Distinguished Professor Ien Ang

Distinguished Professor Ien Ang is a Professor of Cultural Studies and was the founding Director of the Institute for Culture and Society.  She is one of the leaders in cultural studies worldwide, with interdisciplinary work spanning many areas of the humanities and social sciences.  Her books, including Watching Dallas, Desperately seeking the audience and On not speaking Chinese, are recognised as classics in the field and her work has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, German, Korean, and Spanish.  Her most recent books are The art of engagement: culture, collaboration, innovation (University of Western Australia Press, 2011, co-edited with Elaine Lally and Kay Anderson) and Cultural diplomacy: beyond the national interest (Routledge, 2016, co-edited with Yudhishthir Raj Isar and Phillip Mar). 

Professor Ang's innovative interdisciplinary work deals broadly with patterns of cultural flow and exchange in our globalised world, focusing on issues such as:

the formation of audiences and publics

the politics of identity and difference

migration, ethnicity and multiculturalism in Australia and Asia

issues of representation in contemporary cultural institutions. 

She is the recipient of numerous Australian Research Council grants, including a prestigious ARC Professorial Fellowship (2005-2009).  Her current ARC research project is entitled The China Australia Heritage Corridor (with Dr Denis Byrne). 

As a leading scholar in the field and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, she is frequently called on for keynote addresses in Australia and internationally.  She is a champion of collaborative cultural research and has worked extensively with partner organisations such as the NSW Migration Heritage Centre, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, The Special Broadcasting Service, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the City of Sydney. 

Professor Ang has had the title of Distinguished Professor conferred on her by Western Sydney University in recognition of her outstanding research record and eminence.  She is the first person at the University to be conferred with this honour. 

Honours and Awards

2012-2015: Chair, Expert Working Group, Asia Literacy: Language and Beyond, a project of the Securing Australia’s Future Program, Australian Council of Learned Academies for PMSEIC, through the Office of the Chief Scientist

2009-2011: Member, Thematic Issues and Working Group on Knowledge Generation, Skills and Perception in a Global World, Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC)

1986: Fulbright Fellowship, junior scholar category, City University of New York

1986-present: Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the following journals: New Formations, Cultural Studies, Continuum: Australian Journal for the Media, Cultural Studies Review, Social Semiotics, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Hecate, Feminist Media Studies, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Topia: Canadian Journal for Cultural Studies, Traces: Multilingual Journal for Cultural Theory, Ethnicities, Comparative American Studies, American Ethnologist

2003-2004: External advisor, National Museum of Australia

2002-2004: Member, International Advisory Committee, Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University

2002: Australian reader, Humanities and Creative Arts panel, Australian Research Council

Ang, I 2013, 'On display: the state of the world', in T Winter (ed.),  Shanghai Expo: an international forum on the future of cities, Routledge, London, pp.  101-19. 

Ang, I 2012, 'Culture as a site of struggle: the contribution of cultural studies', in Z Ibrahim & J Petaling (eds), Social science and knowledge in a globalising world, PSSM and Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, Malaysia, pp.  313-22. 

Ang, I 2001, 'Desperately guarding borders: media globalization, "cultural imperialism" and the rise of "Asia"", in S Yao (ed.),  House of glass: culture, modernity and the state in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore pp.  27-45. 

Ang, I 2001, 'Trapped in ambivalence: Chinese Indonesians, victimhood and the debris of history', in M Morris & B de Bary (eds), 'Race' panic and the memory of migration (opens in a new window), Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, pp.  21-47. 

Contact

Podcast

Professor Ang spoke to the 'New Stories.  Bold Legends: Stories from Sydney Lunar Festival' podcast about her life, her work, and her multicultural identity.  Listen to the podcast (opens in a new window).