Aboriginal Studies are a sub-discipline of (Australian) Indigenous Studies and are taught on a tertiary level. They are described as “an expanding discipline in universities across Australia” by The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education (Barney, Shannon and Nakata 2014: 1). In its framework, Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous students are increasingly taught about Australia’s colonial past and cultural heritage rather than “about” Indigenous peoples (Barney et al. 2014: 1). However, there are many aspects about the implementation of this discipline which are still disputed, such as “[h]ow Indigenous Australian Studies is taught, who should teach it and for what purpose” (Barney et al. 2014: 1).

To learn about the Institute in which Aboriginal Studies are taught at the university examined in this research, please click here.

To get back to the introduction, please click here.

Class 1 Lecture:

• “L1 then introduces the representation of Aboriginal people in art as a helpful source to understand the impact of policies.” (25/08/2015)
• “She then reads out a poem […]” (13/10/2015)

Class 1 Tutorial:

• “We are to draw our hand on a sheet of paper, cut it out […].” (29/10/2015)
• “Then she scolds herself for also drawing a big part of her arm because that would mean that she would be an elder.” (29/10/2015)

Back to the description of the category “Art”

Class 1 Lecture:

• “She shows several examples, describes them […]” (25/08/2015)
• “She talks in detail about an incident of oppression surrounding the mapping-out of Western Australia.” (25/08/2015)
• “[…] then gives more examples.” (25/08/2015)
• “Next, L1 picks up the holocaust and the question “Why didn’t anyone say anything” as an example from the Australian curriculum.” (01/09/2015)
• “To do so, she gives a detailed description of an Aboriginal campaign which led to the first land being given back to Aboriginal people.” (06/10/2015)
• “She then explains it in more detail and gives examples of actions taken in the frame of the RAP.” (27/10/2015)
• “As an example for other institutions’ RAPs, L1 shows a video made by a company to present their RAP.” (27/10/2015)

Class 1 Tutorial:

• “and gives examples” (17/09/2015)

Class 2 Lecture:

• “The next part of the lecture treats a specific case in which the Commonwealth was challenged for removing a child from its parents.” (27/08/2015)

Back to the description of the category “Examples”

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