HYM4110

Australian Aboriginal histories

(ART)

Bain Attwood

12 points + Supervised reading + First semester + Clayton

Synopsis: This subject investigates a range of epistemological and methodological questions generally associated with the discipline of history but which are of particular significance in /Aboriginal history0. What do we mean by /history0? Did /Aborigines0 have history before 1788? What role did history play in European colonisation and the dispossession of Aborigines, and in the forging of the Australian nation-state? Why was /Aboriginal history0 not written until the late 1960s? What have been the uses of this history in recent decades? Who should write Aboriginal history?

Assessment: Two seminar papers (2000 words each): 40% + Essay (5000 words): 60%