Professor Robyn Ferrell
Gender and Cultural Studies
Professor Ferrell likes to write in the space between ideas and feelings. Sometimes this becomes philosophy, sometimes creative writing.
Professor Ferrell is currently an Honorary Professor in Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. She also works with a feminist research group in sociology at the Australian National University, and is a member of the Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at Adelaide University.
Professor Ferrell has written several books of philosophy. The most recent, Philosophical Essays on Free Stuff, appeared with Lexington Books in 2021. This book explores the ‘culture industry’ and the problem of free stuff through several different lenses.
Professor Ferrell wrote her 2012 book Sacred Exchanges: Images in Global Context on Aboriginal women’s acrylic painting, after research in outback art galleries and international art museums. The book, which was also an ARC project, explored the aesthetics of abstraction and the relationship between art and law in Indigenous art. It was published with Columbia UP in 2012.
Professor Ferrell also writes creative nonfiction. The Real Desire (2004, Indra Press) was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award.
Professor Ferrell's research interests include the writing of cultural theory, the politics of gender and the theory of art.
Selected publications
(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020)
(Columbia University Press, 2012)
Publications
Books
- Ferrell, R. (2020). Philosophical Essays on Free Stuff. USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Ferrell, R. (2012). Sacred Exchanges: Images in Global Context. New York: Columbia University Press.
Book Chapters
- Ferrell, R. (2014). Pinjarra 1970: Shame and the Country Town. In Timothy Neale, Crystal McKinnon, Eve Vincent (Eds.), History, Power, Text: Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies, (pp. 122-137). Sydney: UTSePress.
Journals
- Ferrell, R. (2019). Quairading 1960. Westerly, 64(1), 100-108.
- Ferrell, R. (2013). Market Sentiments, review of Helen Grace Speculation. Eyeline, 77.
- Ferrell, R. (2013). Taboo: Brook Andrews, review. Eyeline, 78/79.
2020
- Ferrell, R. (2020). Philosophical Essays on Free Stuff. USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
2019
- Ferrell, R. (2019). Quairading 1960. Westerly, 64(1), 100-108.
2014
- Ferrell, R. (2014). Pinjarra 1970: Shame and the Country Town. In Timothy Neale, Crystal McKinnon, Eve Vincent (Eds.), History, Power, Text: Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies, (pp. 122-137). Sydney: UTSePress.
2013
- Ferrell, R. (2013). Market Sentiments, review of Helen Grace Speculation. Eyeline, 77.
- Ferrell, R. (2013). Taboo: Brook Andrews, review. Eyeline, 78/79.
- Ferrell, R. (2013). Untitled (mixed media; black&white). Berfrois, 8 May.
2012
- Ferrell, R. (2012). Sacred Exchanges: Images in Global Context. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Ferrell, R. (2012). Sally is a Block of Ice: Revis(it)ing the Figure of Woman in Philosophy. PhiloSOPHIA, 2(2), 194-206.
2011
- Ferrell, R. (2011). Income Outcome: Life in the Corporate University. Cultural Studies Review, 17(2), 165-182. [More Information]