Indigenous Societies, Art and Culture
Convenor: Boyd Hunter
Description | Past Events | Current Events
Ideas about the character of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies and their place in the contemporary life of the nation have long exercised popular and scholarly imagination, shaping discussions of Australian identity and political responses to indigenous social worlds. These concerns have intensified in recent years through highly charged debates and controversial government initiatives such as the Federal Northern Territory Intervention and the Apology to the Stolen Generations. Drawing on a solid understanding of contemporary and historical issues effecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, CASS researchers are well placed to make significant contributions to these discussions. Their research forms an essential body of knowledge for informing future policy directions and offers evidence-based evaluation of the consequences of policy initiatives.
In embracing this key research theme, scholars seek to move beyond established disciplinary boundaries in order to engage but also recast an often truncated focus on relative indigenous disadvantage to include attention to the creative agency of Indigenous Australians and to the diverse and dynamic forms of inter-cultural production that exist in their communities. A research emphasis on collaborative relationships with indigenous people aims to ensure that Indigenous Australians’ own understandings of their past, views of the present and imagined futures form a critical part of our scholarship, and that the full complexity and variety of indigenous experience is reflected both in research foci and in teaching and training at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Current Events
26 August 2009 (6pm)
Power, Culture, Economy: Indigenous Australians and Mining
Public lecture launch CAEPR Research Monograph No. 30: Power, Culture, Economy: Indigenous Australians and Mining edited by Jon Altman and David Martin.
Venue: Finkel Theatre, John Curtin School, ANU
17 September 2009
Youth Learning Symposium
This (INVITATION ONLY) Symposium is part of the project 'Lifespan learning and literacy for young adults in remote Indigenous communities 2007-2010', which is jointly funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australian National University and The Fred Hollows Foundation.
This ARC research project has been identifying ‘best practice’ learning projects and programs in remote Indigenous communities for youth aged between 16 and 25 that stimulate the acquisition and development of language and multi-modal literacies and support positive identity formation experiences.
Venue: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Darwin
For more information see, http://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/learning/
Past Events
24 June 2009
Donald Rumsfeld and the quality of Indigenous administrative data
Boyd Hunter (Senior Fellow, CAEPR)
Convenors: Kirrily Jordan and Sean Kerins
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm
Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
17 June 2009
Cyber Tracking: New technologies for Indigenous rangers
Kim McKenzie (Head, Consortium for Information Outreach) and Emilie Ens (Post-Doctoral Fellow, CAEPR)
Convenors: Kirrily Jordan and Sean Kerins
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm
Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
For more information - see https://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/events09.php
10 June 2009
Wellbeing, capabilities and Indigenous Australians: Can Indigenous wellbeing be measured and, if so, how?
Kirrily Jordan (Post-Doctoral Fellow CAEPR), Geoff Buchanan (Research Officer, CAEPR), Hannah Bulloch (Graduate Research Assistant, CAEPR), Katherine May (Graduate Research Assistant, CAEPR)
Convenors: Kirrily Jordan and Sean Kerins
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm.
Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
For more information - see https://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/events09.php
3 June 2009
'Buffalo
Emilie Ens (Post-Doctoral Fellow CAEPR)
Convenors: Kirrily Jordan and Sean KerinsVenue: 12.30 – 2.00pm
Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
For more information - see https://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/events09.php
3 June 2009 (9.30-11.00am)
Geertz and Sahlins on Agency: A Comparison
Don Gardner (Lecturer, School of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Convenors: Assa Doron
Seminar Room A, Coombs Building
Further details: Link to http://rspas.anu.edu.au/anthropology/seminars.php
27 May 2009
String: Binding Self to Power in Southeast Asia
Andrew Walker (RSPAS)
Convenors: Assa Doron
9.30 – 11.00am.
Seminar Room A, Coombs Building
Further details: Link to http://rspas.anu.edu.au/anthropology/seminars.php
27 May 2009
Harvest studies in hybrid economies: Exploring the socioeconomics of the customary use of wildlife
Geoff Buchanan (Research Officer/Doctoral Scholar, CAEPR)
Convenors: Kirrily Jordan and Sean Kerins
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm
Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
For more information - see https://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/events09.php
Market researching 'reconciliation': The Australian Reconciliation Barometer
Tim Rowse (Professorial Fellow, Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy,
Convenors: Kirrily Jordan and Sean Kerins
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm
Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
For more information - see https://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/events09.php
4-15 May 2009 (4pm)
Remote Communities-Indigenous Ceramics Network project
Artists from Hermannsburg, Ernabella and the Tiwi Islands working alongside students in the production of large pots for a forthcoming exhibition ‘towards sustainability- letting go and the development of ownership’
Venue: School of Art Lecture Theatre
The Coordinator of the Indigenous Ceramics Network project, Geoff Crispin, will be speaking at an Artforum.
Exhibition of the work JOHN MAWURNDJUL
A major survey exhibition of the work of internationally known Indigenous artist, John Mawurndjul. Mawurndjul's home-land is near Maningrida in Western Arnhem Land, where he was taught painting by his brother Jimmy Njiminjuma and uncle Peter Marralwanga. John Mawurndjul and Kay Linjuwanga are Visiting Indigenous Fellows to CAEPR.
The exhibition at the Drill Hall Gallery is a major public education and outreach event, has had a publication and is a precursor for a major book on the ANU Art Collection that a number of members of CASS including Nicolas Peterson, Howard Morphy, Mary Eagle, Melinda Hinkson, Nigel Lendon, Luke Taylor and Jon Altman are involved in. This is a major CASS/Drill Hall Gallery cultural collaboration that will see the launch of an exhibition and book tentatively titled Aboriginal Art from the ANU Collection.
In related news, CASS members Jon Altman and Howard Morphy have recently contributed three Chapters in a book evaluating the contribution of John Mawurndjul: C. Volkenandt and C. Kaufmann (eds) 2009. Between Indigenous Australia and Europe: John Mawurndjul, Art Histories in Context series, Reimer, Berlin
Curated by Apolline Kohen
Venue: 12-5pm Wednesday to Sunday
Drill Hall Gallery, Kingsley Street, off Barry Drive, Acton
see http://www.anu.edu.au/mac/content/dhg/exhibitions/
29 April 2009
Spliting the Atom of Kinship: The Symbolic Economy of the Warlpiri Fire Ceremony
John Morton (Anthropology, La Trobe University)
Convenor: Assa Doron
5 November 2008
Power, culture and economy: can mining provide development for Indigenous Australians
Jon Altman, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenor: Melinda Hinkson
Venue: 9.30am – 11.00am, Seminar Room A, Ground Floor, Coombs Building.
29 October 2008
On Noel Pearson
Katarina Ferro, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
29 October 2008
Invisible to the state: kinship and the Yolngu moral order
Frances Morphy, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
22 October 2008
Complexity in Aboriginal political culture and implications for government policy
Sarah Maddison, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
15 October 2008
Climate impacts in remote communities in Northern Australia
Donna Green, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
8 October 2008
Are racial and ethnic minorities disadvantaged in Australia? Evidence from two randomised field experiments
Andrew Leigh, Economics Program, Research School of Social Sciences, ANU with Alison Booth and Elena Varganova
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
1 October 2008
Aboriginal Poverty: what's social capital got to do with it?
Julie Lahn, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
24 September 2008
'Yo, turn around and look at Yolngu people, we are here': indigenous cultural festivals and wellbeing
Lisa Slater, Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
18 September 2008
First Taste: history and culture in Indigenous alcohol use
Maggie Brady, CAEPR, ANU, and Robin Room, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne Public Lecture to launch Maggie Brady's multi-volume work entitled First Taste: How Indigenous Australians Learned About Grog Venue: 5:30-7:30pm, Finkel Theatre, JCSMR, Garran Road
17 September 2008
One Year On, the Northern Territory Intervention
Peter Stewart, James Cook University
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
12 September 2008
Effective Indigenous Involvement in The Living Murray – Introducing Use and Occupancy Mapping
Lee Joachim, Yorta Yorta Nations, and Neil Ward, Murray Darling Basin Commission
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30-2.00pm. CAEPR Seminar Room, Ground Floor, Hanna Neumann Building # 21.
10 September 2008
Language and the constitution of the supernatural: a critique of Boyer
Ian Keen, School of Anthropology and Archaeology, ANU
Convenor: Melinda Hinkson
Venue: 9.30am – 11.00am, Seminar Room A, Ground Floor, Coombs Building.
3 September 2008
Dealing with cards: An anthropological perspective on remote Indigenous gambling
Marisa Fogarty, School for Social and Policy Research, Charles Darwin University
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library)
Further details
29-30 August 2008
Race, Nation, History: A Conference in Honour of Henry Reynolds
Convenors: Professor Bain Attwood and Professor Tom Griffiths
Registration Enquiries: Leena Messina
Venue: National Library of Australia
Further details
29 August 2008
Entangled dreams: a discussion of the intercultural appeal of Australian Indigenous tourism
Anke Tonnaer, Radboud University
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
13 August 2008
The Closed Society and its Friends: gerontocracy, religious secrecy and the code of silence in Central Australia
Peter Sutton, South Australia Museum and University of Adelaide
Convenor: Melinda Hinkson
Venue: 9.30am – 11.00am, Seminar Room A, Ground Floor, Coombs Building.
13 August 2008
Saving and Strengthening CDEP: A remote Australia policy treasure
Will Sanders, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
6 August 2008
Closing the gap? Monitoring trends in Indigenous Australians' life expectancy
Len Smith, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, ANU
Convenors: Julie Lahn and Bill Fogarty
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
4 August 2008
Equality, appropriateness and efficiency in Indigenous housing policy: forty years of Commonwealth involvement
Will Sanders, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, ANU, Public Lecture Series: Case Studies of Australian Social Policy
Enquiries: Jenny White
Venue: 5.30-7.00pm. The Innovations Theatre, Innovations Building.
Further details
30 July 2008
Water Flow Allocation and Indigenous Natural Resource Mapping: Empowering Communities
Melanie Durette and Manuhuia Barcham, Synexe Consulting
25 June 2008
Reviewing the Northern Territory intervention one year on:
Conceptual and methodological considerations and some observations
Jon Altman, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenors: Sarah Prout and Nicholas Biddle
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
20 June 2008
Justifying violence on the colonial frontier
Stephen Foster, Research School of Humanities, ANU
Convenors: Stephen Foster and Ken Taylor
Enquiries: administration.rsh@anu.edu.au
Venue: 1.00 – 2.30pm. Theatrette, Old Canberra House, Lennox Crossing.
Further details
18 June 2008
'We ran out of painting men years ago': Mortality and the market for Aboriginal art
Cate Slocum, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
Convenors: Sarah Prout and Nicholas Biddle
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
12 June 2008
Symposium: On the new book, 'Drawing the Colour Line: white men's countries and the question of racial equality' by Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds.
Speakers include: Mary Crock, Ann Curthoys, Desley Deacon, Marilyn Lake, Peter Prince, Henry Reynolds, Kim Rubenstein.
Convenors: Centre for International and Public Law, ANU College of Law and the History Program, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences
Venue: 2.00pm-5.00pm. National Europe Centre, Liversidge Street, Building #67C.
RSVP by 10 June to rsvp@law.anu.edu.au
Further details
5 June 2008
'Aboriginal Senior Officials in the Northern Territory Government'
Elizabeth Ganter, History Program, Research School of Social Sciences ANU.
Convenors: Chris O'Brien and Tim Rowse
Venue: 3.00pm-5.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
4 June 2008
Literacy and remote Indigenous youth: Why social practice matters
Kerry Schwab and Inge Kral, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU.
Convenors: Sarah Prout and Nicholas Biddle
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
4 June 2008
The role of cultural activities in public diplomacy
Leilani Bin-Juda, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Convenors: Kylie Message and Caroline Turner
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Conference Room, Old Canberra House.
28 May 2008
Indigeneity: global and local
Francesca Merlan, School of Anthropology and Archaeology, ANU.
Convenor: Melinda Hinkson
Venue: 9.30am – 11.00am, Seminar Room A, Ground Floor, Coombs Building.
Further details
28 May 2008
The politics of 'the gap' in Australia and New Zealand
Tim Rowse, Research School of Social Sciences, ANU
Convenors: Sarah Prout and Nicholas Biddle
Venue: 12.30 – 2.00pm. Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library).
Further details
15 May - 7 June 2008
Sesserae: The Works of Dennis Nona
Sesserae: The Works of Dennis Nona features more than 60 prints by the renowned Torres Strait artist made between 1991 and 2005. Sesserae is a Griffith Artworks travelling exhibition in partnership with Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency (QIAMEA) and is toured by Museum & Gallery Services Queensland.
Venue: ANU School of Art Gallery
Enquiries: sofagallery@anu.edu.au
Further details
4 April 2008
Closing the Gaps in Indigenous Mortality & Housing: Perspectives from the Social Sciences
Toyota Public Lecture
Speakers include: Dr Elizabeth Sullivan (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, University of New South Wales), Associate Professor Heather Booth (Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, ANU), Professor Francesca Merlan (School of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU), Dr Nicholas Biddle (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU), Dr Will Sanders (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU), Professor Paul Memmott (Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, University of Queensland).