Professor Elizabeth McMahon

Professor Elizabeth McMahon

Professor

BA (Hons 1st Class ) (English and Australian Literature) University of Sydney;

PhD (Australian Literature), University of Sydney;

Arts,Design & Architecture
School of the Arts and Media

 

Dr Elizabeth McMahon is a Professor in the School of the Arts and Media.  Her research interests are in Australian literature, Island Studies and Gender studies.

In Island Studies, she has published ten scholarly works, including one sole-authored monograph (2016) and one co-authored monograph (2023). Her 2016 monograph, Islands, Identity and the Literary Imagination (New York and London: Anthem) is the culmination of research funded by an ARC Discovery grant titled Our Island Home: The Shifting Map of Australian Literature. The monograph won the 2017 Walter McRae Russell Award for 'the best work of literary criticism on an Australian subject published within the previous 2 calendar years';  and the inaugural (2017) Australian University Heads of English Prize for 'best book of literary scholarship published by an Australian-based author in the previous twelve months'. Her most recent monograph, co-authored with Elaine Stratford and Godfrey Baldacchino, is titled Rethinking Island Methodologies (Rowman 2023). 

Professor McMahon has also published widely in Australian Literary Studies, especially on women writers and the representation of gender and sexuality. These outputs include 16 articles or book chapters, and with Dr Brigitta Olubas, three edited collections on Australian writers: Antigone Kefala (University of Western Australia Press, 2021), Elizabeth Harrower (University of Sydney Press, 2016 ) and Patrick White, (Rodopi, 2010). 

From 1998-2007 Professor McMahon edited Australian Humanities Review. From 2008 to 2023 co-edited Southerly, Australian oldest literary journal, and from 2013 to 2023 co-edited a book series titled Rethinking the Island for Rowman and Littlefield International.

Phone
+61434575687
Location
223, Level 2 Robert Webster
  • Books | 2023
    Stratford E; Baldacchino G; McMahon E, 2023, Rethinking Island Methodologies, Rowman & Littlefield
    Books | 2016
    McMahon EN, 2016, Islands, Identity and the Literary Imagination, 1, Anthem Press, London and New York
  • Book Chapters | 2022
    McMahon E, 2022, 'Bioluminescence: Materiality, Metaphor and Trace in Sixty Lights', in Uhlmann A (ed.), Inner and Outer Worlds: Gail Jones' Fiction, Sydney University Press, Sydney, pp. 29 - 42
    Book Chapters | 2021
    McMahon E; Olubas B, 2021, 'Introduction', in McMahon E; Olubas B (ed.), Antigone Kefala New Australian Modernities, University Of Western Australia Press, Perth, pp. 1 - 18
    Book Chapters | 2021
    McMahon E, 2021, 'Worldly interiors in the Fiction of Antigone Kefala', in McMahon E; Olubas B (ed.), Antigone Kefala: New Australian Modernities, University of Western Australia Press, Perth, pp. 51 - 68
    Book Chapters | 2018
    McMahon E; Andre B, 2018, 'Literature and the Literary gaze', in Baldacchino G (ed.), The Routledge International Handbook of Island Studies A World of Islands, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 296 - 311, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315556642
    Book Chapters | 2017
    McMahon EN; Olubas B, 2017, '"Rediscovering Again: Reading Elizabeth Harrower Across Time"', in McMahon EN; Olubas B (ed.), Elizabeth Harrower: Critical Essays, edn. Sydney Studies in Australian Literature, Sydney University Press, Sydney, pp. 1 - 7
    Book Chapters | 2017
    McMahon EN, 2017, 'Identity, Perversity and Literary Subjectivity: Teaching Patrick White's The Twyborn Affair', in Birns N; Moore N; Sheriff S (ed.), Teaching Australian and New Zealand Literature, Modern Languages Association, New York, pp. 133 - 144
    Book Chapters | 2017
    McMahon EN, 2017, 'Moments of Being in the Fiction of Elizabeth Harrower', in McMahon E; Olubas B (ed.), Elizabeth Harrower: Critical Essays, edn. Sydney Studies in Australian Literature, Sydney University Press, Sydney, pp. 135 - 145
    Book Chapters | 2016
    McMahon E, 2016, 'Parallel: Parallax-the melancholy dialectics of Dionne Brand', in Literary Careers in the Modern Era, pp. 113 - 128, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137478504
    Book Chapters | 2012
    McMahon EN, 2012, 'Continental Heartlands and Alex Miller’s Geosophical Imaginary', in Dixon R (ed.), The Novels of Alex Miller, edn. Original, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 125 - 137
    Book Chapters | 2010
    McMahon EN, 2010, 'Author, Author! The Two Faces of Kate Grenville', in Kossew S (ed.), Lighting Dark Places: Essays on Kate Grenville, edn. 1, Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp. 39 - 54
    Book Chapters | 2010
    McMahon EN, 2010, 'The Lateness and the Queerness of The Twyborn Affair: White's Farewell to the Novel', in McMahon E; Olubas B (ed.), Remembering Patrick White: Contemporary Critical Essays, edn. 1, Rodopi, Amsterdam, New York, pp. 77 - 94
    Book Chapters | 2009
    McMahon EN, 2009, 'Homesick: Cloudstreet and the death drive', in Ways of Teaching, edn. Original, English Association Sydney, Sydney, pp. 35 - 46
    Book Chapters | 2006
    McMahon EN; Olubas B, 2006, 'Introduction: Women Making Time', in McMahon E; Olubas B (ed.), Women Making Time: Contemporary Feminist Critique and Cultural Analysis, edn. First, University of WA Press, Perth, pp. 1 - 13
    Book Chapters | 2006
    McMahon EN, 2006, 'Wasted Memory and Generational History: Tasmania`s abandoned places', in McMahon E; Olubas B (ed.), Women Making Time: Contemporary Feminist Critique and Cultural Analysis, edn. First, University of WA Press, Perth, pp. 43 - 62
    Book Chapters | 2003
    McMahon EN, 2003, 'The Gilded Cage: from utopia to monad in Australia`s island imaginary', in Edmond R; Smith V (ed.), Islands in History and Representation, edn. First, Routledge Press, London, pp. 190 - 202
  • Edited Books | 2021
    Olubas B; McMahon E, (ed.), 2021, Antigone Kefala: New Australian Modernities, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands WA
    Edited Books | 2017
    McMahon E; Olubas B, (ed.), 2017, Elizabeth Harrower: Critical Essays, Sydney University Press, Sydney
    Edited Books | 2010
    McMahon EN; Olubas B, (ed.), 2010, Remembering Patrick White: Contemporary Critical Essays, Rodopi, Amsterdam, New York
    Edited Books | 2006
    McMahon EN; Olubas B, (ed.), 2006, Women Making Time: Contemporary Feminist Critique and Cultural Analysis, University of WA Press, Perth
  • Journal articles | 2023
    McMahon E; Baldacchino G, 2023, 'Special section: Considering suitable research methods for islands', Geographical Research, 61, pp. 93 - 95, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12586
    Journal articles | 2020
    McMahon E, 2020, 'B-Sides Jessica Anderson's 'The Impersonators', Public Books, na, https://www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-jessica-andersons-the-impersonators/
    Journal articles | 2020
    McMahon E, 2020, 'Editorial', Southerly at 80!, 79, pp. 6 - 12
    Journal articles | 2020
    McMahon E, 2020, 'The Transvestite Adventure: Reading the Colonial Grotesque', Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 20, pp. 1 - 11, https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JASAL/issue/view/From%20Colony%20to%20Transnation/showToc
    Journal articles | 2016
    McMahon E; Fink H, 2016, 'Editorial', Southerly: Words and Music, 76, pp. 6 - 11
    Journal articles | 2016
    McMahon E, 2016, 'Editorial', Southerly: War and Peace, 75, pp. 7 - 9
    Journal articles | 2015
    McMahon E, 2015, 'Editorial', Southerly: Elemental, 75, pp. 6 - 10
    Journal articles | 2015
    McMahon E, 2015, 'Editorial', Southerly: The Naked Writer 2, 2, pp. 6 - 8
    Journal articles | 2014
    McMahon E, 2014, 'Editorial', Southerly: Forward Thinking Utopia and Apocalypse, 57, pp. 271 - 273, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12201
    Journal articles | 2014
    McMahon EN; Ashcroft. Bill ; Anwar ; Bishop ; Cummins , 2014, 'Southerly 74.1 Forward Thinking: Utopia and Apocalypse', Southerly, vol. 74, pp. 1 - 276, http://www.englishassociation.org/
    Journal articles | 2013
    McMahon E, 2013, 'Archipelagic space and the uncertain future of national literatures.', Journal of the Association for Study of Australian Literature (JASAL), 13, pp. 1 - 20, http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/index
    Journal articles | 2013
    McMahon E, 2013, 'Editorial', Southerly: Islands and Archipelagos, http://www.englishassociation.org/southerly
    Journal articles | 2013
    McMahon E, 2013, 'Reading the Planetary Archipelago of the Torres Strait -', Island Studies Journal, 8, pp. 55 - 66, http://www.islandstudies.ca/node/407
    Journal articles | 2012
    McMahon E, 2012, 'Editorial', Southerly: Mid-Century Women's Writers, 72, pp. 6 - 9
    Journal articles | 2012
    McMahon E, 2012, 'Mary Gaunt and the Modern Waning of Affect', Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL), 12, pp. 1 - 11, http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/article/view/2318/2920
    Journal articles | 2011
    McMahon E, 2011, 'Editorial', Southerly: Modern Mobilities, 71, pp. 6 - 9
    Journal articles | 2011
    McMahon E, 2011, 'Review of Archipelagoes: Insular Fictions from Chivalric Romance to the Novel by Simone Pinet', Island Studies Journal, 6, pp. 267 - 269, http://vre2.upei.ca/islandstudies.ca/node/339
    Journal articles | 2011
    McMahon EN; Stratford E; Farbotko C, 2011, 'Reading Suvendrini Perera’s Australia and the Insular Imagination', Political Geography, 30, pp. 329 - 338
    Journal articles | 2011
    Olubas B; McMahon E, 2011, 'Editorial', Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL), 11, pp. np - np, http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/jasal/issue/view/Special%20Issue:%20Archive%20Madness/showToc
    Journal articles | 2011
    Stratford E; Baldacchino G; McMahon E; Farbotko C; Harwood A, 2011, 'Envisioning the Archipelago', Island Studies Journal, 6, pp. 113 - 130, http://ro.uow.edu.au/scipapers/3062
    Journal articles | 2010
    McMahon E, 2010, 'Australia, the Island Continent: How Contradictory Geography Shapes the National Imaginary', Space and Culture, 13, pp. 178 - 187, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1206331209358224
    Journal articles | 2010
    McMahon E, 2010, 'The Proximate Pleasure of Eve Sedgwick: A Legacy of Intimate Reading', Australian Humanities Review, 48, pp. na - na, http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-May-2010/mcmahon.html
    Journal articles | 2010
    McMahon EN, 2010, 'Editorial', Southerly: Romance, 70, pp. 6 - 10
    Journal articles | 2010
    Mcmahon E, 2010, 'The Proximate Pleasure of Eve Sedgwick: A Legacy of Intimate Reading', AUSTRALIAN HUMANITIES REVIEW, pp. 17 - 29, https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000214645100003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1
    Journal articles | 2009
    McMahon EN, 2009, 'Editorial', Southerly: Southerly at Seventy, 69, pp. S1 - S2, http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/1465312514Z.000000000176
    Journal articles | 2008
    McMahon EN, 2008, 'Editorial', Southerly: Sister Arts, 68, pp. 5 - 12
    Journal articles | 2007
    McMahon EN, 2007, 'Judith Wright and the temporality of composition (The `Moving Image`)', Australian Literary Studies, 23, pp. 15 - 26
    Journal articles | 2007
    McMahon EN, 2007, 'The Centaur and the Cyborg: Abject Becoming on the Colonial Frontier', Southerly, 67, pp. 211 - 225
    Journal articles | 2005
    McMahon E, 2005, 'Encapsulated Space: The Paradise Prison of Australia`s Island Imaginery', Southerly, 65, No. 1, pp. 20 - 29
    Journal articles | 2005
    McMahon EN, 2005, 'False as Eden: Constituting the Female Subject in Time', Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL), 4, pp. 173 - 184
    Journal articles | 2005
    McMahon EN, 2005, 'Puberty Blues Takes Feminist Generationalism to the Beach', Australian Feminist Studies, 20, No.48, pp. 281 - 289, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08164640500280241
    Journal articles | 2005
    McMahon EN, 2005, 'Review of Barbara Creed`s, `Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality`', Australian Feminist Studies, 20, No.27, pp. 272 - 273, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000229037600019&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a
    Journal articles | 2004
    McMahon EN, 2004, 'The Sculpture of Donna Marcus', Art Monthly Australia, No. 168, pp. 29 - 31
    Journal articles | 2000
    McMahon EN, 2000, 'Lost in Music: Music and Dance in Loaded and Head On', Meanjin, pp. 166 - 175
    Journal articles | 1998
    Cuthbert D; Lucas R; McCredden L; Johnson H; Thomson H; Da Silva TS; McMahon E; Moore N, 1998, 'Book Reviews', Women's Writing, 5, pp. 265 - 290, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09699080300200036
  • Other | 2018
    McMahon E; Hamadache M (ed.), 2018, Editorial, English Association/Brandl and Schlesinger, Blackheath, , http://southerly/
    Conference Papers | 2008
    McMahon EN, 2008, 'Longing in Belonging: Emily Dickinson`s Poetics of Distance', in New Directions, English Association Sydney, Sydney, presented at English Association English Teacher's Conference 2008, University of Sydney, 28 May 2008

1. In 2017 Elizabeth's monograph, Islands, Identity and the Literary Imagination won two awards:
     i. The Walter McRae Russell Award for 'the best book of literary scholarship on an Australian subject published in the preceding two calendar years', awarded by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature;
     ii. The inaugural AUHE Prize for Literary Scholarship, awarded by the association of the Australian University Heads of English for the best work of literary criticism by an academic at and Australian university in the calendar year. 

2. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean's award for postgraduate supervision, 2011.

3. Vice Chancellor's Teaching Merit Award, The University of Tasmania, 2000.

4. Eva Vidak Memorial Award for the best thesis in Australian Literature (PhD), University of Sydney, 1995.

Elizabeth is a member of the Australian Association of the Study of Australian Literature.

She is on the editorial board of Studies in Australian Cinema and on the Editorial Advisory Committee for the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature.

Elizabeth was an elected member of The University of New South Wales Council 2010-2012. 

Editorial roles

Since 2008 Elizabeth has co-edited Southerly, Australia's oldest literary journal. Southerly includes peer-reviewed scholarly essays, new creative fiction and poetry, and is funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and the NSW Ministry for the Arts. Issues edited by Elizabeth include:

  • The Sister Arts, 68.2 (2008)
  • Southerly at Seventy, 69.2 (2009) 
  • Romance, 70.2 (2010) 
  • Modern Mobilities, 71.1 (2011) 
  • Mid-century Women Writers, 72.1 (2011)
  • Islands and Archipelagos, 72.3 (2012)
  • Forward Thinking: Utopia and Apocalypse, 74.1 (2013)
  • Elemental, 75.1 (2014)
  • Naked Writer 2, 75.2 (2015)
  • War and Peace, 75.3  (2015) co-edited with David Brooks
  • Words and Music, 76.1 (2016) co-edited with Hannah Fink
  • Questionable Characters, 77.1 (2017) co-edited with David Brooks
  • Mixed Messages, 77.3 (2018) co-edited with Michelle Hamadache]
  • Violence, 78.2 (2019)
  • Southerly at 80! 79.1 (2020) 
  • Writing Through Fences 79.2 (2021). 

From 1998-2007 Elizabeth edited Australian Humanities Review, an AVCC-funded initiative to take Australian debate in the humanities online and showcase research to an international readership.

FRom 2013-2023 Elizabeth co-edited a book series titled, Rethinking the Island for Rowman and Littlefield International.

Elizabeth served on the executive of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for 6 years, with 2 years as President. 

My Research Supervision

Current PhD supervisions:

  • Rebecca Hamilton, Women and Homelessness. 
  • Celeste White, Postcolonial Gothic (joint with Fiona Morrison)
  • Xiaxia Zhang: The Writings of Brian Castro (joint with Brigitta Olubas).
  • Bonaventure Munganga, Australian Indigenous Speculative Fiction (joint with Brigitta Olubas).
  • Maria Jackson, Slave Narratives (joint with Brigitta Olubas).

Current Master of Arts Supervision

  • Sophia Compton, Reading Treaties, Sharing Power: Invitations found within Aboriginal Women's Contemporary Fiction (Joint with Fiona Morrison)

My Teaching

Elizabeth convenes and teaches

The First Year English and Creative Writing hybrid course, The Literature Laboratory 

The Second Year English course, Australian Literature 

The Second Year English course, Queer Modernisms.