This description is derived from notes taken during class, the university’s recording of the lecture and my memories of the session.

L1 begins this week’s class on leadership and activism by pointing out that ABC will be screening a documentary on Aboriginal activist John Maynard in November. After giving some general information about the discourse on Aboriginal activism, she describes the way in which a particular governor treated Aboriginal people and how an Aboriginal woman named Barrangaroo reacted to this behaviour. In order to tell the story of Barrangaroo, L1 refers to a particular marine about whom she also gives some information. {Click here for analysis} After talking about an argument Barrangaroo had with her husband, L1 compares their relationship to her own. She also notes that a site near Sydney harbour will soon be called Barrangaroo.

L1 then gives some more general information about Aboriginal activism, before turning to the story of Yagan, an Aboriginal man from the colonial past. As Barrangaroo as well as Yagan were already part of earlier lectures, L1 refers back to those sessions, reminding the students of the aspects which were already discussed. She then shows a video about the repatriation of Yagan’s remains which also introduces the discourse of Yagan as a hero. For a long time, L1 says, it was impossible to see him as a martyr because there officially never was an invasion. She then reads out a poem which connects Yagan to a recent topic in order to depict the attempt to bring colonial freedom fighter’s into contemporary life. {Click here for analysis}

She also again mentions William Cooper and his activism against Kristallnacht, showing a different video this time, before moving on to another campaign Cooper was part of. Again, she stresses the significance this has today. She then presents a number of other popular Aboriginal people from diverse backgrounds and from the past as well as the present. She talks about their actions and the criticism they had to face which was often linked to very common debates and issues.

Before ending the lecture, L1 says that she is happy to give short extensions for the essay which is due soon in cases of emergency.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class, the university’s recording of the lecture and my memories of the session.

L1 opens this week’s lecture by talking about the upcoming assignments for the class. As the staff involved in this course felt that an exam does not reflect the type of learning they want to convey, the final assessment will be a reflective one. Thus, personal interests and life experiences can be included in the assignment. {Click here for analysis} “You won’t often be asked to this in the university”, L1 says. The creator of this model of assignment is then introduced and presents the marking criteria. When L1 takes over again she stresses that the students can contact the creator at any time with questions.

After searching for the right file for a moment, L1 is ready to start the actual lecture on the topic of Aboriginal housing. While outlining the structure of today’s lecture, L1 mentions that she will show more audio-visual footage than she normally does in order to give the students a sense of the diversity of Aboriginal voices. She first gives some information about ideas of housing and the Aboriginal housing situation. Then she shows two videos presenting different opinions on a particular housing project. After every video L1 gives some more information underlining the view which was presented. She also uses the situation of her grand-parents as an example for the significance of this specific project.

The next aspect L1 discusses is the government’s plan to close remote communities. As she is running out of time, she tells the students to watch the two videos presenting opinions about this topic at home and moves on to putting the issues discussed into context. To do so, she gives a detailed description of an Aboriginal campaign which led to the first land being given back to Aboriginal people. As the lecture took a few minutes longer today, L1 thanks the students for their patience before she leaves.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class, the university’s recording of the lecture and my memories of the session.

This week’s lecture has the topic “Education is political!!”. After noticing that there are considerably fewer students present today, L1 quotes Oodgeroo Noonucaal and Freire in order to stress that education is indeed political. She then talks about her own experience while working for the Department of School Education and gives examples of opinions of some of the teachers she met in this frame. Afterwards she reads out some statements from the slides, adding further explanations about the current and former situation in schools.

When talking about education influenced by prejudices, L1 tells the students about an incident, which happened to her daughter when she was in high school. After describing how her daughter argued with the teacher about the terms ‘invasion’, ‘settlement’ and ‘propaganda’, she explains that it was a good situation for her daughter because she had the character and skills to be able to debate about the topic. However, in L1’s opinion, this is not the case for most Aboriginal children. This shows how teachers even if they are very concerned about not being racist might still be unable to teach in an inclusive way, L1 says.

She then explains that teachers often use Aboriginal students as a resource. While again this was good for her daughter who had the knowledge, it can lower the self-esteem of those students who do not know the answer. She was able to witness such a situation herself when participating in a NAIDOC week event at her daughter’s school.

L1 interrupts the lecture briefly to answer a question which has come up although it does not directly relate to the topic. She again uses her own experience to explain the situation in depth. Afterwards, she returns to the actual topic and gives another personal example. When she was in primary school she was asked by the teacher which her favourite traditional bush food was and answered that it was a particular kind of worm. Although the teacher tried to calm down the class, she was picked on for a long time for eating worms. When asked the same question again years later, she answered “fish” and was this time told that this did not count as traditional Aboriginal food. In conclusion, teachers have to be really careful how they treat Aboriginal students in class, L1 says. {Click here for analysis}

L1 now returns to the slides, reading out another statement and explaining it. She then shows a Youtube video explaining why it is important that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is included in the school curriculum and how this should be done. Afterwards, she explains the curriculum in more detail, before presenting a model of Aboriginal learning. While doing so, she often uses the phrase “you know”. The next point L1 addresses is again linked to an example from her own experience. While working at the Department of School Education, she was often told that texts which include Aboriginal English should not be used because it is important to use a variety of English the students can later use in the workplace, although this is not the case for Shakespearean English either. L1 then uses another example from her daughter’s education to underline that what can be learned from a story is not connected to how old the story is or how well it reflects reality.

Next, L1 picks up the holocaust and the question “Why didn’t anyone say anything” as an example from the Australian curriculum. Australia, she says, had the only private protest against Kristallnacht which was organised by an Aboriginal man named William Cooper. This highlights the nationally and globally significant contributions Aboriginal people have made in the past. L1 shows a Youtube video about William Cooper before moving on to the next point.

She reads out a statement saying that old mathematical methods are not useful anymore today. Well, she jokes, that would make her happy because it would mean that “Pythagoras must go” as well. After outlining the steps of the scientific method of problem solving, L1 tells the students about a particular problem her son has solved in kindergarten using his tracking skills.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class, the university’s recording of the lecture and my memories of the session.

Today’s lecture is concerned with Aboriginal policy making. In the beginning, the lecturer (L1) apologises for her weak her voice caused by a cold and expresses her hope that she will nonetheless be able to hold the lecture. In the first part of the lecture, she mostly reads out the notes on the lecture slides, making small changes in sentence structures and adding short explanations and clarifications. After finishing her explanations, she frequently asks “ok?”. In order to explain the term ‘policy’, L1 does not only give official definitions but also includes people’s common perception, using phrases like “You know, sometimes we believe that…”.

L1 then introduces the representation of Aboriginal people in art as a helpful source to understand the impact of policies. She shows several examples, describes them, points out aspects she sees as particularly interesting, draws conclusions and asks the students to be critical. Afterwards L1 switches to the present, more precisely to names of electorates and routes still existing today. She talks in detail about an incident of oppression surrounding the mapping-out of Western Australia. {Click here for analysis}This is a good example to see how a hero discourse can stand against legal evidence of discrimination, she says. It also shows that many claims to change names often have a very profound reason behind them. L1 also adds an example from the local area of the university. She then asks if the students have ever watched the film The Tracker, using it as a starting point to talk about images of Aboriginal people in chains.

To show how colonial and Aboriginal histories are intertwined, L1 talks about marriage rules in the past, showing the hierarchy the British brought with them. She reads out a politician’s speech on a play, which was based on a real relationship between a British man and an Aboriginal woman, to address the aspect of people with mixed heritage and then gives more examples. Afterwards, she plays a song by an Aboriginal singer talking about Christian rules to underline that one should not generalise. She then presents the view of three people from public life on Aboriginal policies by quoting them directly.

To conclude the lecture, L1 gives an overview of steps to be taken to achieve a more just policy making, again quoting a number of people and playing another song. In the end, she gives the students guidelines for researching a policy, stressing the importance of always going back to the original source by comparing interpretation to a game of Chinese whispers. Before whishing everyone a good week, L1 cheers because her voice lasted for the entire lecture.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from a participant observation conducted in Lecture 1 on the 27^th October.

Today’s lecture is treating the topic of reconciliation. After a short introduction outlining the history of reconciliation, L1 asks the question: What is reconciliation? She does not answer it right away, however, but first talks about the picture which is included on the slide. It is an artwork done by school children, she explains, and what she loves about it is that the people on it have really weird feet and no noses. She laughs about this before returning to the question.

To explain the history of the term ‘reconciliation’, L1 first tells the students what can be found online if one is looking for images about reconciliation the way she has in preparation for this session. The fact that the first images which come up had to do with Christianity made her think about how many Human Rights related topics come from a background of faith. After talking about the role of Christian churches in the recent past as opposed to the colonial past, she addresses the issue of the separation of church and state. For this, she refers to the judges on the panel of the Mabo case and presents two of them in detail. When someone asks a question, L1 repeats it for those listening to the recording before answering it. The student asks again and L1 answers, adding her own assumptions where she is not sure. A different student then adds an idea to this on which L1 comments.

Turning back to the slides, L1 lists the members of the first Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and briefly outlines their background and contribution. She then reads out the preamble of the Act of Legislation for reconciliation before giving additional information. She proceeds with the next slides in the same way. While talking about Reconciliation Australia, L1 opens their website which she describes as “really worth having a look at”. She opens the tab about the RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan) when she reaches this topic and reads out the definition of the project, which can be found on the page. She then explains it in more detail and gives examples of actions taken in the frame of the RAP.

L1 now shows a video about the extent of reconciliation and gives some more information about the work Reconciliation Australia has done connected to the curriculum. Something else which is worth noticing, she says, is that Reconciliation Australia was really good at using social media in order to reach people. That made it more public and accountable.

L1 now turns to the RAP of the university in order to explain the process and structure of RAPs. She opens the document, reads out some lines, scrolls through the pages and gives extra information. She then explains how the knowledge about reconciliation and RAPs can help the students when they are applying for a job. They could find out whether the company they want to work with has an RAP and then address this topic in a job interview. As an example for other institutions’ RAPs, L1 shows a video made by a company to present their RAP.

Afterwards, L1 presents Close the Gap as another campaign. She points out a video by Oxfam about this topic for which the link can be found on the slide. L1’s further explanations on Close the Gap also include the criticism which is often expressed by Aboriginal people. When she notices that the time is almost up, she comes to an end very quickly, simply inviting the students again to look at the Oxfam video and the Reconciliation Australia website.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class and my memories of the session.

In today’s first presentation, the student mentions a place called Condamine. When he finished his speech, L2 asks him whether he knows where Condamine is situated. He is unsure and so is she, so he looks it up on Google Maps and L2 then shows us on the map on wall which shows the borders of the Aboriginal nations. {Click here for analysis}

One aspect of the presentation makes L2 think of the Burrawang tree. It is a plant which has a long piece of wood in its middle from which spears were made, she explains. Because of its peculiar shape, colonists often thought there was a person hiding behind it. Although Aboriginal peoples traded with each other, L2 goes on explaining, they would always only go to the edge of another people’s country unless they were invited in. At the borders, they would communicate with the help of dot art. Dot art, L2 clarifies, is not traditional Aboriginal art. Traditional Aboriginal art are paintings which show animals in form of skeletons.

L2 also tells the class that the Institute used to organise bus trips to different important Aboriginal sites for students, and gives examples. While she is talking about the sites she is looking for photos of them on the internet. In the past, regular events used to take place at these sites, she says, including marriages, trade and occasions during which knowledge was shared.

After the second presentation, L2 tells us that she used to have students in her classes who did not know about their family’s background. With the help of their family name, she was able to tell them. She also picks up individual places and facts from the presentation saying that while she did not know about some of the aspects, she has been to one of places. When a student asks what circular breathing is, she mocks her a little by walking in a circle while breathing before giving a serious answer.

As it is the last session before the mid-semester break, L2 talks about her plans for the next two weeks. There will be the football knock-out in Dubbo, she says, which will be an opportunity for her to catch up with her family. When she meets them, she tells us, she always brings a few good books she read to lend to other people. After talking about police issues at big Aboriginal events, L2 asks: “Did I tell you the story about my husband in 2010?” As we shake our heads, she goes on vividly describing an incident in which the police thought her husband had stolen a car, although it was his own. “You would hope that people are not that judgmental…” L2 says at the end of the story. {Click here for analysis}

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class and my memories of the session.

Today’s topic is the Stolen Generations. After every presentation L2 gives some background information on the authors the presenters used as references. She also tells us how she felt when she was reading a certain autobiography of a member of the Stolen Generations. Then she says that she did not know that in Canada and in the US children were also taken from their families, until she went to a conference on Indigenous peoples in the US.

In L2’s opinion, there are many good movies on the topic. She regrets that she cannot bring them to class because they would take up all the time, so she sums up some of the stories for us. When she went to see Rabbit Proof Fence, she says, she thought it was very tame but most non-Aboriginal people thought it was very sad. Thus, she thinks they weren’t ready for more. She also shares her opinion on and reaction to other movies with the class.

L2 closes the session by telling us that she spent a lot of time on marking in the last week. “I have nothing else to do in my life. I’m here to help you“, she adds.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class and my memories of the session.

Today’s class starts with a discussion of an assignment which is due in more than a month’s time. Then L2 asks whether there are any students holding their presentations today. There are three.

After the first presentation, L2 explains to the class that there are two different types of boomerangs: the ones for fun which are returning and the ones for hunting which are not coming back. With a smile she adds that her grandson was very surprised when he found out that she knew how to throw a boomerang.

Picking up an aspect from the presentation, L2 goes on talking about another personal experience. When she was still working in a school, she says, she was asked by the headmaster to write the school’s report about its implementation of Indigenous knowledge but she refused because she did not actually know how it was implemented. This leads her to the conclusion that many of these reports are not checked. She also had a problem finding a school to do her practical experience in Aboriginal Studies in because many schools do not teach it.

Then, L2 gives some additional information on the AECGs (Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups). Although it is mostly teachers and principals participating in the meetings of the AECGs rather than parents, they are still a good institution, in L2’s opinion. They offer the opportunity to get in touch and discuss. This makes her think about what a “great teacher” should be like and she starts discussing this question with the class.

Afterwards, L2 talks about Aboriginal English and searches example phrases on the internet of which we are to guess the meaning. Some of them are quite easy while others cannot be understood without knowledge about the individual words. “I love Aboriginal English”, L2 says, “If I don’t know somebody’s name I just call them [Aboriginal English word]”. She also admits that she never thought much about the differences until someone told her: “You don’t sound like an academic” and she answered: “Well, because I don’t use all those big words”. “L2 is L2”, she adds.

When it is time for the second presentation, the presenter gets very nervous. L2 tries to reassure her but she leaves the room so that it is the third presenter’s turn. After this presentation, L2 praises the student’s choice of sources as she can tell from the author’s name whether he or she is Aboriginal. She also tells us more about her own teaching experience. In one school, the local elders were invited into the school to have a cup of coffee every week. It was good for the children to see them there, L2 thinks. In addition, the elders could get in touch with the teacher and take the pupils’ fear and distance away.

Meanwhile, the second presenter has come back into the room and is ready to start her presentation. When she stops again, everyone, including L2, gives her tips. L2 talks about the first lecture she was holding in which she was also very nervous. The only thing you can do to fight this insecurity is to keep going, she says. Therefore, she stands next to the presenter and helps her change the slides while the student is reading out her presentation. {Click here for analysis}

Afterwards, L2 says that many things which are taught in school are not relevant in the everyday life of Indigenous students. One day she was taking her children to the beach where they got in contact with local primary school children. Although this was years ago, her children still remember it because they learned more from this encounter than they learned in school. The children are grown up now, very tall and very skinny, L2 adds.

In spite of all problems and discrimination, the lecture is trying to teach Aboriginal history from a positive perspective and highlight the change, L2 explains, so that no one has to feel bad. She then tells the story of her ex-partner who had to walk several kilometres to school on a dirt road every day. When he fell into a puddle one day trying to jump over it, he couldn’t go to school because pupils were only admitted in class when they wore clean clothes. “He was a very stubborn boy”, L2 admits and tells us how he also broke his wrist three times. “I don’t know whether I have told you that story before”, she says at the end.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from notes taken during class and my memories of the session.

On the 27^th August the tables are arranged differently than the weeks before. They have been moved from a big U shape to group tables offering space for six students each. I sit down at one of the tables at the back. There is already a list of questions on the board. The tutor (L2) welcomes us to class and tells us to listen closely to today’s presentations, especially if we didn’t read the core reading for this week.

As many people are having a cold or flu at the moment, L2 gives us recommendations on how to protect ourselves against it and how to get well quickly. She mentions eucalyptus leaves, and something else which needs to be put on the soles of the feed. This is something she learned from her grandmother, L2 says.

The topic of today’s tutorial and presentation is the Convincing Ground massacre. After every presentation, L2 picks up a few aspects to explain them in more detail or to make us to think about them. In the end she admits that she does not have enough knowledge to say what really happened in the past. However, she also highlights that the massacres took place not long ago. It is history but it is still very close.

As we answer the questions on the board in groups, L2 shows us an Aboriginal newspaper lying on the desk at the front and explains a bit about it. She then assigns a question to every table which we are supposed to answer in relation to next week’s text. While doing so, she tells us “I always start at the left, on the market as well”. She then asks us whether we want a break.

After the break we watch a documentary about Myall Creek. While we are watching, L2 writes additional information on the board and explains that she is related to someone in the film. Afterwards she asks whether it is still true that pupils in primary and high school only learn about British history and bushrangers. The Australian students of the class agree.

Back to the list of all descriptions

This description is derived from a participant observation  conducted in Tutorial 1 on the 29th October 2015.

It is Thursday morning, 8.45am. I arrive early for class today, eager to do my participant observation. The tutor’s bag is already in the room and I am not the first student to arrive. The tutor (L2) comes back to the room at shortly before 9am and begins to chat with the students about the upcoming exam until it is time to start the tutorial. At the beginning of the class L2 gives a brief overview of today’s class structure. Then we hear the first student presentation. When the presenter says “Good morning” in an Aboriginal language, L2 answers in the same way. Half way through the presentation, L2 interrupts the presenting student to clarify that Aboriginal people had the right to vote before the date mentioned on the slides. She underlines her statement by saying: “My grandmother voted” and then gives the student the advice: It’s always good to read more than one source.

After the first presentation is over, L2 asks the students in the class whether anyone had any comments or questions. As no one answers she turns back to the presenter saying: “L2 does”. She praises the presenter’s definition of reconciliation and then picks up a quote from the slides. This quote is often used for assignment tasks, she says, and explains it further. She then goes on talking about another aspect that came up during the presentation, adding a “like you said” to her remarks. When she reaches the topic of the Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP), she tells the class that a few years ago she was asked to work with an organisation of its RAP and uses this as a starting point to explain what a RAP can look like and what has to be done to put one together.

As we are about to start the next presentation, a student enters the room. She is greeted with a friendly: “Oh, hi! How are you?” by the tutor.

During the second presentation L2 also comments on aspects. When the presenter explains what an auto-biography is, she remarks that there has just recently been another unauthorised biography about a famous person. Furthermore, she explains the significance of autobiographies, written by the person himself or herself, by saying that when it is raining she often tells her colleagues what a lovely day it is while in their opinion, the weather is horrible. Thus, L2 concludes, there can be different perspectives on the same thing. After the presentation is over, she asks again whether there are any comments or questions. Again, none of the students answers. She goes ahead telling the presenter that she “enjoyed it” and that “it was good to have a definition” of ‘autobiography’. Then, she tells the class that she is a “heavy reader” as she reads about three novels a week, including an auto-biography every now and then. In one specific autobiography she read it was interesting to see how the representation in the media differed from the person’s own account. She also made an interesting experience while teaching a class in 1993 where the students perceived something that was normal to her as “history”. It was the fact that she did not do any sports as a child while her brother did because “that was what boys did”, she adds.

Afterwards, L2 gives more details about a person which has been presented by the student and shows the class on the map on the wall where this person’s project is located. Walking back over to the whiteboard she asks the presenter which autobiographies he read for his presentation and creates a list on the board of all good autobiographies she can think off from the top of her head. The first is the first autobiography she ever read. After naming the titles, she always gives some information about the author. She also asks the class for more ideas. When talking about one autobiography she admits that she “sat up all night with tissues”. In another one, her name is mentioned, she says. She finishes up by telling the class that she has a big bookshelf with autobiographies at home and that “there are many out there” if we want to read them. Sometimes, she adds, it is easier to read those then an academic article “with all those disgusting words in it”.

Meanwhile, one of students has received an email from the lecturer (L1) answering a question about the exam which has come up before the class. L2 takes the students phone and reads out the email for everyone. Then she hands out paper for an exercise she has explained briefly earlier. We are to draw our hand on a sheet of paper, cut it out and write on the one side what we learned in the class and on the other what we personally could do for reconciliation. {Click here for analysis} “I don’t know whether you want white or ochre”, L2 says while putting a few sheet of each colour on the group tables. Already aware of the task most of the class starts drawing their hands on the paper while L2 is talking to some students. After a few minutes she goes up to the board and draws around her own hand. “I have a fat hand”, she remarks and everyone laughs. Then she scolds herself for also drawing a big part of her arm because that would mean that she would be an elder. “You don’t have that much knowledge, L2”, she says more to herself than to the class. Looking at her hand again, she adds: “Those fat hands can play the piano. Unbelievable, isn’t it?”

While everyone is working on the task, some students are joking around with a pair of scissors. When L2 hears it, she asks: “what’s up?” and then suggests with a laugh to take “the naughty student” outside and punish him. A few minutes later she asks whether the class remembers an aspect of last week’s episode of the TV series Ready for This we watched in class. She then shows a music video which is related to this episode while commenting on how much the actress changed and singing and dancing along. After the video is over L2 tells the class that her mother called her the other day to tell her that the actress is in town as she is an acquaintance of the family.

Then, L2 asks how the class is doing with the task and whether someone wants to share his or her answer to the reconciliation question. As someone does, L2 talks about a tutorial last year in which students came up with an interesting idea of how a school could work on Aboriginal issues. She then tells the story of her sister’s practical training at a school and the way she worked with her pupils on Aboriginal topics. Going back to what the student’s ideas about reconciliation were, L2 states that it is very important to speak out loud. “I guess that’s why I didn’t get a job at X, I was too black and too loud”, she says laughing. Then she gives the class the advice to experience a different culture in another way than just from a book. What one can learn from everyday situations is incredible, she says. Once, her son, for example, played at the beach with other children from a different culture background and learned so much from it.

As a student says something about the class being very enjoyable, L2 remembers her own history class in school in which the teacher spoke with a very British accent and which she always enjoyed very much. She tells us about a specific comment she made and the teacher’s reaction to it.

As it is the last tutorial, L2 promises that she will finish marking all assignments soon and offers that we can talk to her if we are not happy with the result. “I also make mistakes”, she says, correcting herself immediately: “I also have learning experiences”. {Click here for analysis} She then asks whether anyone already watched this week’s episode of Ready for This and whether we want to watch it right now. While we are watching, the first students leave already.

Back to the list of all descriptions