Aboriginal Education Research Articles

Dennis A. Bartels and Alice L. Bartels. When the North Was Red: Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia (McGill-Queen's Nature and Northern Series). Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995. Pp. xxviii, 126.

Dennis A. Bartels and Alice L. Bartels. When the North Was Red: Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia (McGill-Queen's Nature and Northern Series). Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995. Pp. xxviii, 126.

The economics of Aboriginal education

This paper analyses broad patterns in Australian Aboriginal affairs and indigenous education since colonisation. The influence of these patterns on educational initiatives over the last 20 years is explored in some detail. Discussion highlights the level of systemic bias and structural violence which continue to influence Aboriginal life chances and, by extension, educational achievement among indigenous Australians despite state and federal policies designed to enhance educational access and equity. Of particular concern is that such policies are not closely integrated with community development and appear to continue to press for assimilation rather than self‐determination. As such, indigenous education appears to intensify levels of systemic frustration in Aboriginal communities. These issues are illustrated by an analysis of educational attainments among Aboriginal students in relation to those of other Australians and government expenditure.

When the North Was Red: Aboriginal Education in Soviet Siberia

This short book is the culmination of a decade of work by two Canadian anthropologists who pioneered research into the lives of Siberian Aboriginal scholars and intellegentsia. In contrast to the recently growing list of ethnographic work by Western scholars of Siberia, their work is not based upon long-term, on-site, field research in an isolated rural setting nor an intimate familiarity with languages. However, with the exception of Humphrey (1983), it is one of the only accounts of Siberian indigenous identity and politics from the important period preceeding the crumbling of the Soviet Union.Bartels and Bartels conducted their field research in the early 1980s for the most part within the institutional environment of the Faculty of Northern Peoples of Hertzen State Pedagogical Institute. Located within the heart of urban Leningrad (St. Petersburg), this institution has been famous since the 1920s for its pivotal role in training Aboriginal cadres from all parts of the Siberian North in indigenous languages. The fact that on-site rural fieldwork was forbidden to the authors did not prevent them from meeting and interviewing representatives of some 20 Aboriginal nations; many of whom who have today become significant actors in Siberian Aboriginal-rights organizations.This work is rather special, some would say controversial, for the fact that Bartels and Bartels took seriously the loyalty and optimism of the students they encountered for Soviet socialist ideals. In the first chapter of the book, they rightly dismiss any discussion of assimilation or Russification as being inappropriate frames of analysis to account for the complexity of Soviet nationality policy. Instead, throughout the book, they explore two local concepts of national consolidation and Sovietization. The former concept refers to what may loosely be described as the Soviet state's affirmative action policy of encouraging representation and active participation from each of the officially recognized nations of this multinational state. The latter concept refers to this state's characteristic stress upon industrial and urban modes of life. Together the two policies combined in an attempt to provide modern housing, health care, education and occupations to all nations in a manner which did not threaten languages or costume (but impacted strongly upon other aspects of day-to-day life). This privileging of hegemonic discourse during a period of time when the Soviet state was at the apogee of its power may strike some readers as being either naive or uncritical. However, their ethnographic sensitivity to the goals of this subset of the Soviet intelligentsia has stood the test of time better than other works written in the sardonic genre of Sovietology. As members of the Siberian intelligentsia today look around at their native villages ravaged by the indifferent policies of market liberalization, they fondly recall the good times (rashee bylo luchshee) of the early 1980s documented in this work. …

Taking the Discursive Turn: critical studies in language, discrimination and schooling

Abstract

Aboriginal Education and Culture: The Parting of the Waters?

AbstractThis paper looks at the issue of culture and identity formation in the context of Aboriginal education. The paper provides a brief overview of traditional understandings of the word ‘culture’ before it examines current notions and the ways those understandings impact on the formation of identity. The paper concludes with a look at some of the implications of such understandings for the policy and practice of Aboriginal education.But everyone needs a home so at least you can have some place to leave which is where most folks will say you must be coming from (June Jordan, 1985 cited in Rutherford, 1990:14).

Aboriginal self-determination, education and health: towards a radical change in attitudes to education.

The establishment of community-controlled organisations as part of the Aboriginal self-determination movement in Australia has failed to deliver the expected social and health gains for the majority of indigenous people. Compared with that of indigenous people in New Zealand, The United States and Canada, Aboriginal health has shown little improvement over the past two decades. There is strong evidence to suggest that universal education is itself a tool for liberation and also that educational attainment translates directly into better health. Nevertheless, attempts to account for the continuing poor health of indigenous Australians has continued to overlook the role of education in explaining health status differentials. This is not an attempt to undervalue the significant achievements of the Aboriginal self-determination movement. Rather, it is an attempt to draw attention to lack of educational attainment as a contradiction in the indigenous struggle for self-determination and better health. Based on existing data, as well as personal observations and discussions, this preliminary investigation seeks to draw attention to the lack of formal education as a barrier to Aboriginal social and health improvement. Public health practitioners and policy makers are called on to consider working collaboratively with Aboriginal communities to ensure that formal education is not only popularised but also that governments are made accountable for their constitutional responsibilities towards Aboriginal education.

When the North was Red: Aboriginal Education In Soviet Siberia

When the North was Red: Aboriginal Education In Soviet Siberia. DENNIS A. BARTELS and ALICE L. BARTELS. Montreal: McGill‐Queen University Press, 1995. xxviii + 126 pp., illustrations, tables, maps, bibliography, index.

Aboriginal Education and Colonialism: Our Earthlinks Under Threat

AbstractThree themes are set out in this paper. The first is that learning about ecologically sensitive living–and putting that living into practice–are central to Aboriginal indigenous education. Second, Australia's first peoples were and are deprived of landscapes providing the base to their spirituality; continuing processes maintain that loss of independence. The third is that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians need to address quickly courses of action which provide for a reinvigoration of that landscape connection and independence. This need has points of significance for environmental educators, several of which are presented.

Catherine Ellis (1935–1996)

I first met Cath Ellis (née Caughie) in the late 1960s when she was working for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies at the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide. At the time she and her husband Max were making field trips to Ernabella and other areas of northern South Australia where the Pitjantjara people lived. It was largely her interest in the area that inspired my own interest, field trip, and subsequent publications on Pitjantjara children’s music at Yalata. For this I thank her. Cath touched the lives of many people, not only ethnomusicologists, but also many students of Aboriginal culture and music educators around Australia and overseas.

Development of a model using information technology for support of rural Aboriginal students off-campus learning

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Aboriginal Autonomy: Issues and Strategies.

Acknowledgements Foreword Preface Part I. The Aboriginal World View: 1. The making of Aboriginal identity Part II. Aborigines and the Land: 2. The future of the homeland movement 3. Warlpiri land use and management 4. The implications of land rights Part III. Aboriginal Lifestyles: 5. Economic, social and spiritual factors in Aboriginal health 6. Aboriginal education and the issues underlying Aboriginal deaths in custody 7. Aboriginal work and economy Part IV. Aborigines, Resources, and Development: 8. The ideology of development in the East Kimberley 9. Aborigines and resources: from 'humbug' to negotiation 10. The McArthur River development: a case in point Part V. Aborigines, Law and the State: 11. The Yirrkala proposals for the control of law and order 12. Aboriginal political leadership and the role of the National Aboriginal Conference 13. Aborigines and the Treaty of Waitangi Part VI. Asserting Autonomy: Recent Aboriginal Initiatives: 14. Aboriginal initiatives on the land 15. Initiatives in Aboriginal political organisation 16. Education: taking control Part VII. The Recognition of Native Title: 17. The Mabo decision: a basis for Aboriginal autonomy? Conclusion: negotiating future autonomy References Select bibliography of work by H. C. Coombs Appendix Index.

Controversial and Difficult Issues in Aboriginal Teacher Education – Some Western Educators' Views of Aboriginal Teacher Training

The interviews and discussions which are the main focus of this paper were conducted with five experienced teachers involved with Aboriginal education in remote rural schools in the Northern Territory – the minimum experience being five continuous years and the most being 15 years. Although the teachers have had greater experience working in the southern regions of the Northern Territory, many have experience in the Top End, interstate or overseas experience in indigenous and special education. As all ofthe teachers are stationed in the Northern Territory and all are currently teaching or supporting teachers in remote Aboriginal schools, the discussions regarding Aboriginal teacher training specifically concerned courses offered by Batchelor College and predominantly by the Remote Access Teacher Education Course (RATE).

Aboriginal Education – A Reality in the 1990s

My topic today is Aboriginal education – a reality in the 1990s. To be more specific, I should say Tiwi education is a reality in the 1990s. For it is in the Tiwi context that education has taken a giant step forward. This is because firstly we are working together to Aboriginalise the school – or rather to localise the school. Secondly, I have been challenged to ‘let go’, to move away from the dominant role as Principal (i.e. non-Aboriginal, non-Tiwi Principal). This challenge came as late as May 31 1995 from our present Assistant Director of Catholic Education.

Towards a Composite Educational Research Methodology: Balancing the Authority Equation in Aboriginal Education

In northern Australia Aboriginal ‘settlements’ or communities are, in the main, the product of a variety of west-centric priorities, the needs, for example of missionaries to keep prospective converts conveniently at hand to maintain the pressure of the Christian conversion process or for government agencies to distribute welfare from single accessible locations. The establishment of fixed communities usually brought considerable advantage and power to those mainstream organisations which established them. However, along with some obvious physical benefits for the local people, such as improved access to some of the accruals of west-centric technology and welfare, came a variety of hazards and obstacles to the maintenance of a lifestyle with which local people felt secure and confident.

Portrayal of Controversial and Difficult Issues in Aboriginal Teacher Education or Silent Betrayal of Expectations. A response to Paul Buckley's article (Vol. 24, No. 1)

Despite the introductory ‘rider’ being provided so that readers be ‘advised to remain aware of the possible cultural bias resulting’ from the fact that ‘those interviewed, although possessing vast experience of Aboriginal education are non-aboriginal people’ (p. 26), Buckley's article is a confused and poorly articulated comment on the views of a small number of non-Aboriginal educators relating to attendant issues to implementation of the Batchelor College Teacher Education program. Buckley gets off to a poor start by not getting the name of the program correct. His Remote Access Teacher Education program is in fact known as the Remote Area Teacher Education (RATE) program and has been referred to as this for most of the last fifteen years.

Addressing Issues of Equity and Access in the Delivery of Arts Education to Aboriginal Students

The over-riding objective of an Aboriginal Education Policy should be to achieve equity between Aboriginal people and other Australians in participation at all stages of education by the turn of the century. Education opportunities must be available to Aboriginal people regardless of where they live and in a manner that is appropriate to the diverse cultural and social situations in which they live. It is therefore essential to ensure access for Aboriginal children and adults to school and tertiary education, to ensure that Aboriginal communities are able to influence the way in which education is provided, and to ensure that it reflects their social and cultural values (Hughes Report, 1987: 17).

Norway's “Sámi Language Act”: Emancipatory implications for the world's aboriginal peoples

ABSTRACTThe Sámi (formerly called Lapps) are the indigenous people of Arctic Scandinavia and northwest Russia. Legislation giving major language and cultural rights to Norway's Sámi people was enacted in 1992. As an introduction to discussion of the impact of the Sámi Language Act on Norwegian education, this article begins with an outline of the schooling system in Norway. Its review of the act itself covers the following topics: the Sámi culture and the Sámi languages, social and political problems that affect the Sámi, the place of the Sámi languages in education, and recent educational changes that flow from the Sámi Language Act. Three research questions, covering the practice and organization of bilingual aboriginal education in Norway, are then addressed at length. The article concludes by drawing emancipatory implications from the Sámi experience for members of aboriginal cultures and for the future of aboriginal education generally. (Power and culture, Sámi culture, minority education, native language education, bilingual education)

Darkness Into Light: Missionaries, Modernists and Aboriginal Education

One of the early missionaries at Milingimbi is said to have rounded up men from a ceremony and hosed off the sacred designs they had painted on their chests. I have often been told that story, always by Balanda1 usually as a way of illustrating how terrible missionaries can be. Ali the same, other Balanda in other places were often a lot worse. Missionaries for example did not poison water holes and flour. Moreover the missionaries were not always feared or distrusted.

From Dreamtime to Overtime: Awards for Aboriginal Workers

Many Aboriginal people work for below-award wages and under poor conditions for their own organisations something that the former Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) has been discussing with the Federal Government. In 1993, the International Year of the World's Indigenous People, moves to phase in award wages and conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations funded by the Federal Government were given greater attention. Concern about under-award conditions in Commonwealth-funded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island organisations led to the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) researching a project on the impact of award conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island organisations. The DIR consequently established the Aboriginal Awards Project Unit in the Awards Management Branch. These moves heralded a new approach in industrial relations, recognising the traditional Aboriginal style of decision making. In September 1991 the ACTU Congress resolved that the campaign to develop award coverage should be intensified on a priority basis. It also resolved that an approach should be made to the Federal Government to allocate sufficient financial resources to enable the awards to be brought in. The January 1992 meeting of the ACTU's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' Committee made as its priorities for phasing in the awards: the award claims of the Pitjantjatjara community, workers in Aboriginal health organisations, Aboriginal community organisations in WA, NT and Queensland, Aboriginal education workers and Aboriginal legal aid workers. Although there was opposition by some Aboriginal organisations to the concept of the phasing in of award conditions rather than immediate payment, it was recommended that the awards be introduced over a period of two years to allow the Federal Government to meet the cost. In 1992 the Federal Budget allowed for funding to supplement the budgets of Commonwealth-funded government organisations for the cost of introducing award rates and conditions of employment for their workers. For this supplementary funding, ATSIC budgeted $3.3 million for 1992-93, $7.8 million for 1993-94, $11.8 million for 1994-95 and $12.3 million for 1995-96. For organisations to qualify for assistance, certain conditions need to be met. They must have DIR's involvement, the rates and conditions must not exceed the community's standards, and appropriate restructuring must have been or must be undertaken. This is to make sure that restructuring undertaken by other Australian workplaces in recent years, under the Award Restructuring and Structural Efficiency Principles processes, is also carried out by funded organisations.

The Role of Participatory Action Research in Aboriginal Education

In the past researchers have been carrying out such political acts in the firm belief that if we study something long enough, with sufficient disciplines and controls, then we will find “reality” and “truth”, then we will carry out studies which have scientific merit, which will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about how societies work. But research is generally carried out by fairly powerful people on those less powerful. In the process the powerless frequently become even more powerless because, as Guba and Lincoln (1989:125) argue:Science, by asking only certain questions maintains (or reinforces) the status quo; it asks those questions that have been formulated by its own theories, and never takes account of the emic [outsider] formulations of its "subjects". We would argue that conventional science is as a result a force for disenfranchisement and disempowerment, for maintaining the status quo.