The challenges facing indigenous academics
30 September 2016
Two high-profile academics, both indigenous Australians, both professors, are visiting the University of Waikato this week to talk with colleagues in the Faculty of Maori and Indigenous Studies and to take part in a free public lecture and panel discussion.
Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson, a Goenpul woman of the Quandamooka people from Moreton Bay is a Distinguished Professor and Dean of Indigenous Research and Engagement at Queensland University of Technology and Director of the Australian Research Council’s National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN). Her research and writing has focused on the experience of Aboriginal Australians since colonial settlement and issues of race and whiteness studies, post-colonialism, women's studies and indigenous feminism, indigenous studies, native title law and Aboriginal land rights. Professor Moreton-Robinson will give a public lecture ‘Aboriginal Sovereignty, Foucault, and the Limits of Power’, on Wednesday October 5 from 1pm-2pm in A.G.30.
A panel discussion will follow that will include Professor Steven Larkin a Kungarakany and Yanyula man from Darwin in the Northern Territory. He was recently appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Newcastle. Before that he was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Indigenous Leadership at Charles Darwin University (CDU), an historic appointment in 2009 as he was the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to a senior executive position at an Australian university. Professor Larkin was also Director of the Australian Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Education (ACIKE) at CDU and a member of the Panel for the Behrendt Review on indigenous higher education in Australia.
The panel discussion will cover aspects of indigenous leadership, particularly within academia. Professors Moreton-Robinson and Larkin will talk about their drive and commitment to provide indigenous leadership within the contentious ground of the Academy, including transforming University administration, re-defining curricula, ‘researching back’, and strategies and tactics for challenging power relations and collective amnesia.
Dean of Māori and Indigenous Studies at Waikato, Professor Brendan Hokowhitu, will chair the discussion. He says being an indigenous academic leader in the Academy is a complex task as it requires managing multiple groups of peoples each of whom has different political and ideological expectations of you.
“When I originally conceived this panel I wanted to give Waikato staff the opportunity to hear stories and be able to ask questions of two very accomplished and distinguished indigenous academics who have successfully navigated the Academy and have therefore done wonderful things for indigenous research, communities, students and staff. The fact that they also come from a different context, Australia, can also mean their stories can help clarify the strengths and deficiencies we have in our own context."