Academy Fellow

Robert Aldrich is Professor of European History at the University of Sydney. He carries out research and teaches in the fields of modern European history, the history of colonialism and imperialism, and the history of sexuality. His recent publications include Gay Life Stories (Thames & Hudson, London, 2012), The Routledge History of Western Empires (co-edited with Kirsten McKenzie, Routledge, London, 2014), and Cultural Exchange and Homosexuality in Sri Lanka: Sex and Serendipity (Routledge, London, 2014). He is now engaged in an ARC-funded research project on the banishment of indigenous rulers by British and French colonial authorities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the lives of the former rulers and their entourages in exile, and their posthumous place in national historical narrative, commemoration and memory. Examples include the last king of Kandy (Sri Lanka), the last queen of Madagascar and three emperors of Vietnam. The research will culminate in a study of Banished Potentates, to be published by Manchester University Press in 2017. He is also co-editing (with Cindy McCreery) a collection on Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires, to be published by Manchester University Press in 2016.

Aldrich is a member of the advisory board of the journal Outre-Mers, The Journal of International History and French Cultural Studies. He has held fellowships at the Camargo Foundation and the Columbia University Institute for Scholars in France, and at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge University. He was decorated with the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 2002 for 'services to French culture'. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Aldrich is a former chair of the Department of History at Sydney University.

Authored Books

Economy and Society in Burgundy since 1850 (London: Croom Helm, and New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984). Pp. x + 246.

An Economic and Social History of Europe, 1890-1939 (with Frank B. Tipton) (London: Macmillan, and Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987). Pp. viii + 323.

An Economic and Social History of Europe from 1939 to the Present (with Frank B. Tipton) (London: Macmillan, and Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987). Pp. viii + 297.

The French Presence in the South Pacific, 1842-1940 (London: Macmillan, and Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990). Pp. xii + 387.

France’s Overseas Frontier: Départements et Territoires d’Outre-Mer (with John Connell) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Pp. x + 357.

France and the South Pacific since 1940 (London: Macmillan, and Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993). Pp. xii + 413.

The Seduction of the Mediterranean: Writing, Art and Homosexual Fantasy (London: Routledge, 1993). Pp. xi + 259.

Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (London: Macmillan, 1996). Pp. xvi + 369.

The Last Colonies (with John Connell) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pp. xiv + 335.

Colonialism and Homosexuality (London: Routledge, 2003). Pp. xii + 436.

Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France: Monuments, Museums and Colonial Memories (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Pp. x + 383.

Monuments et memoires. Les traces coloniales dans le paysage français (Paris: Publications de la Société française d’histoire d’Outre-Mer, 2011). Pp. 388.

Gay Life Stories (London: Thames & Hudson, London, 2012; published simultaneously in German and Spanish translations).

Cultural Encounters and Homosexuality in Sri Lanka: Sex and Serendipity (London: Routledge, 2014). Pp. xiv + 234.

Edited Books

France in World Politics (with John Connell) (London: Routledge, 1989). Pp. vi + 229.

France: Politics, Society, Culture and International Relations (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1990). Pp. x + 209.

France, Oceania and Australia: Past and Present (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1991). Pp. vi + 203.

Gay Perspectives: Essays in Australian Gay Culture (with Garry Wotherspoon) (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1992). Pp. v + 197.

Gay Perspectives II: More Essays in Australian Gay Culture (Sydney: Department of Economic History and Australian Centre for Lesbian and Gay Research, University of Sydney, 1994). Pp. vi + 360.

France Abroad: Indochina, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte (with Isabelle Merle) (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1997). Pp. vi + 169.

Gay and Lesbian Perspectives IV: Studies in Australian Culture (with Garry Wotherspoon) (Sydney: Department of Economic History and Australian Centre for Lesbian and Gay Rsearch, University of Sydney, 1998). Pp. iv + 264.

The Sphinx in the Tuileries and Other Essays in Modern French History (with Martyn Lyons) (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1999). Pp. iv + 406.

Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II (with Garry Wotherspoon) (London: Routledge, 2001). Pp. xx + 460.

Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day (with Garry Wotherspoon) (London: Routledge, 2001). Pp. xx + 502.

Gay Life and Culture: A World History (London: Thames and Hudson, and New York: Universe/Rizzoli, 2006 with subsequent translations into French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Polish, Croatian and Japanese; English paperback edition, 2010). Pp. vi + 384.

Lieux et moments de mémoire dans l’outre-mer français, special issue of Outre-mers (formerly, the Revue française d’histoire d’Outre-Mer), 1er semestre 2006. Pp. 5-192.

The Age of Empires (London: Thames and Hudson, 2007, with translations into German, Spanish, Estonian, Rumanian and Turkish). Pp. 320.

Rethinking and Rewriting Europe’s Histories (with Judith Keene), special issue of Australian Journal of Politics and History, Vol. 54, No. 3 (September 2008).

French History and Civilisation: Papers from the 2010 George Rudé Seminar (with Briony Neilson), H-France, 2011.

The Routledge History of Western Empires (with Kirsten McKenzie) (Routledge, London, 2014). Pp. xviiii + 522.

Chapters in Books

‘Commercial Relations between France and Australia’, in Anne-Marie Nisbet and Maurice Blackman (eds), The French-Australian Cultural Connection (Sydney: University of New South Wales, 1984), pp. 71-84.

• reprinted in Michel Fabre, Jacques Leclaire and Robert Mane (eds), Australia and Continental Europe / L’Australie et l’Europe continentale. Politique d’immigrations et échanges commerciaux (Rouen: Université de Rouen, 1987), pp. 19-29.

‘Les Relations internationales de l’Australie: de l’axe Canberra-Londres à une multipolarité’, in Georges Ordonnaud and Alain Sérieyx (eds), Australie ’88: Bicentennaire ou Naissance? (Paris: France-Empire, 1988), pp. 328-337.

‘The Place of New Caledonia in French Historiography’, in M. Spencer, A. Ward and J. Connell (eds), New Caledonia: Essays in Nationalism and Dependency (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1988), pp. 22-37.

• translated as ‘Place de la Nouvelle-Calédonie dans l’historiographie française’, in Michael Spencer, Alan Ward and John Connell (eds), Nouvelle-Calédonie. Essais sur le nationalisme et la dépendance (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1989), pp. 38-55.

‘The French Presence in the South Pacific’, in David Garrioch (ed.), Two Hundred Years of the French Revolution (Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press, 1989), pp. 143-147.

‘La Mission française en Australie de 1918: L’Australie et les relations franco-australiennes au lendemain de la guerre’, in André Dommergues and Maryvonne Nedeljkovic (eds), Les Français et l’Australie. Voyages de découvertes et missions scientifiques de 1756 à nos jours (Nanterre: Université de Paris X, 1989), pp. 295-306.

‘France in the South Pacific’, in John Ravenhill (ed.), American Lake No Longer? Alliance Problems in the South Pacific (Berkeley: University of California Press, and Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1989), pp. 76-105.

‘Beyond the Hexagon: France and World Politics’ (with John Connell), in Robert Aldrich and John Connell (eds), France in World Politics (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 1-16.

‘Remnants of Empire: France’s Overseas Departments and Territories’ (with John Connell), in Robert Aldrich and John Connell (eds), France in World Politics (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 148-169.

‘Francophonie: Language, Culture or Politics?’ (with John Connell), in Robert Aldrich and John Connell (eds), France in World Politics (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 170-193.

‘Die mediterrane Besessenheit: Ein Beispiel zur Frage der Homo-Imagination’, in Maria Kalveram and Wolfgang Popp (eds), Homosexualitäten-literarisch (Essen: Die Blaue Eule, 1991), pp. 13-21.

‘The Last Colonies: Failures of Decolonisation?’ (with John Connell), in Chris Dixon and Mike Heffernan (eds), Colonialism and Development in the Contemporary World (London: Mansell, 1991), pp. 183-203.

‘Europe’s Overseas Territories: Vestiges of Colonialism or Windows on the World?’ (with John Connell), in Helen M. Hintjens and Malyn D.D. Newitt (eds), The Political Economy of Tropical Islands: The Importance of Being Small (Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1991), pp. 30-41.

‘Not Just a Passing Fad: Gay Studies Comes of Age’, in Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon (eds), Gay Perspectives: Essays in Australian Gay Culture (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1992), pp. 1-30.

Reprinted in K.M. Phillips and B. Reay (eds), Sexualities in History: A Reader (London, Routledge, 2002).

‘Comment on “Laissez-Faire: Reflections on the French Foundation”’, in Peter Groenewegen (ed.), The Origins of Laissez-Faire in Retrospect and Prospect (Sydney: Department of Economics, University of Sydney, 1992), pp. 34-37.

‘Colonialism, Culture and Politics in the French Pacific’, in Wilfried Wagner (ed.), Rassendiskriminierung, Kolonialpolitik und ethnisch-nationale Identität (Bremen: LIT, 1992), pp. 217-230.

‘Writing the History of the French Pacific’, in Brij Lal (ed.), Pacific Islands History: Journeys and Transformations (Canberra: Journal of Pacific History, 1992), pp. 79-91.

‘Hommes blancs et hommes de couleurs: le voyage, le colonialisme et l’homosexualité en littérature’, in Rommel Mendès-Leite (ed.), Sodomites, invertis, homosexuels. Perspectives historiques (Lille: Cahiers GKC, 1994), pp. 87-98.

‘The New French Colonial History’, in F.J. Fornasiero (ed.), Culture and Ideology in Modern France: Essays in Honour of George Rudé, 1910-1993 (Adelaide: Department of French Studies, University of Adelaide, 1994), pp. 41-55.

‘From Francité to Créolité: French West Indian Literature Comes Home’, in Russell King, John Connell and Paul White (eds), Writing Across Worlds: Literature and Migraton (London: Routledge, 1995), pp. 101-124.

‘France in the Indian Ocean: Declining Independence in Mayotte’, in Robert Aldrich and Isabelle Merle (eds), France Abroad: Indochina, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1997), pp. 98-168.

‘Changing Images of the Pacific’, in Stephen Alomes and Michael Provis (eds), French Worlds, Pacific Worlds: French Nuclear Testing in Australia’s Backyard (Port Melbourne: Institute for the Study of French-Australian Relations, 1998), pp. 23-30.

‘Vestiges of the Colonial Empire: The Jardin Colonial in Paris’, in Robert Aldrich and Martyn Lyons (eds), The Sphinx in the Tuileries and Other Essays in Modern French History (Sydney: Department of Economic History, University of Sydney, 1999), pp. 194-204.

‘Le Guide de l’Exposition coloniale et l’idéologie coloniale de l’entre-deux-guerres’, in Gilles Chabaud et al. (eds), Les Guides imprimés du XVIe au XXe siècle. Villes, paysages, voyages (Paris: Belin, 2000), pp. 607-618.

‘Frankreich und Deutschland in südlichen Pazifik’, in Hermann Joseph Hiery (ed.), Die deutsche Südsee 1884-1914: Ein Handbuch (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2001), pp. 748-772.

‘Colonial Paris: Colonial Names in Paris Streets’, in Tony Chafer and Amanda Sackur (eds), Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda and Visions of Empire in France (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), pp. 211-223.

‘Homosexuality in the French Colonies’, in Jeffrey Merrick and Michael Sibalis (eds), Homosexuality in French History and Culture (New York: Harrington Park Press, 2001), pp. 201-218.

‘Les “dernières colonies” dans les années 1980: les épreuves de la décolonisation dans les pays d’outre-mer’, in Jean-Marc Regnault (ed.), François Mitterrand et les territories français du Pacifique (1981-1988) (Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2003), pp. 519-526.

‘The Algerian War in France: Memories and Memorials’, in Stephan Atzert and Andrew Bonnell (eds), Europe’s Pasts and Presents (Unley, SA: Australian Humanities Press, 2004), pp. 1-17.

‘Monuments aux Morts and Colonial Memories: The Mémorial des Guerres en Indochine’, in Greg Burgess (ed.), Revolution, Nation and Memory (Hobart: School of History and Classics, University of Tasmania, 2004), pp. 264-275.

‘Le musée colonial impossible’, in Pascal Blanchard and Nicolas Bancel (eds), Culture post-coloniale (Paris: Autrement, 2007), pp. 83-101.

‘Colonial Man, 1870-1962’, in Christopher E. Forth and Bertrand Taithe (eds), French Masculinities: History, Culture and Politics (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), pp. 123-140.

‘Memorials to French Colonial Soldiers from the Great War’, Collectif de Recherche International et de Débat sur la Guerre de 1914-1918 (www.crid1418.org) (2007).

‘La Redécouverte du Pacifique’, in Jean-Marc Regnault (with Viviane Fayaud) (ed.), La Nouvelle-Calédonie: vingt années de concorde (1988-2008) (Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2008).

‘A Poet’s Politics: Jean Sénac’s Writings during the Algerian War’, in Hafid Gafaïti, Patricia M.E. Lorcin and David G. Troyansky (eds), Transnational Spaces and Identities in the Francophone World (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009), pp. 149-181.

‘Marshal Lyautey’s Funerals: The Death and Afterlife of a French Colonial Hero’, in Vesna Drapac and André Lambelet (eds), French History and Civilization: Papers from the George Rudé Seminar, H-France, Volume 2 (2009), pp. 137-152.

‘France’s Colonial Island: Corsica and Empire’, in Gemma N. Betros (ed.), French History and Civilzation: Papers from the George Rudé Seminar, Volume 3 (2009), pp. 112-125.

‘The British and French Empires and the Great War’ (with Chris Hilliard), in John Horne (ed.), A Companion to World War I (Oxford: Blackwell, 2010), pp. 524-539.

‘Colonial Violence and Postcolonial France’, in Craig Browne and Justine McGill (eds), Violence in France and Australia: Disorder in the Postcolonial Welfare State (Sydney: University of Sydney Press, 2010), pp. 103-126.

‘Ends of Empire: Decolonising the Nation in British and French Historiography’ (with Stuart Ward), in Stefan Berger (ed.), Nationalizing the Past (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2011).

‘France and the Patrimoine of the Empire: Heritage Policy under Colonial Rule’, in Briony Neilson and Robert Aldrich (eds), French History and Civilisation: Papers from the 2010 George Rudé Seminar (on line at H-France)

‘The Colonial Past and the Post-Colonial Present’, in Martin Thomas (ed.), The French Colonial Mind, Volume 2: Violence, Military Encounters, and Colonialism (University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2011), pp. 334-356.

‘When Did Decolonisation End? France and the Ending of Empire’, in Alfred W. McCoy, Josep Maria Fradera and Stephen Jacobson (eds), Endless: Spain’s Retreat, Europe’s Eclipse, America’s Decline (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2012), pp. 216-229.

‘Sex Matters: Sexuality, Colonialism and History-Writing’, in Andrew Thompson (ed.), Writing Imperial Histories: A Critical Evaluation of the Studies in Imperialism Series (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013).

‘Politics in the Pacific’, in David Armitage and Alison Bashford (eds), Pacific Histories: Ocean, Land, People (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

‘The Impossible Colonial Museum’, revised and updated version of chapter previously published in French in Nicolas Bancel et al. (eds), Colonial Culture in France (Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2013).

Articles in Refereed Journals

‘Politics and Economics in a French City: Félix-Adrien Kir and the Development of Dijon’, The Maryland Historian [USA], Vol. XI, No. 2, Fall 1980, pp. 1-11.

‘Putting Historians in Their Place: Trends in Local History’, The Maryland Historian [USA], Vol. XII, No. 1, Spring 1981, pp. 37-46.

‘Louis Chevalier, Historien de Paris et des Parisiens’, Contemporary French Civilization [USA], Vol. VI, No. 3, Spring 1982, pp. 335-341.

‘A la Recherche du village perdu’, Journal of Social History [USA], Vol. 15, No. 3, Spring 1982, pp. 513-520.

‘Homosexuality in France’, Contemporary French Civilization [USA], Vol. VII, No. 1, Fall 1982, pp. 1-19.

‘The Building of Manhattan-sur-Seine’, Journal of Urban History [USA], Vol. 9, No. 1, November 1982, pp. 89-97.

‘From Sodomy to Sub-culture: A Survey of Male Gay History’, Gay Information [Australia], No. 13, Autumn 1983, pp. 7-14.

‘Pasolini as Writer / Pasolini as Subject’, Gay Information [Australia], No. 14-15, 1984, pp. 10-20.

‘France and Australia’, Contemporary French Civilization [USA], Vol. X, No. 1, Fall/Winter 1986, pp. 163-173.

‘New Caledonia: The Current Crisis in Historical Perspective’, Contemporary French Civilization [USA], Vol. X, No. 2, Spring/Summer 1986, pp. 175-209.

‘Late-Comer or Early Starter? New Views on French Economic History’, Journal of European Economic History [Italy], Vol. 16, No. 1, 1987, pp. 89-100.

‘L’Australie et la France dans le Pacifique: contentieux actuel et arrière-plan historique’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes [France], No. 84, 1987, pp. 93-98.

‘A Note on the Renewal of Colonial Studies in France’, Contemporary French Civilization [USA], Vol. XII, No. 2, Summer/Fall 1988, pp. 263-268.

‘French Voyages to Australia’, The Great Circle [Australia], Vol. 10, No. 2, October 1988, pp. 154-156.

‘Weisse und farbige Männer. Reisen, Kolonialismus und Homosexualität’, Forum: Homosexualität und Literatur [Germany], No. 7, 1989, pp. 5-24.

‘Rediscovering the Pacific: A Critique of French Geopolitical Analysis’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes [France], No. 87, 1989, pp. 57-71.

‘European Expansion in the Island Pacific: An Historiographical Review’, Itinerario [The Netherlands], Vol. 13, No. 2, 1989, pp. 87-102.

- reprinted in Annick Foucrier (ed.), The French and the Pacific World, 17th-19th Centuries (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), pp. 1-16.

‘Le Lobby colonial de l’Océanie française’, Revue Française d’Histoire d’Outre-Mer [France], Vol. 76, No. 284-285, 1989 [published 1990], pp. 411-424.

‘La Condition ouvrière australienne vue par un syndicaliste français: Le Rapport Thomsen’, Mouvement Social [France], No. 167, 1994, pp. 149-162.

‘France in Oceania: History, Historiography, Ideology’, Pacific Studies [USA], Vol. 18, No. 3, 1995, pp. 133-142.

‘Homosexuality and Colonialism’, Thamyris: Mythmaking from Past to Present [The Netherlands], Vol. 3, No. 1, 1996, pp. 175-191.

‘The Ends of Empire’ (with John Connell), The World Today [UK], Vol. 54, No. 2, February 1998, pp. 51-54.

‘The Decolonisation of the Pacific Islands’, Itinerario [The Netherlands], Vol. 24, No. 3-4, 2000, pp. 173-191.

‘Imperial mise en valeur and mise en scène: Recent Works on French Colonialism’, The Historical Journal, Vol. 45, No. 4 (2002), pp. 917-936.

‘Homosexuality and the City: An Historiographical Overview’, Urban Studies, Vol. 41, No. 9 (2004), pp. 1719-1737.

‘Abroad and Home: Colonial Culture in France’, Modern and Contemporary France, Vol. 14, No. 2 (May 2006), pp. 235-242.

‘Colonial Past, Post-Colonial Present: History Wars French-Style’, History Australia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (June 2006).

‘Coming to Terms with the Colonial Past: The French and Others’, Arts: The Journal of the Sydney University Arts Association, Vol. 28 (2006), pp. 91-116.

‘1931, les étrangers au temps de l’Exposition coloniale’, Vingtième siècle, No. 100 (Oct-Dec. 2008), pp. 208-212.

‘Colonial Museums in a Postcolonial Europe’, Africa and Black Diaspora: An International Journal (special issue on ‘Museums in Postcolonial Europe’, edited by Dominic Thomas), Vol. 2, No. 2 (July 2009), pp. 137-156.

‘The French Empire: Its Historical Past and its Contemporary Legacy’, European History Quarterly, Vol. 40 (2010), pp. 97-108.

‘Remembrances of Empires Past’, Portal: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2010)

‘Celebration, Commemoration and the Post-colonial World’, Ex Plus Ultra, Vol. 3 (2012), pp. 1-11.

‘Commemorating Colonialism in a Post-Colonial World’, E-rea: Revue électronique d’études sur le monde Anglophone (on-line), 10.1 | 2012 hppt://erea.revues.org/2803

‘Pacific Sex: Theory and Practice’, Transnational Subjects: History, Society and Culture, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2013), pp. 237-242.

‘French Colonisers and Vietnamese Emperors’, papers of 2012 George Rudé Seminar in French History (by H-France, on-line)

Forthcoming publications

'Out of Ceylon: The Exile of the Last King of Kandy', in Ronit Ricci (ed.), Exile in Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2015).

'Empire and Nation-Building in France’, commissioned chapter in book edited by Stefan Berger and Alexei Miller, for publication by Central European University Press in 2015

'Apologies, Restitution and Compensation: Making Amends for Empire', in Martin Thomas and Andrew Thompson (eds), The Oxford Handbook on the Ends of Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

‘Gay Migration, 19th-21st Centuries’, in Immanuel Ness (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration (New York : Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming).

‘Sex and Empire’, commissioned for John McKenzie (ed.), Encyclopedia of Empire, for Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester.

‘France in the South Pacific’, commissioned for John McKenzie (ed.), Encyclopedia of Empire, for Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester.