Alana Piper – The Conversation

William King circa 1890. Public Records Office, Victoria

October 21, 2020

The tale of ‘habitual criminal’ William King: a Black life in Victoria’s white justice system

Alana Piper, University of Technology Sydney

The case of an African-American sailor who arrived in Melbourne in 1887 illustrates the long history of excessive punishment of Black bodies.

Though illegal, fortune telling was only sporadically prosecuted. Here, two women set up tents at the 1913 Adelaide Children’s Hospital fete. State Library of SA

February 3, 2020

Did they see it coming? How fortune‑telling took hold in Australia ‑ with women as clients and criminals

Alana Piper, University of Technology Sydney

In the early 1900s, fortune-telling provided entertainment, social connection and a job for some Australians. Its legal status made criminals of women, yet allowed others entry to the police force.

Violence against women is often represented as a timeless and universal phenomenon, creating the view the problem is too large to fix, or that only the worst abuses are worthy of attention. James Ross/AAP Image

July 14, 2019

The long history of gender violence in Australia, and why it matters today

Alana Piper, University of Technology Sydney and Ana Stevenson, University of the Free State

History shows that domestic violence has been deeply entrenched in the culture of Australia from its early days. Progress is only made by understanding this history – and talking about it.

In a survey of 159 academics, nearly half reported sexual abuse or harassment. "Fight sexism": graffiti in Turin November 2016

July 1, 2018

Sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination ‘rife’ among Australian academics

Laura Rademaker, Australian National University; Alana Piper, University of Technology Sydney; Andy Kaladelfos, Griffith University; Jordana Silverstein, The University of Melbourne; Katherine Ellinghaus, The University of Melbourne; Mary Tomsic, The University of Melbourne; Naomi Wolfe, Australian Catholic University; Nikki Henningham, and Yves Rees, La Trobe University

Academics and PhD students from a number of Australian universities have reported sexualised bullying, unfair workloads, sexual harassment and in some cases even sexual assault, usually from their superiors and supervisors.

Are women really each other’s worst enemies? Probably not. Everett Collection/Shutterstock

September 23, 2015

The myth that women secretly hate other women has a long history

Alana Piper, Griffith University

Depictions of women bullying women are a mainstay of reality television shows, just as reports of Twitter fights between female celebrities are regular tabloid fare. It’s a phenomenon with a long history.

Contact Alana for