Catherine Helen Spence Oration 2026
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Emerita Prof. Carol Johnson will present this year's Catherine Helen Spence Oration, with an address entitled: 'Faith in Politics and the Role of the Religious Right.'
Catherine Helen Spence's support for progressive reform and social justice was underpinned by her faith. This lecture discusses the role of religion in politics, providing some historical background but mainly looking at the current day. In particular, the lecture looks at the role of the religious right's political attempts, here and overseas, to resist and even turn back contemporary social reforms in areas ranging from welfare provision to racial, sexual and gender equality. As a consequence, the lecture argues that faith itself has become an increasingly important site of political contest.
Carol Johnson, PhD, FASSA, is an Emerita Professor of Politics at Adelaide University, in the School of Society and Culture and a long-term member of the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender. She has published extensively on Australian and comparative politics with a particular interest in ideology, social democracy and the politics of gender and sexuality. Her most recent books are The Politics of Gender Equality: Australian Lessons in an Uncertain World, open access, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024 and Social Democracy and the Crisis of Equality: Australian Social Democracy in a Changing World, Springer 2019.
Catherine Helen Spence's support for progressive reform and social justice was underpinned by her faith. This lecture discusses the role of religion in politics, providing some historical background but mainly looking at the current day. In particular, the lecture looks at the role of the religious right's political attempts, here and overseas, to resist and even turn back contemporary social reforms in areas ranging from welfare provision to racial, sexual and gender equality. As a consequence, the lecture argues that faith itself has become an increasingly important site of political contest.
Carol Johnson, PhD, FASSA, is an Emerita Professor of Politics at Adelaide University, in the School of Society and Culture and a long-term member of the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender. She has published extensively on Australian and comparative politics with a particular interest in ideology, social democracy and the politics of gender and sexuality. Her most recent books are The Politics of Gender Equality: Australian Lessons in an Uncertain World, open access, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024 and Social Democracy and the Crisis of Equality: Australian Social Democracy in a Changing World, Springer 2019.