KRS4010

Research methodology in Koorie studies

Liz Reed

12 points - 2-3 hours per week - First semester - Clayton

Objectives To enable honours students to gain an understanding of different methodological approaches in Koorie/Aboriginal Studies, and the ability to provide written and oral explanations of these. Students can expect to develop a more reflective and theoretically based understanding of historians' and others' discussions of issues involved in using oral history and an awareness of the importance of oral history to indigenous people.

Synopsis The course focuses on issues involved in planning the dissertation; major issues involved in studying and writing Aboriginal history, including those of gender, race, ethnicity and class; constructions of Aborigines and discourses of Aboriginalism; interdisciplinary approaches to knowing the past; and concepts of race in Australian scholarship.

Assessment Oral presentation and written assignment (3000 words): 30% - Methodology paper (6000 words): 70%

Recommended texts

Anderson J and Poole M Thesis and assignment writing Wiley, 1998
Attwood B (ed.) In the age of Mabo Allen and Unwin, 1996
Attwood B (ed.) Power, knowledge and the Aborigines La Trobe U P 1992
Beckett J (ed.) Past and present: Constructions of Aboriginality Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988
Cowlishaw J and Morris B (eds.) Race matters Aboriginal Studies Press, 1997
Foucault, M The archaeology of knowledge Routledge 1994
Keen (ed.) Being black: Aboriginal cultures in settled Australia Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988
Lester J D Writing research papers: A complete guide Harper Collins 1996
McGrath A (ed.) Contested ground: Australian Aborigines under the British Crown Allen and Unwin, 1995
Rowse T After Mabo: Interpreting indigenous traditions MUP 1993
Said, E Orientalism Penguin 1995

Back to the 1999 Arts Handbook