Jakelin Troy

Jakelin Troy
FASSA
Jakelin Troy in 2019
Born
Jakelin Fleur Troy

1960 (age 63–64)
Occupation(s)Linguist and sociologist
Academic background
EducationUniversity of Sydney BA (Hons)
University of Canberra GradDipEd
Alma materAustralian National University PhD 1994
ThesisMelaleuka : a history and description of New South Wales pidgin
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Sydney
Main interestsLanguage revival, Aboriginal languages, history, and culture
Notable worksThe Sydney Language (1994)

Jakelin Fleur Troy FASSA (born 1960) is an Australian linguist and sociologist, and academic, as of August 2024 Director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at the University of Sydney. She is known for her 1994 work, The Sydney Language.

Early life and education

Jakelin Fleur Troy[1] was born in 1960 and grew up mainly in Sydney's Northern Beaches, around Narrabeen, but also travelled around Australia. As a young child she spent a year in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory with her father. Her origins are in the Ngarigu people of the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales, and her mother, who founded a ski club in Thredbo, took her to the mountains regularly, especially Tumut. She loved horses and continues to ride.[2]

She received a first-class honours BA degree from the University of Sydney, and then did a GradDipEducation at the University of Canberra.[3]

In 1994 she wrote her doctoral thesis about the origin and development "New South Wales Pidgin", the first pidgin English language in Australia. It was titled "Melaleuka: a history and description of New South Wales pidgin" at the Australian National University.[1][4]

Career

Troy's work has focused on documenting and reviving Aboriginal Australian languages, but she also works with other indigenous languages and cultures.[2] In 1994 she published The Sydney Language, about the language spoken by the Dharug people of the Sydney area before colonisation. It includes word listss of Dharug / Darug words with their English equivalents.[5]

She worked for the New South Wales Board of Studies, where she began writing what later became the Aboriginal Languages Syllabus K-10, which was implemented in 2005, "the first schools syllabus in Australia to support the teaching of all the languages of a state or territory". She later helped to write, along with Michael Walsh and Doug Marmion, the Framework for Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages, which was to become part of the languages national curriculum. She is passionate about language revival.[6]

She authored an essay in and co-edited the volume Everywhen: Australia and the Language of Deep History (University of Nebraska, 2023),[2] with Ann McGrath and Laura Rademaker.[7][8]

As of August 2024 she is director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research and a professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney. Recent research interests include Indigenous languages of Pakistan, including Saraiki and Torwali. She is involved with Australian Research Council Discovery Projects: one with John Maynard on the history of Aboriginal missions and reserves in eastern Australia, and about Aboriginal people who were not institutionalised; and the other about the practice of "corroboree" by Aboriginal people in the mid-20th century.[3]

Other activities

Troy was editor-in-chief of Ab-Original: Journal of Indigenous Studies and First Nations and First Peoples' Cultures,[9] published by Penn State University Press in the United States.[10] The first issue was published in 2017,[11] but as of 2023 appears to be archived.[12]

She is part of a team working to revise the Australian Dictionary of Biography to include Indigenous biographies at the National Centre for Biography at the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.[13]

She is also a member of the Charles Perkins Centre, the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, and the Sydney Environment Institute, based at Sydney University.[3]

She has frequently been published or quoted in major newspapers and websites such as The Guardian[14] The Sydney Morning Herald,[15] SBS News,[16] The Conversation,[17] and ABC News,[18] as well as featuring on ABC Local Radio[19][20][13] and Radio National.[2]

Recognition and awards

In 2019,Troy was named as one of Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence.[21]

She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2022.[22]

Selected works

  • The Sydney Language (1994)
  • Music, Dance and the Archive (Co-editor, with Amanda Harris and Linda Barwick; Sydney University Press, 2022)[23]
  • Everywhen: Australia and the Language of Deep History (Co-editor, with Ann McGrath and Laura Rademaker; University of Nebraska, 2023)

Personal life

Jakelin has an adult daughter. As of 2023, she was living in the house where her grandmother used to live.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Troy, Jakelin Fleur (1994). "Melaleuka : a history and description of New South Wales pidgin". Open Research. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Troy, Jakelin (18 June 2023). "Jakelin Troy on how different conceptions of history might change our lives" (audio (24:50) + text). ABC listen (Interview). RN's Big Weekend of Books. Interviewed by Behrendt, Larissa. Radio National. Retrieved 6 August 2024. I was born in 1960.
  3. ^ a b c "Professor Jakelin Troy". The University of Sydney. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  4. ^ Troy, Jakelin Fleur (1994). "Melaleuka : a history and description of New South Wales pidgin". ANU Open Research Laboratory. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  5. ^ Troy, Jakelin (2019), The Sydney language / Jakelin Troy (catalogue entry), Aboriginal Studies Press, ISBN 9781925302868, retrieved 6 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia, First published in 1994.
  6. ^ Troy, Jakelin (1 December 2015). "The first time I spoke in my own language I broke down and wept". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Everywhen". Nebraska Press. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  8. ^ Clark, Anna (6 February 2024). "'Dates add nothing to our culture': Everywhen explores Indigenous deep history, challenging linear, colonial narratives". The Conversation. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Jakelin Troy". UNSW Press. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  10. ^ "ab-Original". Scholarly Publishing Collective. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  11. ^ "ab-Original: Journal of Indigenous Studies and First Nations and First Peoples´Cultures". Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals and Series (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  12. ^ "2023 Journals" (PDF). Penn State University. 2022. p. 42.
  13. ^ a b Huynh, Kim (23 August 2023). "Ngarigu: First Nations People of Snow Country". ABC listen. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Jakelin Troy". The Guardian. 28 December 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  15. ^ Knott, Matthew (2 July 2022). "Census 2021 results: Indigenous identification rise of 25 per cent splits community leaders". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  16. ^ Occhiuzzi, Tys (20 July 2021). "Traditional owners concerned with plan to dump spoil in Kosciuszko National Park". NITV. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Jakelin Troy". The Conversation. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Dr G Yunupingu died a needless death after a life of inhuman treatment. We must work harder to close the gap". ABC News. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  19. ^ Francis, Adrienne (8 October 2021). "ANU team lead efforts to update indigenous dictionary of biography". ABC listen. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Self Improvement: Acknowledgement of Country". ABC listen. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  21. ^ "Academics celebrated as AFR Women of Influence". The University of Sydney. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Academy Fellow: Professor Jakelin Troy FASSA". Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  23. ^ "Music, Dance and the Archive". Sydney University Press. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2024.