Abstract
Within the context of the Australian higher education sector and the organisational interactions facilitated by a university, the politics of Anglo-Australian identity continues to limit the ability of ‘whitefella’ Australians to engage with Indigenous people in a way that might be said to be truly ethical and self-transformative. Instead, the identity politics of Anglo-Australia, a politics that originates in the old colonial stories of the 19th century, continues to function in a way that marginalises those individuals who choose to engage in a way that goes beyond the organisational rhetoric of government and civil institutions in promoting causes such as reconciliation and ‘closing the gap’. The history of Australian colonialism teaches us that, when a deep and productive engagement between settler and native has occurred, the stability of Anglo-Australian identity is destabilised as the colonial establishment is reminded of Indigenous dispossession and the moral and legal legitimacy of the contemporary Australian state become subject to problematic questions that arise from this fact of Australian history. Framing the contemporary context of change and resistance, the authors discuss the importance of inclusive institutional practice, in the quest for a democratic modelling that points to a pathway for a truer recognition, acceptance and inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the ‘mainstream’ of Australian university life.
Highlights
Despite popularist attempts to represent contemporary Australia as a post-colonial, modern and progressive society that values equality and celebrates cultural diversity and inclusivity, as indicated by the nation’s ‘strong’ commitment to multiculturalism in the post-World War II era (Soutphommasane 2009, 2012a, 2012b, Australian Multicultural Council 2013), Australia continues to have highly problematic race relations with its Indigenous population
We argue that, despite the advent of Aboriginal reconciliation and its new ethics of positive engagements with Indigenous peoples, a significant gap exists between a formal adherence to the rhetoric of ethical engagement and its achievement in the core business of Australian university operational practice
The senior leadership group of RMIT University, including the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) and Chair of the Academic Board, have advocated the development of ethical engagements with Indigenous Australia within the context of a reconciliation agenda, it seems many of the non-Indigenous workforce have little or no understanding of Indigenous Australia and its relevance to the higher education services that they are responsible for providing in their daily work
Summary
Despite popularist attempts to represent contemporary Australia as a post-colonial, modern and progressive society that values equality and celebrates cultural diversity and inclusivity, as indicated by the nation’s ‘strong’ commitment to multiculturalism in the post-World War II era (Soutphommasane 2009, 2012a, 2012b, Australian Multicultural Council 2013), Australia continues to have highly problematic race relations with its Indigenous population. In seeking to reshape relations between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australia, the policy discourse of Aboriginal reconciliation (Gunstone 2009) articulated new notions of ethical practice to guide and encourage engagements with Indigenous people and their representative organisations. While the university sector strives to improve its processes of diversity management to be inclusive of Indigenous contribution, we argue that, at times, the old mindset persists in the psychological makeup of non-Indigenous peers This happens in a way that seems to work actively against the possibility that individual, ethical ‘whitefellas’ might commit to and achieve substantive engagements with Indigenous people. We argue that significant social sanction continues to operate within non-Indigenous Australian society This ensures that ‘whitefellas’, who take the ethics of reconciliation to mean the achievement of substantive outcomes, are subject to marginalisation, silencing and negative portrayals of their personal character. As the university sector recruits nationwide, it is inevitable the Australian condition of unresolved race-centred relations is active in the workplace
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