Patrick Wolfe collection
Victoria University Library manages the monograph collection on behalf of the Aboriginal History Archive, Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit.
Special collections items can't be borrowed, but may be viewed on appointment in the special collections reading room on level 4 of the Footscray Park Campus library in consultation with the Aboriginal History Archive.
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Who was Patrick Wolfe?
Patrick Wolfe was a historian and scholar in the field of settler colonial studies. His book, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology, was published in 1999. This account of European settlement and colonialisation of Australia, with other examples of colonial settlement, had worldwide impact. His work involved the study of race and settler colonialism in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Israel and India.
He held research and teaching positions at several Australian universities including Victoria University, University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. His research had impact in Australia and internationally, leading to discussion and debate, all adding to the conversation on settler colonialism.
Patrick Wolfe passed away in 2016 but the impact of his work will continue many years into the future.
What's in the collection?
The collection contains around 1400 books and a few single journal issues, which formed the library of Patrick Wolfe at the time of his death in 2016. It is a snapshot of a time in history and the study of race, colonialism, Aboriginal histories, genocide, theories of imperialism, and the history of anthropology. A wide range of subject areas are represented in the collection including indigenous peoples, religion, philosophy, race, Marxism, and women’s rights.
Works in the collection written by Patrick Wolfe include:
- Settler colonialism and the transformation of anthropology
- Logics of elimination: colonial policies on indigenous peoples in Australia and the United States
- Sovereignty: frontiers of possibility
- Land, labor, and difference: elementary structures of race
- On being woken up: the Dreamtime in anthropology and in Australian settler culture
- History and imperialism: a century of theory from Marx to postcolonialism
- Traces of history : elementary structures of race.
Access to the collection
The Patrick Wolfe collection is a research collection. In the library catalogue, these items have the prefix FTS WOLFE COLL. before the shelf number.
Victoria University Library manages the collection on behalf of the Aboriginal History Archive, Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit. The items can't be borrowed, but may be viewed on appointment.
To access material in the collection, please email our special collections librarians. You will receive an emailed response within 48 hours (Monday-Friday). Requests will be considered and confirmation may need to be sought from the Aboriginal History Archive. You can view the items in the special collections reading room on level 4 of the Footscray Park campus library.