Dr Rachel Busbridge

Rachel Busbridge specialises in cultural politics, with particular interests in social and political theory, postcolonialism, nationalism, and urban politics.

Rachel is a political sociologist who received her PhD at the University of South Australia in 2010. Prior to joining ACU, she held research and teaching positions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, al-Quds University (Palestine), al-Quds Bard College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, La Trobe University and Freie Universität Berlin as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow. 

Her work has appeared in leading international journals, including Urban Affairs Review, Political Geography, Political Studies, Theory, Culture and Society, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies and Social Identities.

Rachel's first book, Multicultural Politics of Recognition and Postcolonial Citizenship: Rethinking the Nation (2018), was published by Routledge as part of the Postcolonial Politics series. Her second book How Local Governments Govern Culture War Conflicts (co-authored with Mark Chou) is published with Cambridge University Press. She is currently working on her third book, Postcolonialism and Political Theory, which is under contract with Polity Press.

Rachel is an Editor of Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology (Sage) and a Co-Convenor of the Social Theory Thematic Group of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA).

Books

Chou, M. & Busbridge, R. (2020). How Local Governments Govern Culture War Conflicts. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Busbridge, R (2018). Multicultural Politics of Recognition and Postcolonial Citizenship: Rethinking the Nation. Oxon & New York: Routledge.

Journal articles and chapters in edited collections

Chou, M., Moffitt, B. & Busbridge, R. (2021) The localist turn in populism studies. Swiss Political Science Review. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/spsr.12490

Busbridge, R. (2021) Changing the date: Local councils, Australia Day and cultures of national commemoration. Journal of Sociology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14407833211044548

Busbridge, R. (2021) Postcolonial political theory. In Oxford Bibliographies of Political Science, ed. Sandy Maisel. New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756223/obo-9780199756223-0334.xml

Busbridge, R. & Chou, M. (2020) Culture wars and city politics, revisited: Local councils and the Australia Day controversy. Urban Affairs Review. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1078087420945034

Busbridge,R., Moffitt, B. & Thorburn, J. (2020) Cultural Marxism: Far-right conspiracy theory in Australia's culture wars. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture. Free download: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VEE8MDHH5BHEHMBZFQQE/full?target=10.1080/13504630.2020.1787822

Busbridge, R. (2020) Messianic time, settler colonial technology and the elision of Palestinian presence in Jerusalem's historic basin. 79, Political Geography. Free download: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629819300046?dgcid=author

Busbridge, R. (2019) A multicultural success story? Australian integration in comparative focus. Journal of Sociology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783319869525

Chou, M. & Busbridge, R. (2019) Culture wars, local government, and the Australia Day controversy: Insights from urban politics research. Urban Policy & Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2019.1631786 

Bashir, B. & Busbridge, R. (2019) The politics of decolonisation and bi-nationalism in Israel/Palestine. Political Studies. 67(2), pp. 388-405.

Busbridge, R (2018) Israel-Palestine and the settler colonial turn: From interpretation to decolonisation. Theory, Culture & Society. 35(1), pp. 91-115.

Busbridge, R. (2017) The wall has feet but so do we: Palestinian workers in Israel and the separation wall. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 44(3), pp. 373-390.

Busbridge, R. (2016) Between continuity and change: Contemporary Indigenous identities and Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand. International Sociology, 31(5), pp. 515-524.

Busbridge, R. & Winarnita, M (2015) Dialogue and other men's business: Gender, conflict and multicultural politics in the diaspora. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 36(2), pp. 202-220.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. Griecci Woodsum, N., Zu'ubi, H. & Busbridge, R. (2015) A rejoinder to Robert Cherry. Feminist Economics, October 21(4), pp. 201-205.

Busbridge, R. (2015) On haunted geography: Writing nation and contesting claims in the ghost village of Lifta. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 17(4), pp. 469-487.

Busbridge, R. (2014) Frontier Jerusalem: Blurry separation and uneasy coexistence in a divided city. Thesis Eleven, 121(1), pp. 76-100.

Abraham, I. & Busbridge, R. (2014) Afghan-Australians: Diasporic tensions, homeland transformations and the 2014 Syndrome. Journal of Minority Muslim Affairs, 34(3), pp. 243-258.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. Griecci Woodsum, N., Zu'ubi, H. & Busbridge, R. (2014) Funding pain: Bedouin women and political economy in the Negev/Naqab. Feminist Economics, 20(4), pp. 164-186.

          ***Reprinted in Gender and Economics in Muslim Communities: Critical Feminist and Postcolonial Analyses, eds. Ebru Kongar, Jennifer C. Olmsted & Elora Shehabuddin. London: Routledge, 2018.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. & Busbridge, R. (2014) (En)gendering de-development in East Jerusalem: Thinking through the everyday. In Decolonising Palestinian Political Economy: De-development and Beyond, eds. Mandy Turner & Omar Shweiki. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Busbridge, R. (2013) Performing colonial sovereignty and the Israeli separation wall. Social Identities: Journal of Race, Nation and Culture, 19(5), pp. 653-669.

Busbridge, R. (2013) It's just your turn: Performing national identity and Muslim Australian popular culture. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 24(3), pp. 459-477.

Busbridge, R. (2012) Contingent universals and shifting particulars: Muslim revisions of recognition in Australia. borderlands, 11(1). http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol11no1_2012/busbridge_recognition.htm

Peer-reviewed conference papers

Busbridge, R. (2013) Imagining national community and settler-indigenous reconciliation. Refereed Proceedings of the Australian Political Science Association, Murdoch University. http://www.apsa2013.com/peer-reviewed-full-papers

Busbridge, R. (2008) Questions of culture: Activating cultural rights and the problem of essentialism/constructivism. Activating Human Rights: Universal Responsibility Refereed Conference Proceedings, Centre for Peace and Justice, Southern Cross University, pp. 224-332.

Other publications

Busbridge, R. & Chou, M. (2020) Culture wars and city politics, revisited: Local councils and the Australia Day controversy, Urban Affairs Forum, 5 August. https://urbanaffairsreview.com/2020/08/05/culture-wars-and-city-politics-revisited-local-councils-and-the-australia-day-controversy/

Busbridge, R. (2020) Does reading Frantz Fanon matter? Encountering Black lives through anti-racist literature, ABC Religion and Ethics, 2 July. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/why-reading-frantz-fanon-matters/12416602

Bartlett, W. & Busbridge, R. (2019) Preventing the financial abuse of women in Australia: Can intersectionality help? ABC Religion and Ethics, 10 September. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/iintersectionality-and-the-financial-abuse-of-women/11497004

Chou, M. & Busbridge, R. (2019) The culture war taking place in your own backyard: Local councils and the politics of Australia Day, ABC Religion and Ethics, 24 January. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/local-councils-and-the-politics-of-australia-day/10739410

Busbridge, R. & Chou, M. (2019) Forcing Australian citizenship ceremonies on councils wont make the issue go away, The Conversation, 16 January. https://theconversation.com/forcing-australia-day-citizenship-ceremonies-on-councils-wont-make-the-issue-go-away-109871

Busbridge, R. (2019) The far-right may think they own nationalism, but we can reclaim it as a force for good, The Conversation, 7 January. https://theconversation.com/the-far-right-may-think-they-own-nationalism-but-we-can-reclaim-it-as-a-force-for-good-107788

Bashir, B. & Busbridge, R. (2018) On bi-national decolonisation in Israel/Palestine, LSE Middle East Centre Blog, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2018/04/10/on-bi-national-decolonisation-in-israelpalestine/

Phillips, M. & Busbridge, R. (2013) Challenging stereotypes of Afghan women as the West withdraws, The Conversation, 13 February. http://theconversation.com/challenging-stereotypes-of-afghan-women-as-the-west-withdraws-12101

Kalekin-Fishman, D., Billingsley, S. & Busbridge, R. (2011) Words with Writers: Interview with Devorah Kalekin-Fishman. International Sociology Review of Books, 26(2), pp. 183-190.

Busbridge, R. (2009) Israel and Palestine: The Black Book (book review). Ethnic Conflict Research Digest, 7(1): 20-21. http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/services/ecrd/digests/ECRD11.pdf

Social and political theory

Culture, identity and power

Postcolonialism 

Nationalism

Space

In 2022, Rachel will be Lecturer in Charge for:

DVST100 Introduction to International Development Studies (Semester 1)

SOCS209 Race and Ethnicity: Australian and Global Perspectives (Semester 2)

SOCS226 Global Youth Cultures (Semester 2)

Rachel is an award-winning teaching with Faculty commendations for excellence in teaching.

In 2020 Rachel was awarded a University Citation for Outstanding Achievement in Student Learning 'for innovative, passionate teaching that inspires students to transcend the taken-for-granted to deepen learning, enhance self-knowledge, and develop as critical and reflective thinkers'.

Also in 2020, she led a successful Teaching Development Grant for improving student retention in Arts degrees through enhancing perceptions of the employability of Arts graduates ($7,860).

The Australian Sociological Association

International Sociological Association

International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion