Dr Patrick Sullivan
Patrick Sullivan is an anthropologist who has studied the engagement of Aboriginal people with the Australian Public Sector since his introduction to the Kimberley region, West Australia, in 1983. Much of his professional life has been spent working with independent Aboriginal organisations.

He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and practical reports. His recent book is Belonging Together: Dealing with the Politics of Disenchantment in Australian Indigenous Policy. Details and ordering: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/aspbooks/belongingtogether.html
Dr Sullivan’s current active research interests include: the anthropology of organisations; the anthropology of policy; critical management studies; whole-of-government Aboriginal service delivery and development.
Current research focus
- The dimensions, scope and significance of the Indigenous not-for-profit sector for Aboriginal development and achieving government policy objectives
- Indigenous people and Australian government policy, the National Indigenous Reform Agreement and National Partnership Agreements affecting Indigenous people.
- Sustainable employment initiatives on Aboriginal lands
Concluding projects
- Ngaanyatjarra Employee Related Services (an alternative to CDEP)
Project partner: Ngaanyatjarra Council, FaHCSIA, DEEWR, Centrelink
Selected publications
- (2010) The Policy Goal of Normalisation, the National Indigenous Reform Agreement and Indigenous National Partnership Agreements, DKCRC Working Paper 76, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
542Kb
- (2010) The Aboriginal Community Sector and the Effective Delivery of Services: Acknowledging the Role of Indigenous Sector Organisations, DKCRC Working Paper 73, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
2.8Mb
- (2009) Policy Change and the Indigenous Land Corporation, Research Program Discussion Paper No:25, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra.
423Kb
- (2009) Reciprocal Accountability: Assessing the Accountability Environment in Australian Aboriginal Affairs Policy, International Journal of Public Sector Management. (Outstanding Paper Award 2010)
1.33Mb
- (2008) Bureaucratic Process as Morris Dance: an Ethnographic Approach to the Culture of Bureaucracy in Australian Aboriginal Affairs Administration, Critical Perspectives on International Business.
1.66Kb
- (2006) Culture Without Cultures: the Culture Effect, Introduction to Sullivan P. and Bauman, T. (eds) Delimiting Indigenous Cultures: Conceptual and Spatial Boundaries, The Australian Journal of Anthropology special edition, 17 (3).
825Kb
- (2006) Indigenous Governance: the Harvard Project on Native American Economic Development and Appropriate Principles of Governance for Aboriginal Australia, Research Program Discussion Paper No:17, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra.
216Kb
- (2005) Strange bedfellows: Whole-of-government Policy and Shared Responsibility Agreements - Implications for Regional Governance
, Indigenous Community Governance Project Working Paper, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
295 Kb
- (2005) In Search of the Intercultural, In Search of the Culture, in Hinkson, M. and B. Smith (eds): Figuring the Intercultural in Aboriginal Australia, Oceania Vol. 75 No. 3, pp. 183-194.
883Kb
- (1998) Saltwater, Freshwater and Yawuru Social Organisation in N. Peterson and B. Rigsby (eds): Customary Marine Tenure, Oceania Monograph 48, pp. 96-108.
3Mb
- (1997) From Land Rights to Political Rights: Hunter-gatherer politics and the contemporary Australian state, Tsantsa, (the journal of the Swiss Society of Ethnology), pp. 9-27.
5.15Mb
- (1997) A Sacred Land, A Sovereign People, an Aboriginal Corporation – Prescribed Bodies and the Native Title Act. Darwin: North Australia Research Unit, ANU.
1.42Mb
- (1996) All Things to All People: ATSIC and Australia's International Obligation to Uphold the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in Sullivan, P. (ed) Shooting the Banker - Essays on ATSIC and self-determination, Darwin: North Australia Research Unit, ANU
- (1996): All Free Man Now: Culture, Community and Politics in the Kimberley Region North Western Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, Report Series.
36Mb
- (1986) The Generation of Cultural Trauma: What are Anthropologists for?, Australian Aboriginal Studies, 1.
4.36Mb
Contact
patrick.sullivan@aiatsis.gov.au