©Commonwealth of Australia 1998
ISBN 0 642 23785 9
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission from AusInfo. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Manager, Legislative Services, AusInfo, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601.
This report is funded under the Evaluation and Investigations Programme of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
Executive Summary
Rethinking the Positioning of Indigenous Peoples
Equity initiatives in higher education are concerned with introducing into universities the voices of groups marginalised under different political agendas, including patriarchy and colonialism. However, the homogenisation of the voices of differing ‘equity groups’ under the banner of ‘disadvantage’ is not without its own problems. Efforts by universities to redress the social and economic ‘disadvantage’ of targeted equity groups presumes that they all share a similar aspiration for parity with some mythical non-Indigenous, able-bodied, well-to-do ‘malestream’.
For Indigenous peoples, seeing their higher education needs as primarily concerned with redressing ‘disadvantage’ is perhaps too simplistic. For a start, the notion of ‘disadvantage’ appears to be an attribute of their ‘Indigenousness’. As such this may imply, and further perpetuate, the mistaken view that Indigenous peoples as a cultural group have inherent characteristics which invariably manifest as ‘disadvantage’ within non-Indigenous contexts.
Redressing ‘disadvantage’ also has the effect of further marginalising the interests and concerns of those very groups. The challenge by Indigenous peoples to equity as a framework for addressing their higher education needs is premised on their assertions of sovereignty. This challenge affirms that as sovereign peoples, Indigenous peoples have the right to be recognised and accepted as equal stakeholders within the decision-making arenas of universities. Essential to this claim is the recognition that Indigenous peoples are obligated to concepts, values and protocols that may not be recognised and appreciated within already established institutions. Therefore a deconstructive analysis of university structures and the interests they serve is essential if Indigenous peoples are to be included as equal stakeholders.
While universities state that they are committed to Indigenous peoples’ aspirations, the responsibility for enacting this commitment is invariably that of the Indigenous academic/support centres. As such all things ‘black’ are referred to the Indigenous centres, with a ‘hands off’ approach by those who actually espouse that commitment. This is very similar to the response of those governments which have legislatively withdrawn infrastructure support such as health and education services to Indigenous communities claiming that because the Aboriginal people have gained land rights they would not want for anything else. Now that Indigenous peoples are wanting self-determination it is assumed that they alone can ensure it.
However, the tension that needs to be addressed in Australian higher education is, what is the balance between Indigenous peoples’ desires for autonomy and self-determination and the overall institutional commitment to ensuring that those efforts are realised within the federated structures of universities. There are people in these institutions who have the ‘keys to the door’, but they are unwilling to open that door to Indigenous peoples. Indigenous people need the key holders to ‘open the door’ or at least manipulate the locks so they can see what is on the other side. Perhaps more importantly, it is necessary for universities to take on the aspirations of Indigenous peoples as their own aspirations, and commit themselves to ensuring that these are entrenched across all policy areas.
The issues of inclusiveness and ownership are imperative to the tensions surrounding Indigenous representation in all aspects of universities. Indigenous peoples are saying that it is not physically possible to be represented on all committees across the university. For one thing, the size of the Indigenous staffing profiles is too small to accommodate this but more importantly it is not sufficient that Indigenous issues are addressed or responded to only when an Indigenous person is present. Universities should have a commitment to ensuring that the ethos of the university is such that every decision-making body within the university ensures that implications for Indigenous people are considered in their discussions and decisions. To achieve this there is a need for collaboration between Indigenous people and the university to ensure that whatever processes are put into place do not inadvertently appropriate Indigenous peoples’ knowledge or misrepresent Indigenous peoples’ interests.
The Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs and universities make laudable statements about commitment to Indigenous access, participation, retention and success. However, their processes for translating this commitment are constrained by their own often ideologically limited notions of equity and social justice. Indigenous people in higher education will continue to be marginalised if these notions of equity and social justice prevail. The Department and universities need to engage Indigenous people in dialogue concerning equitable education if marginalisation is to be redressed. These organisations need to work with Indigenous people, through processes of dialogic consultation and negotiation, to reconstruct the current mechanisms of policy development and implementation in order to work towards appropriate educational outcomes that are relevant to Indigenous peoples.
Universities need to accommodate Indigenous interests and rights across all facets of their operations—teaching, research, administration and community service. This requires more than cross-cultural awareness training, the incorporation of Indigenous perspectives in the curriculum or the employment of Indigenous educators. There is a need to create a space from where efforts can be made to reflect and entrench Indigenous values and protocols across all sectors of the university. No doubt this raises questions about making fundamental changes to the core values and ethos of the university so as to ensure that Indigenous knowledges and Indigenous ways of relating, seeing and doing are included and given legitimacy. This is not only about inclusion, it is also about acknowledging the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples.
While universities should be inclusive and respectful of other groups, such as women, people of non-English speaking background and international students, the sovereign position of Indigenous people should be apart from this and, more importantly, should not be diluted or included in the overall multicultural framework.
Recommendation 1
That universities make apparent their commitment to meeting the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples within and external to the university by reworking the organisational structures of the university so that Indigenous peoples are included in terms of their position as sovereign peoples.
Recommendation 2
That representation of Indigenous interests be evident across all senior management decision-making committees. In the absence of an Indigenous representative, the terms of reference for university committees to contain an imprimatur to address implications for Indigenous peoples that may arise out of decisions.
Recommendation 3
That the selection, appointment, induction and performance appraisal processes of university senior managers be linked to an expectation of them being responsive to the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples.
Recommendation 4
That universities make explicit in their strategic plans and related policies their commitment to, endorsement of and responsibility for the development and implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education strategy.
Recommendation 5
That universities collaborate with Indigenous peoples to reorganise already established knowledge frameworks so that Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges and pedagogies can be incorporated and reflected within the production and transmission of knowledge across all disciplines of the universities.
Recommendation 6
That universities acknowledge and respect Indigenous peoples’ aspirations to maintain autonomy and self-determination in all matters, particularly Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs funding allocated for Indigenous programs, while at the same time including Indigenous peoples in constructive and strategic ways within the administration and operational structures of the university.
Recommendation 7
That universities collaborate with Indigenous peoples to develop ways in which Indigenous peoples and their interests are linked and networked across the university so that Indigenous rights, interests and aspirations are endorsed and owned by all participants within the university setting.
Recommendation 8
That universities commit to the self-determination efforts of Indigenous peoples by enhancing the employment and training opportunities for Indigenous employees across all areas of the university.
Recommendation 9
That universities undertake an institutional commitment to Indigenous self-determination by facilitating and enhancing research that directly benefits Indigenous communities.
Recommendation 10
That universities make apparent their commitment to facilitating Indigenous research needs by ensuring appropriate, sensitive and beneficial research is conducted in accordance with Indigenous ethics, values, and protocols, and that this commitment is explicitly expressed within university research policies and practices.
Recommendation 11
That universities give due recognition to and acceptance of the epistemological positions of Indigenous postgraduate students and Indigenous researchers in their research endeavours thus creating a space whereby Indigenous peoples may reconstruct and reconceptualise research paradigms that reflect their cultural positions.
Recommendation 12
That universities reflect on their own constructions of what a ‘university student’ is so as to reshape and reconceptualise their processes for the production and transmission of knowledges so that Indigenous students and other students of ‘difference’ can stake their claims in tertiary education.
Recommendation 13
That universities broaden the responsibility for Indigenous students’ access, participation, retention and success to become part of faculties’ processes of accountability, so that Indigenous students rights and interests are endorsed and owned by all participants within the university.
Recommendation 14
That universities actively engage in processes of consulting with Indigenous community groups as part of the universities’ commitment to community. In doing this, the university recognises Indigenous faculties, departments and centres within universities as part of those Indigenous communities.
Recommendation 15
That universities actively commit to an examination of their organisational structures and processes so as to identify and redress factors that reproduce institutional racism and exclude the cultural and sovereign positions of Indigenous peoples.
Recommendation 16
That universities indicate within their strategic plans their own institutional responsibilities to monitor, evaluate and respond to Indigenous access, participation, retention and success.
Recommendation 17
That the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs consult with Indigenous stakeholders to review the appropriateness of the Martin (1994) performance indicators so that they reflect the achievement of relevant and different outcomes for Indigenous peoples.
[Return to top] [Download Full Report]
| Please note: | To download the full report you must first have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. |
