Commentary: Writing On/Across the Margins J.J. MONK AND R. LIEPINS JJM: In 1998, Ruth Liepins interviewed me in Dunedin, New Zealand for the Institute of Australian Geographers’ Millennium Project, a project established to record the oral and intellectual histories of Australian geographers. We had only just met, though I knew Ruth’s work, having been an external reader for her doctoral dissertation. In our conversations, we were struck by the extent to which we shared a sense of being on a number of margins — geographically, not only as Australians but as expatriate Australians, as feminists, and as scholars who have written on themes and spaces that were not always central in the discipline at the time we engaged with them. We shared this view, but also found that we are on different ‘margins’ within our careers. It is over 40 years since I took up my first academic appointment, as a research assistant and demonstrator in the Department of Geography at The University of Sydney, a position I held from 1958 to 1961. By contrast, Ruth took up her position as Lecturer in the Department of Geography at The University of Otago in 1996. Feminist and postmodern scholarship highlight the importance of considering an author’s positionality in shaping the creation of knowledge. From this perspective, autobiographical reflection helps us to under- stand the development of our disciplines. Within geography, such work has only recently emerged (see, for example, Berman [1984], Valentine [1998], Elder [1999], Knopp [1999] and Moss [2000]). When I was invited to address the opening session of the Institute of Australian Geographers’ Conference at Sydney in 1999, it seemed to me an opportunity to adopt an autobiographical approach to reflect on issues that had emerged in my interview for the Millennium Project, and to ask Ruth to join me, not only because the ideas I wished to express had first been articulated in that conversation, but also because much of my work has been collaborative. This commentary stems from the original interview, our presentation at the Sydney meeting, and subsequent conversations with Ruth. RL: It is an honour to write with Jan, and this, together with our presentation at the 1999 Institute of Australian Geographers’ Con- ference, is a form of celebration of Australian feminist geography. In preparing for this speech we recalled the discoveries we made during our conversations for the Millennium Project in 1998: the fact that we both ended up working as feminist geographers outside Australia, yet using our understanding of being Australian to 344 Australian Geographical Studies • November 2000 • 38(3):344-351 Janice Monk is Executive Director of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. Ruth Liepins is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography, The University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. This commentary is a revised version of the presentation made by the authors at the 1999 Conference of the Institute of Australian Geographers following Professor Monk’s acceptance of the Australia-International Medal from the Institute.