Identity matters: Aboriginal educational sovereignty and futurity pushing back on the logic of elimination

Abstract

This paper situates the context of the Aboriginal Voices: The state of Aboriginal student experiences in Australian secondary school project special issue of The Australian Educational Researcher in the wider context of First Nations educational research. It outlines the contribution to scholarship that each of the papers within the special issue makes towards developing a more nuanced, research-informed, and deeper understanding about the current state of Aboriginal education in Australia from the voices of those at the coalface. In doing so, this editorial overview highlights that while racism is still rampant across the education sector, and Aboriginal Peoples continue to face deficit discourses about their being and academic capabilities, a new era of sovereign activism is being mobilised by Aboriginal Peoples, and their allies, to drive educational change.