- Title
- Learning the past to participate in the future : Regional discourses of Australian colonial history
- Creator
- Koerner, Catherine
- Date
- 2013
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/160026
- Identifier
- vital:12092
- Identifier
- ISSN:1837-0144
- Abstract
- Indigenous curricula content, including particular narratives of Australian colonial history are highly contested in contemporary Australia. How do white Australians understand Australia’s colonial past and its relevance today? An empirical study was conducted with 29 rural Australians who self-identified as white. Critical race and whiteness studies provided the framework for analysis of the interviews. I argue that they revealed a delimited understanding of colonial history and a general inability to link this to the present, which limited their capacity to think crossculturally in their everyday living - activities considered crucial in the contemporary move to Reconciliation in Australia. The normative discourse of white settler Australians to be ‘Australian’ is invested in the denial of Indigenous sovereignty to protect white settler Australian claims to national sovereignty. The findings support arguments for a national curriculum that incorporates Indigenous history as well as an Indigenous presence throughout all subject areas.
- Publisher
- Indigenous Studies Research Network, Queensland University of Technology
- Relation
- International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies Vol. 6, no. 2 (2013), p. 29-40
- Rights
- Copyright © The Author(s) and International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- 1699 Other Studies In Human Society; 2002 Cultural Studies; 2103 Historical Studies; Australia; Colonialism; History; Indigenous
- Reviewed
- Hits: 1498
- Visitors: 1322
- Downloads: 1
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format |
|---|