DrMia Martin Hobbs

I am an oral historian of war and its legacies, with interests in memory, trauma, place, gender, peace, and security.

My doctoral project was a transnational oral history of American and Australian Vietnam veterans who returned to Vietnam after the war. My award-winning book, Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans' Journeys, is the first historical study of veterans' journeys. It examines why veterans returned and how they reacted to their former enemies, allies, and battlefields as the war receded into history and memory. Through their stories, the book explores the continuing effects of the Vietnam War on Australian, American, and Vietnamese culture, politics, and foreign relations.

From 2021 to 2024, I was a research fellow on the ARC project "A Conceptual History of National Security in Australia since 1901" at Deakin University. This project explored what the concept of national security has meant to Australians since 1901, and how its meanings have changed over time. With David Lowe and Carolyn Holbook, I am co-authoring National Security in Australia: Identity, Authority and the State since 1901 (forthcoming Anthem, 2027).

With Carolyn Holbrook and Joan Beaumont, I led the collection Challenging Anzac: Stories that don't fit the legend (NewSouth, 2026), which reveals how across Australian history, Australian service personnel have challenged war, militarism, and the Anzac Legend. My research for the collection focussed on anti-war veteran experiences and recent war crimes allegations. I continue to interview anti-war veterans across Australia about their experiences.

I am currently undertaking an ARC DECRA project with women and minority veterans who served in the US, UK and Australian armed forces in the so-called War on Terror. After 9/11, Western militaries deployed the most racially and gender diverse soldier-force in history to fight the War on Terror. These soldiers waged a deeply racialized and gendered war while facing epidemics of racism and sexual violence within military institutions. Through a transnational oral history project with women and minorities who served in the US, UK, and Australian militaries in the War on Terror, I aim to understand their experiences as victims and perpetrators of gendered and racialized violence and how they understand their role in increasingly diverse militaries and broader societies.

You can find more of my work at www.miamartinhobbs.com