Custom-based land and resource management and the educational and social re-engagement of Indigenous youth in the Northern Territory. Social and educational disengagement has reached crisis levels among Indigenous youth in many remote communities; young people are leaving school and training programs because they perceive them to be irrelevant or meaningless. The social cost of this phenomenon is high. This project aims to identify ways to combine Indigenous customary and western science-based l ....Custom-based land and resource management and the educational and social re-engagement of Indigenous youth in the Northern Territory. Social and educational disengagement has reached crisis levels among Indigenous youth in many remote communities; young people are leaving school and training programs because they perceive them to be irrelevant or meaningless. The social cost of this phenomenon is high. This project aims to identify ways to combine Indigenous customary and western science-based land and resource management knowledge and practice with locally and culturally meaningful education and training programs to re-engage young people with learning and their wider communities. The project will produce a series of scholarly outcomes in addition to a coordinated model for strategic policy and program development.
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An inter-disciplinary analysis of the dynamics of Aboriginal interactions with the criminal justice system. The over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prison continues to be a serious problem, more than a decade after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. There are few rigorous studies identifying the dynamic factors associated with Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system. This project will identify the Indigenous pathways within the system, in order t ....An inter-disciplinary analysis of the dynamics of Aboriginal interactions with the criminal justice system. The over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prison continues to be a serious problem, more than a decade after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. There are few rigorous studies identifying the dynamic factors associated with Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system. This project will identify the Indigenous pathways within the system, in order to alert policy-makers to potential interventions at crucial junctures of criminal careers. It will use dynamic statistical models to identify important socioeconomic and geographic factors. Qualitative data will facilitate a deeper understanding of processes underlying the high rates of Indigenous arrest and imprisonment.Read moreRead less
Collaborating for Indigenous Rights: a fifty year retrospective exploring the history of black and white Australian activism, 1957-1972. The year 1957 marks the beginning of a fifteen year period in which black and white Australians collaborated for Indigenous rights. Although this work began with a concentration on civil rights, by the end of the period a new set of rights was being sought based on the unique circumstances of Indigenous Australians. This project will explore the struggle for ci ....Collaborating for Indigenous Rights: a fifty year retrospective exploring the history of black and white Australian activism, 1957-1972. The year 1957 marks the beginning of a fifteen year period in which black and white Australians collaborated for Indigenous rights. Although this work began with a concentration on civil rights, by the end of the period a new set of rights was being sought based on the unique circumstances of Indigenous Australians. This project will explore the struggle for civil rights and the more radical proposition that other rights flowed to Indigenous Australians due to their original occupancy and dispossession.The proposed end products are a fully developed exhibition brief and catalogue essay, an on-line exhibition with supporting educational resource material and scholarly articles.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection: Museums, Indigenous Perspectives and the Production of Cultural Knowledge. Spencer and Gillen's research placed Australia at the heart of world discourse in anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century and they influenced the paradigm changes that resulted in the development of the modern discipline. Digital technology now enables the material record of their research to be recreated as a whole revealing the richness of Aboriginal socie ....Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection: Museums, Indigenous Perspectives and the Production of Cultural Knowledge. Spencer and Gillen's research placed Australia at the heart of world discourse in anthropology at the beginning of the twentieth century and they influenced the paradigm changes that resulted in the development of the modern discipline. Digital technology now enables the material record of their research to be recreated as a whole revealing the richness of Aboriginal society in central Australia at the turn of the twentieth century and uncovering a crucial period in the history of anthropology. The research project will advance understanding of Australia's role in the history of anthropology and related disciplines in addition to creating a cultural resource of great value not least for the Indigenous communities themselves.Read moreRead less
Indigenous participation in the Australian colonial economy: an anthropological and historical investigation. The main benefits of the research to the Nation and community lie in the new information generated by the project, and the enhancement of our understanding of past relations between Indigenous people and the wider community. The proposal has the potential to mediate the extreme positions in the 'history wars' by investigating the various types of accommodation and mutuality of interests ....Indigenous participation in the Australian colonial economy: an anthropological and historical investigation. The main benefits of the research to the Nation and community lie in the new information generated by the project, and the enhancement of our understanding of past relations between Indigenous people and the wider community. The proposal has the potential to mediate the extreme positions in the 'history wars' by investigating the various types of accommodation and mutuality of interests which informed many early encounters on and beyond the frontier. It will also widen the focus of settler-Indigenous relationships from those between Indigenous people and Anglo-Celtic Australians to include relations with other ethnicities including Afghani settlers.Read moreRead less
Warlpiri songlines: anthropological, linguistic and Indigenous perspectives. This partnership combines anthropologists, linguists, Indigenous knowledge holders and Indigenous bicultural linguists to record, document and analyse Warlpiri song series. Warlpiri songs link ancestral power, landscape, emotions and aesthetics and are central to religious life. Because the diversity of performance contexts in which these songs are learnt is rapidly reducing, this aspect of Warlpiri high culture is unde ....Warlpiri songlines: anthropological, linguistic and Indigenous perspectives. This partnership combines anthropologists, linguists, Indigenous knowledge holders and Indigenous bicultural linguists to record, document and analyse Warlpiri song series. Warlpiri songs link ancestral power, landscape, emotions and aesthetics and are central to religious life. Because the diversity of performance contexts in which these songs are learnt is rapidly reducing, this aspect of Warlpiri high culture is under threat. This project will create a cultural archive informed by Indigenous exegesis, that integrates it into the world of anthropological and lingusitic scholarship and provides materials for the school curriculum.Read moreRead less
Lifespan learning and literacy for young adults in remote Indigenous communities. Engagement with learning across the lifespan and increased literacy skills among early school leavers and other young adults will have direct benefits to remote Indigenous communities and to the nation. These include the increased ability of this next generation of Indigenous adults to develop the skills and confidence required to actively build stable and self-reliant institutions, improve social and economic circ ....Lifespan learning and literacy for young adults in remote Indigenous communities. Engagement with learning across the lifespan and increased literacy skills among early school leavers and other young adults will have direct benefits to remote Indigenous communities and to the nation. These include the increased ability of this next generation of Indigenous adults to develop the skills and confidence required to actively build stable and self-reliant institutions, improve social and economic circumstances and enhance the health of their families and communities. Additional benefits will flow from the enhanced capacity of individuals to participate effectively in the national economy and from more positive spending of public funds on evidence-based programs that work rather than ongoing problem alleviation.Read moreRead less
Australian Indigenous Collectors and Collections. 'Indigenous Collectors and Collections' considers Indigenous people's contemporary roles in shaping private and public collections, and the influence of historical circumstances and ideas of communal ownership and responsibility. It therefore subverts the dominant emphasis upon Europeans as collectors and appropriators of indigenous objects. By considering Indigenous people as collectors, curators and presenters of beloved objects, this project w ....Australian Indigenous Collectors and Collections. 'Indigenous Collectors and Collections' considers Indigenous people's contemporary roles in shaping private and public collections, and the influence of historical circumstances and ideas of communal ownership and responsibility. It therefore subverts the dominant emphasis upon Europeans as collectors and appropriators of indigenous objects. By considering Indigenous people as collectors, curators and presenters of beloved objects, this project will offer major new perspectives on Australian Indigenous history and museology. By exploring the power of material objects in cultural identity and historical consciousness, this project disrupts the stereotype of Indigenous people as purely 'museum victims'.Read moreRead less
Anthropological and Aboriginal perspectives on the Donald Thomson Collection: material culture, collecting and identity. This partnership offers a unique opportunity to combine anthropological research, museum practice and Indigenous community participation to explore the Donald Thomson Arnhem Land Ethnographic Collection. This is the most comprehensive collection of material culture made from any group in Australia while people were still living independently in the bush. This Collection is no ....Anthropological and Aboriginal perspectives on the Donald Thomson Collection: material culture, collecting and identity. This partnership offers a unique opportunity to combine anthropological research, museum practice and Indigenous community participation to explore the Donald Thomson Arnhem Land Ethnographic Collection. This is the most comprehensive collection of material culture made from any group in Australia while people were still living independently in the bush. This Collection is now of major cultural significance for non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians and can yield important insights into past socio-cultural life, Yolngu ethnotechnological skills and knowledge and the nature of collecting. The project will benefit many sectors including the museum-going public and the Yolngu.Read moreRead less