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CLENDINNEN, Inga Vivienne (1934-2016)

Clendinnen, Inga Vivienne AO (nee Jewell)
House Captains 1951, Inga far right

House Captains 1951, Inga far right


MOC 1946-1951
MA (Melb) DLitte (LaTrobe), Hon DLitt (UNSW), FAHA,
Emeritus Scholar, LaTrobe University since 1992


Inga Jewell was born 17 August 1934, Geelong, to Thomas William Jewell and Catherine Barlow. Thomas was a furniture maker who later served on the City of Geelong Council.

Inga attended Morongo from 1946 to her matriculation in 1951. She was an academic student, serving as Prefect in her final year, as well as being the Arden House captain, on the Library Committee, Co-Editress of the Lucernian magazine and member of the History Club. Entering the University of Melbourne in 1952, she received a major Resident Scholarship for Entrance to the Women’s College as well as Commonwealth Scholarship and University Exhibition due to her Matriculation Examination marks. She also shared the Cromarty Prize in English Literature, awarded by the University for second place in English Literature in the Matriculation examination.

Whilst her studies continued, Inga married Frederick John Clendinnen in 1955. They had two children.

Inga became an anthropologist and historian and worked as an academic fellow, first at the University of Melbourne as a Senior Tutor for 12 years (1956-1968) after completing her undergraduate studies there. She then moved to Latrobe University where she became a Lecturer (1969), then Senior Lecturer (1982), and finally a Reader in History (1989-1991).

Also, while developing her academic studies, she had established an international reputation as a specialist in the history of the Spanish and Mexican colonial encounter. From 1983-1987 she became a Fellow at the Shelby Cullom Davis Centre for Historical Studies, Princeton University and School of Historical Studies, Institute of Advanced Study Princeton. She was also awarded prizes for her research: at the International Conference for Latin American History (1980), the Spain and American Quinn Centennial prize (1988) and the American Ethnological History Society prize (1991). Inga was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan (1987).

Her academic career was interrupted when she developed autoimmune hepatitis and after fours years, underwent a liver transplant at the Austin Hospital around 1994. Her illness inspired her to write, to record her own history. It became ‘Tigers Eye: A Memoir’, published in 2000. While the illness would halt her academic career, she would continue historical research and writing.

Publications include:
'Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatán, 1517-1570' (1987)
'Aztecs: An Interpretation' (1991)
'Reading the Holocaust' (1998)
'True Stories' (1999)
'Tiger's Eye: A Memoir' (2000)
'Dancing with Strangers: Europeans and Australians at First Contact' (2003)
'True Stories: History, Politics, Aboriginality' (2008) (2nd ed.)
'The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society: Essays on Mesoamerican Society and Culture' (2010)
'Agamemnon's Kiss: Selected Essays' (2006)
'The History Question: Who Owns the Past?' (2006)

Inga received many prizes for her writing:
Herbert Eugene Bolton Memorial Prize for Ambivalent Conquests (1988)
Judah Waten Short Story Writing Award (pen name Vivienne Barlow) (1992)
NSW History Awards, Premier's General History Prize for Reading the Holocaust (1999)
National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category for Reading the Holocaust (1999)
The New York Times Best Book of the Year for Reading the Holocaust (1999)
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Gleebooks Prize for Critical Writing for Reading the Holocaust (2000)
Kibble Literary Award for Women Writer’s (2001)
Adelaide Festival Award for Innovation for Tiger's Eye (2002)
New South Wales Premier's History Award for her piece "History Here: a Vier from Outside" (2003)
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction for ‘Dancing with Strangers’. This book was also awarded the Queensland Premiers Literary Award for Best History Book, Kirryama Prize for Non-Fiction. (2004)
ASA (Australian Society of Authors) biennial medal (2005)
Officer of the Order of Australia for her services as a writer and historian (2006)
Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal (2007)
Dan David Prize (2016)

Inga was awarded the Order of Australia in 2006 for her work as a writer and historian in addressing issues of fundamental concern for Australian Society. This award was noted in the Parliament of New South Wales Upper House, by a motion passed unanimously paying tribute to scholarship as a historian and anthropologist.

Inga passed away 8 September 2016, in Melbourne.


Sources: P. M. Dwyer (nee Honey), 'Who’s Who in Victoria' 2008, 'The Age Good Weekend' 16 Aug 2014.

Further reading:
https://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/clendinnen/bio.html
http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0263b.htm
https://www.smh.com.au/national/inga-clendinnen-the-rarest-kind-of-figure-in-australian-intellectual-and-literary-life-20160915-grgmhq.html
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