Undergraduate - Area of study Australian Indigenous studies

Clayton

Offered by the Monash Indigenous Centre, School of Journalism, Australian and Indigenous Studies

The Monash Indigenous Centre (MIC) 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, including the ongoing relationship between Indigenous and settler Australians, points of contestation and how this has shaped the position of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in contemporary society, and understanding Indigenous relationships to each other and to the land.

Units offered by Australian Indigenous studies take an interdisciplinary approach to the contemporary experiences of Indigenous Australians by including the study of kinship and political systems in urban and remote societies, and the contrasts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies.

MIC offers a first-year sequence and later-year units and students do not necessarily have to chose an Australian Indigenous studies unit at first year to make up a minor or major sequence in Australian Indigenous studies. The first-year sequence is jointly offered by MIC and anthropology.

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, Indigenous archaeology, geography, history, politics, linguistics, environmental science, sociology, visual culture and women's and gender studies complement units offered in Indigenous studies.

Honours can be undertaken in Australian Indigenous studies and combined honours may also be taken with other disciplines provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject to the approval of the honours coordinators or heads of the relevant schools.

The academic staff includes Professor Lynette Russell (MIC Director), Dr Liam Brady, Dr Rachel Standfield and Deputy Director Assoc. Professor John Bradley. A major aim of the centre is to provide excellent and culturally appropriate undergraduate, honours and postgraduate courses.

Gippsland and off-campus

Offered by the School of Applied Media and Social Sciences

Australian Indigenous studies at Gippsland is an interdisciplinary major offering a range of units that are designed to introduce students to the historical, social and political aspects of Australian Indigenous society. The major will provide an understanding of the relationships between Indigenous Australians and the dominant society as well as developing students with a sound knowledge and sensitivity to work within Indigenous communities.

The study program consists of units covering topics such as Australian Indigenous societies, issues in Indigenous education, art, literature, politics, human rights, and Indigenous women and international issues.