AIS4040 - Interrogating Race and Power in Australian Indigenous Studies

Leader: Professor Lynette Russell

Offered

Clayton Second semester 2007 (Day)

Synopsis

Examination of race, gender, class and discourse of whiteness within Australian Indigenous Studies. Comparative study of other settler societies. Power and privilege in Australia.

Objectives

Upon completion of this unit students will have developed an understanding of the theoretical foundations for an interrogation of the ways in which race, gender and class interact to sustain discourses of whiteness within Australian Indigenous Studies. Students will gain an understanding of the bases of power and privilege as they have been and continue to be exercised in Australia, through a comparative approach to studying material from other settler societies such as Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. Students will gain the ability to express their understandings of these factors and of Indigenous peoples' responses to the power structures within their colonial and contemporary settings both orally and in writing.

Assessment

Seminar paper (3000 words): 30%
Research essay (6000 words): 60%
Self-reflective oral presentation: 10%

Contact hours

2 hours (1 x 2 hour seminar) per week

Prerequisites

A major sequence in Australian Indigenous Studies or cognate discipline(s) as approved by the Honours coordinator