A range of policies, frameworks and plans have the express goal of redressing the under-represent... more A range of policies, frameworks and plans have the express goal of redressing the under-representation of Australian Indigenous peoples in the higher education sector. Measures such as section 12 of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act (2010) and Reconciliation Action Plans provide important frameworks for universities and allow for certain positions to be advertised to Indigenous applicants only.
But what happens when a university is not accountable to their responsibility to provide successful applicants with a culturally safe environment? To answer this question I interrogate the concept of cultural safety, and ask what steps universities could take to improve their accountability for providing a culturally safe environment to Indigenous peoples. Based on this analysis I recommend a set of specific additions to existing policies.
A range of policies, frameworks and plans have the express goal of redressing the under-represent... more A range of policies, frameworks and plans have the express goal of redressing the under-representation of Australian Indigenous peoples in the higher education sector. Measures such as section 12 of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act (2010) and Reconciliation Action Plans provide important frameworks for universities and allow for certain positions to be advertised to Indigenous applicants only.
But what happens when a university is not accountable to their responsibility to provide successful applicants with a culturally safe environment? To answer this question I interrogate the concept of cultural safety, and ask what steps universities could take to improve their accountability for providing a culturally safe environment to Indigenous peoples. Based on this analysis I recommend a set of specific additions to existing policies.
This paper presents the views of a range of Aboriginal people on public archaeology. The ‘convers... more This paper presents the views of a range of Aboriginal people on public archaeology. The ‘conversation’ format we settled on was designed to facilitate the voices of individuals, to present a range of Indigenous views, to allow people to express their views frankly, and to deal with the constraints of people being located in different parts of Australia as well as occasional lock-downs due to COVID-19.
Today, activist, applied, engaged, community, collaborative, and public archaeologies all seek to bridge the modernist divide between scholarship and social responsibility. This paper articulates with global trends relating to human rights, inequality and social injustice for Indigenous peoples. Though the authors discussed differences between community archaeology and public archaeology, their views show they see synergies between the two. Taken together, the ideas articulated in this paper highlight the potential for public and community archaeology to contribute to significant—even radical—social change in Australia.
This paper was written in response to a request by the editors of the AP: Online Journal of Publi... more This paper was written in response to a request by the editors of the AP: Online Journal of Public Archaeology, Jaime Almansa Sánchez and Elena Papagiannopoulou, for Claire Smith to write on the future of public archaeology in Australia. In Australia, public archaeology focusses on high profile colonial sites such as The Rocks in Sydney (Karskens 1999) and Port Arthur in Tasmania (Steele et al. 2007; Frew 2012), tourism (e.g. Cole and Wallis 2019) or enhancing school curricula (Nichols et al. 2005; Owens and Steele 2005). However, given her decades-long relationships with Jawoyn and Ngadjuri people (Smith 1999; Smith et al. 2016; Smith et al. 2020), Claire Smith decided that a useful way of approaching this topic would be to obtain Indigenous views on the subject. Accordingly, she contacted the Aboriginal co-authors of this article and invited them to co-author the paper. The possibility to write in free form was a boon. The ‘conversation’ format we settled on was designed to facili...
Using language and writing to distinguish cultures from each other is commonplace. They are defin... more Using language and writing to distinguish cultures from each other is commonplace. They are defining characteristics of culture that enable members to identify themselves within their group - by having communication they are tied together. Oral communication is the key identifier for Nyikina people of northern-Western Australia. However, Nyikina language is severely endangered, and risks being lost altogether. If the language were to die, Nyikina people would lose a huge part of their cultural identity. Working with the Nyikina community as part of a language revitalisation project sparked my interest in the transition from oral to written literature within the Mediterranean. Why did Nyikina not develop their own script, but Minoans and Etruscans did? It would be beneficial to have Etruscan literature or sound recordings describing how the Etruscan language was influenced by Phoenician and Greek cultures, and to know why they created their own alphabet using elements from both colonising influences. Hence, the experience and situation regarding the Nyikina language may provide a general paradigm for understanding and extrapolating the contextual situations of Minoans and Etruscans with respect to their languages, and vice-versa. This was the spring-board to a Masters thesis exploring such changes.
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Publications by Emily Poelina-Hunter
Conference Presentations by Emily Poelina-Hunter
But what happens when a university is not accountable to their responsibility to provide successful applicants with a culturally safe environment? To answer this question I interrogate the concept of cultural safety, and ask what steps universities could take to improve their accountability for providing a culturally safe environment to Indigenous peoples. Based on this analysis I recommend a set of specific additions to existing policies.
Talks by Emily Poelina-Hunter
But what happens when a university is not accountable to their responsibility to provide successful applicants with a culturally safe environment? To answer this question I interrogate the concept of cultural safety, and ask what steps universities could take to improve their accountability for providing a culturally safe environment to Indigenous peoples. Based on this analysis I recommend a set of specific additions to existing policies.
Today, activist, applied, engaged, community, collaborative, and public archaeologies all seek to bridge the modernist divide between scholarship and social responsibility. This paper articulates with global trends relating to human rights, inequality and social injustice for Indigenous peoples. Though the authors discussed differences between community archaeology and public archaeology, their views show they see synergies between the two. Taken together, the ideas articulated in this paper highlight the potential for public and community archaeology to contribute to significant—even radical—social change in Australia.