Tim Soutphommasane

Early life

Soutphommasane

His family was resettled by the Family Reunion Program of the Australian Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs to Sydney's south-western suburbs in 1985, where he was raised. He was educated at Hurlstone Agricultural High School.

Academia

Soutphommasane graduated from the University of Sydney with a first-class honours degree. He was then a Commonwealth Scholar and Jowett Senior Scholar at Balliol College of the University of Oxford where he completed a Master of Philosophy with distinction and a Doctor of Philosophy in political theory.

From 2010 to 2012, he was a Lecturer in Australian Studies and a Research Fellow at the National Centre for Australian Studies of Monash University. He was one of six chief investigators on an Australian Research Council Linkage project studying the history of ANZAC Day.

In 2019, he was appointed Professor of Practice in Sociology and Political Theory at the University of Sydney to teach human rights related theory.

Journalism

Soutphommasane was a regular writer for The Australian newspaper, to which he contributed feature articles and the Ask the Philosopher column each Saturday. He also wrote for The Monthly magazine. While living in England, Soutphommasane was a freelance journalist, contributing blog entries to The Guardian and The Financial Times, as well as opinion pieces and reviews to The Spectator, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Writing

Soutphommasane's first book Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-Building for Australian Progressives was published in 2009. Loosely based on research undertaken toward his doctoral thesis, the book argues that people with progressive politics must re-engage with ideas of patriotism and national identity, which Soutphommasane claims were surrendered to the right during the Prime Ministership of John Howard.

His The Virtuous Citizen: Patriotism in a Multicultural Society was published in 2012 and Don't Go Back To Where You Came From: Why Multiculturalism Works, published the next year, won the NSW Premier's Literary Award in the 'Community Relations Commission Award' section.

Other roles

Soutphommasane was appointed to the Council for Multicultural Australia in August 2011.

Political activity

Soutphommasane joined the Australian Labor Party in 1998, aged 15. He later worked on the speechwriting staff of then New South Wales Premier Bob Carr.

Books

• Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-Building for Australian Progressives (Port Melb: Cambridge University Press, 2009) Paperback,
• Don't Go Back To Where You Came From: Why Multiculturalism Works (New South Books, 2012)
• The Virtuous Citizen: Patriotism in a Multicultural Society (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
• I'm Not Racist but... (NewSouth Publishing, 2015)
• On Hate (Melbourne University Press, 2019)

References

References

1. (20 August 2013). "Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane". [[Australian Human Rights Commission]] (Humanrights.gov.au).
2. "Council members: Australian Multicultural Council". Amc.gov.au.
3. (16 August 2012). "The NS Profile: Tim Soutphommasane". newstatesman.com.
4. (1 December 2009). "Tim Soutphommasane: Taking back the light". [[The University of Sydney]] (Usyd.edu.au).
5. (10 January 2013). "Anzac Day at Home and Abroad: A Centenary History of Australia's National Day: Team". [[Monash University]]-Faculty of Arts.
6. "Dr Tim Soutphommasane-Biography". Monash University.
7. "Tim Soutphommasane returns to the University of Sydney".
8. Soutphommasane, ''Reclaiming Patriotism'' (Port Melb: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p.''i''. Paperback, {{ISBN. 978-0-521-13472-9
9. Soutphommasane, Tim. (2012). "The Virtuous Citizen: Patriotism in a Multicultural Society". Cambridge University Press.
10. (19 May 2013). "Winners announced for 2013 NSW Premier's Literary Awards". State Library of New South Wales.
11. (22 August 2011). "Speech to the Australian Multicultural Council Launch, Canberra". [[Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia)]].