Related pages
Australian Aboriginal Studies 2001 Abstracts
James Cowan and the white quest for the black self
Mitchell Rolls
A literary genre is emerging in which Aborigines are cast as the spiritual saviours of the supposedly alienated Western self. One of the most prolific authors writing in this field is the Australian, James Cowan. Through a series of books Cowan moves further and further into the Aboriginal metaphysical realm until at last, he would have his readers believe, he actually enters the Dreaming and becomes an intrinsic part of it. In this article I critically examine these books, focusing on Cowan’s construction of Aborigines and the sorts of claims he makes. I also consider some possible consequences of his particular portrayal of Aborigines. Despite his prominence in this field, and publishers’ claims that he is ‘an internationally respected authority on Australian Aborigines and other indigenous peoples’, his work so far has received little critical analysis.
From 'Australia Aborigines' to 'white Australians'
Cora Thomas
There is a general inadequacy of published research on the historical specificity of Australia’s culturalist or assimilation policies as they directly affected its Indigenous people and, in particular, on the ideas of Paul (later Sir Paul) Hasluck. As Federal Minister for Territories during the greater part of the Menzies government in the 1950s and early 1960s, the high point of assimilationism in Australia, Hasluck was the main architect of these policies as they directly affected Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and was in a coordinating and influential role over the state authorities at that time. Despite his unquestionably impressive record in public office over a period of more than 30 years, few worthwhile studies have been made. It is noteworthy that, while the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s 1997 Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families asserts the growing intrusiveness and increased control over Aboriginal lives brought about by Hasluck’s administration, specifically the Welfare Ordinances of 1953 and later, and the inhumanity of policies aimed at the destruction of cultural identity (HREOC 1997:144–6, 204–5), there is little offered in the text or the bibliography for the reader wishing to pursue an understanding of the historical specificity and philosophical traditions informing Hasluck’s assimilationism.
The forlorn hope: Bennelong and Yemmerrawannie go to England
Jack Brook
This article covers aspects of Bennelong’s and Yemmerrawannie’s sojourn in England between 1793 and 1795 not previously published and provides a different explanation concerning the illness that eventually led to the death of Yemmerrawannie. I also argue that both men were not paraded as curiosities but, rather, treated with respect.
Sizing up prehistory: sample size and composition of artefact assemblages
Peter Hiscock
A review of selected Holocene artefact assemblages in Australia demonstrates that assemblage composition is often dependent on the size of the sample. Rare types of objects, such as backed artefacts, are less likely to be present in small samples than in large ones. Although major questions in Australian archaeology focus on the presence or absence of such rare classes of object, the archaeological patterns have often been interpreted without regard to this sample-size effect. Consequently, interpretations of some temporal trends in Australian prehistory, such as the model that backed artefacts first appear 4000–4500 years ago, might be replaced with models that describe changing assemblage sizes through the Holocene. Similarly, some spatial differences in assemblage composition might also be adequately described in terms of varying sample size. The implications of this phenomenon are considered.
Globalisation, Decolonisation and Indigenous Australia
Claire Smith and
Graeme K. Ward
A literary genre is emerging in which Aborigines are cast as the spiritual saviours of the supposedly alienated Western self. One of the most prolific authors writing in this field is the Australian, James Cowan. Through a series of books Cowan moves further and further into the Aboriginal metaphysical realm until at last, he would have his readers believe, he actually enters the Dreaming and becomes an intrinsic part of it. In this article I critically examine these books, focusing on Cowan’s construction of Aborigines and the sorts of claims he makes. I also consider some possible consequences of his particular portrayal of Aborigines. Despite his prominence in this field, and publishers’ claims that he is ‘an internationally respected authority on Australian Aborigines and other indigenous peoples’, his work so far has received little critical analysis.
'Never ask a question unless you know the answer': anthropology and the formation of public policy
Kingsley Palmer
This article presents a brief overview of the processes that characterise policy formation, particularly within both political and bureaucratic contexts. Historically, anthropologists are shown to have been influential in relation to political policy formation as it relates to Indigenous Australians. While such influence may now be in decline, anthropologists continue to play an important role in the development of public policy. Three case studies illustrate the interface between research and public policy formation. The article argues for the development of a more critical sociological appreciation of the policy development process in order that anthropologists can maximise their contribution in this area.
Can quality independent research in Indigenous affairs be influential? Personal relections on the Reeves Land Rights Inquiry and its aftermath
Jon Altman
This article raises, but far from definitively answers, a fundamental question that academic anthro-pologists often ask: how can they ensure that their research has beneficial policy influence? This general issue is examined with reference to one particular example, the Reeves Land Rights Inquiry of 1997–98 and subsequent events, including a conference convened in 1999 by concerned social scientists, many of whom were anthro-pologists, that was highly critical of the Reeves Review’s scholarship; and a Parliamentary Inquiry into the contentious review that after prolonged deliberation was dismissive of its recommendations.
The article is somewhat reflexive: it laments the very different standards that are applied to academic research on the one hand and to government-sponsored inquiries on the other, but emphasises that academic adherence to the three principles of scholarly excellence, transparency and peer review must be maintained. With specific reference to Aboriginal land rights law in the Northern Territory, the article also laments the considerable efforts that must be expended by anthropologists in protecting long-established rights rather than in constructively streamlining statute to deliver better outcomes for Indigenous people.
Anthropology's contribution to public policy formulation: the imagines other
Julie Finlayson
This article looks at both the historical and contemporary contexts in which applied anthropological research in Australia might contribute to policy formulation. While it has been axiomatic that an established relationship between anthropology and policy formulation operated in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Australia, the assumptions behind how such relationships were formed and operated are being revisited. The article argues that in the present context a relationship of direct influence is unlikely. This is so not only because of a myriad of factors at play, ranging from the personal to the political, but also because the process of policy formulation is not prescriptive and is often highly responsive to volatile external and internal political agendas. The analysis is to be read against a recent challenge to anthropology raised by Peter Sutton when asking specifically how anthropology as a research discipline can meaningfully share its insights and analysis with government’s policy and program initiatives for Indigenous Australians.
Abrogating responsibility? Applied anthropology, Vesteys, Aboriginal labour, 1944-1946
Geoffrey Gray
Towards the end of the Pacific War, two young anthropologists began work on a survey of Vesteys northern cattle stations. Ronald Murray Berndt and Catherine Helen Berndt were employed, between August 1944 and April 1946, by the Australian Investment Agency (Vesteys) to conduct a survey of the conditions and treatment of Aboriginal labour to advise on these matters, to assist in the recruitment of new Aboriginal labour, and to make recommendations for the better management of Aboriginal labour. This was a departure for Vesteys, who were universally seen as taking little interest in Aboriginal labourers and their dependants. The survey is considered, especially by the Berndts, as the first applied anthropological study conducted in Australia. This article examines aspects of this survey and the effect it had on policy and practice on Northern Territory cattle stations. It also addresses two concerns expressed by Ronald Berndt: the direct and indirect use of applied anthropology and its benefit for Indigenous people, and whether, by leaving others to implement their recommendations, anthropologists were abrogating responsibility.
Homeswest versus Aborigines: housing discrimination in Western Australia
Quentin Beresford
Housing for Aboriginal families became a controversial issue in Western Australia during the 1990s as a result of an increasing number of evictions of those living in state housing properties. This article examines the social, legal and political circumstances surrounding these evictions. It looks at a range of issues about the nature of institutional discrimination and the ambiguity between direct and indirect discrimination. It also examines the capacity of the legalistic processes of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to deal with these issues.
Conceptualising Aboriginality: reading AO Neville's Australia's Coloured Minority
Alan Charlton
In 1947 AO Neville published Australia’s Coloured Minority: Its Place in the Community. Western Australia’s chief Aboriginal bureaucrat from 1915 to 1949, he was a dominant figure in Aboriginal affairs in the interwar years, and perhaps Australia’s strongest proponent of policies of absorption. This article analyses the book, his only concerted piece of writing, focusing on the construction of Aboriginality employed by Neville. In attempting to furnish support for his confused and often contradictory aims in the field, Neville fell back on many different conceptualisations of what it might mean to be an Aborigine, and what the ‘solution’ to the ‘Aboriginal problem’ might be. Although he acknowledged social impediments and concerns to Aboriginal ‘progress’, these were never his ultimate concern. Central to all his thinking was the overarching notion of race as a biologically understood concept. The collision of sociological ideas and biological–racial ideas was further complicated by the changing and fluid versions of biological race that he employed. Never consistent or fully aware of his conceptual supports, Neville’s writing provides a snapshot of one administrative view of Aboriginal affairs in a period of changing understandings of race and reminds us of the tenacity of race as a concept.