Australian Indigenous studies
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/schools/cais/
Room 219B, level 2, Monash University Museum of Art (building 55), Clayton campus
+
61 3 9905 4200 (Clayton)
The Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies (CAIS) offers units that aim to
encourage students to understand the past and contemporary experiences of
Australian Indigenous peoples. Students will acquire a general knowledge of
many different aspects of Australian Indigenous cultures and of how these
cultures have undergone change and adaptation. Such understanding will require
students to construct critical arguments and analyse topics studied in their
historical and contemporary contexts. Units in Australian Indigenous studies
aim to assist students to develop a good knowledge base about key issues in
Indigenous societies.
Units offered by Australian Indigenous studies take an interdisciplinary
approach to the contemporary experiences of Australian Aborigines by including
the study of kinship and political systems in urban and remote societies, and
the contrasts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies. Introductory
units examine Indigenous lifestyles and kinship systems, pre and post-invasion,
and the concept of continuity, which provides a focus on understanding the
importance of land. Study of the post-invasion period examines the effects of
colonisation on Indigenous societies and economies, past and present
governmental policies, and their effects on organisations and communities.
Teaching in the centre includes lectures and small tutorial and seminar groups,
which encourage debate and inquiry. Presentations, written summaries and essays
incorporate reflective, analytical and oral skills specific to Indigenous
studies as well as to the arts degree. A number of Arts faculty units offered
in anthropology, Australian studies, geography, history, politics, linguistics,
environmental science, sociology, visual culture and women's and gender studies
complement units offered in Indigenous studies.
The academic staff are Professor Lynette Russell (director of Monash Aboriginal
Programs), Dr Liz Reed, Mr Barry Judd, Dr Stephen Pritchard, Dr Jane Lydon and
Mr Sam Wickman. A major aim of the centre is to provide excellent and
culturally appropriate undergraduate, honours and postgraduate courses.
For details of the following courses, see `Outline of undergraduate studies' earlier in this section.
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