Langton awarded inaugural Rechnitz Memorial Award

The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has announced academic, author and activist Marcia Langton as the inaugural winner of the Rechnitz Memorial Award, which recognises “excellence in research leadership and advancement of knowledge of Indigenous society, culture and language”.

Langton, a descendant of the Yiman and Bidjara nations, has spent more than four decades championing the rights, voices, and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, said the award announcement. Trained as an anthropologist and geographer, she is foundation chair of Australian Indigenous Studies and an associate provost at the University of Melbourne. In 2003, Langton was made a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the first Indigenous scholar to join the academy.

Her books include Welcome to Country: A Travel Guide to Indigenous Australia (Hardie Grant) and First Knowledges Law: The Way of the Ancestors (with Aaron Corn, T&H). She also contributed to this year’s The Australian Wars (edited by Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray & Henry Reynolds, A&U).

Academy president Kate Darian Smith said, “Marcia is a force of nature. She is a highly influential teacher, scholar, advocate and spokesperson for Aboriginal people and the social sciences. [She] continues to make Australia better with her irrepressible commitment to knowledge, fairness, empowerment and reconciliation.”

The Rechnitz Memorial Award is open to Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, with the winner invited to participate in an online interview and present a lecture within 12 months of winning the award. Langton will deliver the first Rechnitz Lecture in early 2026.

A video interview with Langton on receipt of the award can be viewed on the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia YouTube channel.

Category: Awards Local news