Mackie is an academic leader whose interdisciplinary research and teaching encompasses Japanese language and linguistics, Japanese history, Asian studies, gender and sexuality studies and cultural studies.

Mackie was born in Glasgow, Scotland and migrated to Australia with her family in 1964. She was educated at Mentone Girls Grammar School in Victoria, before proceeding to Monash University where she completed a BA (Hons) in Japanese Language and Linguistics. In 1985 Mackie was awarded her MA in Japanese Studies at Monash University for her thesis Sentence final expressions in spoken Japanese. She completed her doctoral studies in History and Women's Studies at the University of Adelaide in 1994 with a thesis entitled Creating socialist women in Japan, 1900-1937.

Her academic career began at Swinburne in 1983 where she tutored in Japanese at Swinburne Institute in 1983, before being appointed to a Tutorship at the Centre for Asian Studies, University of Adelaide in 1984. She was promoted to Lecturer in the following year and in 1988 took up an appointment as Senior Lecturer, Humanities, Swinburne Institute. Between 1990 and 1997 Mackie was Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, History, University of Melbourne (1990-1997) where she also served as Director of the Women's Studies Programme (1995-1996), Co-Director of the Gender Studies Research Unit (1997) and Convenor of Interdepartmental Programme in Asian Studies (1996). She was appointed Foundation Professor of Japanese Studies, Curtin University of Technology (1998-2004). At Curtin she served as Associate Dean: Research and Creative Production, Division of Humanities (1998-1999), Head of the School of Languages and Intercultural Education (2000), and Dean of the Centre for Research, Humanities (2003-2004). In 2000 Mackie took up an appointment as Visiting Professor, Institute for Gender Studies, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo. In 2002 she was Visiting Professor, Faculty of Arts, Victoria University of Technology, where she established a university-wide Women and Leadership Program for academics, TAFE teachers and general staff. In 2004 Mackie took up an Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Professorial Fellowship, in the History Department, University of Melbourne (2004-2009). She was Visiting Professor, Institute for the Study of Global Issues, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo (2006-2007) and in 1913 is Professor of Asian Studies in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Wollongong and ARC Future Fellow in the Institute for Social Transformation Research. Her Future Fellowship project is 'From Human Rights to Human Security: Changing Paradigms for Dealing with Inequality in the Asia-Pacific Region'. She is Research Leader of the Forum on Human Rights Research.

Mackie is the author of numerous books and articles, including Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism (1997); Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment and Sexuality (2003); and Gurôbaruka to Jendâ Hyôshô ('Globalisation and Representations of Gender') (2003). She is the editor of Human Rights and Gender Politics: Asia-Pacific Perspectives, co-edited with Anne Marie Hildson, Martha Macintyre and Maila Stivens (2000) and Relationships: Japan and Australia, 1870s-1930s, co-edited with Paul Jones (2001). She has edited special issues of the journals, Asian Studies Review, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, Japanese Studies and Portal: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies. She was Associate Editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture (2002) and is co-editor (with Mark McLelland) of the Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia (2014). In 2011 Mackie received the Inoue Yasushi Award for Outstanding Research on Japanese Literature in Australia for her chapter, 'Reading Lolita in Japan', in Girl Reading Girl in Japan, edited by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley (London: Routledge, 2010).

She has also served on many editorial boards, including Lilith: A Feminist History Journal (2013-), Japan Forum (2011-), the Asian Studies Review (2008-); Transforming Cultures (2008-), the Journal of Women's History (2006-); Australian Feminist Studies (2005-); Australian Cultural History (2004-); Japanese Studies (2002-); Hecate: A Women's Interdisciplinary Journal Contributing Editor (1998-); Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context (1998-); and the Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia Book Series (2002); East Asia Publications Series (1996); and Women in Asia Publications Series (1989-).

In addition to Visiting Professorships at Victoria University, Ochanomizu University and Hitotsubashi University, she has held fellowships at New York University, the National University of Singapore, the University of the Philippines, Chuo University and the Australian National University. Mackie was elected President of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia (1997-1999) and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2004. She has served as a Member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts (Humanities and Creative Arts, 2003-2005); is Chair of Panel C of the Academy of the Social Sciences, Australia (2013-); and is National Co-Convener of the Australian Women's History Network (2013-).

Additional sources: Personal communication between Sharon M Harrison and Vera Mackie, August 2013.

Published Resources

Edited Books

  • Who's Who in Australia, Crown Content, Melbourne, Victoria, 1927 - 2013. Details

Online Resources

See also