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Yan-nhangu is a language spoken by about 15 people in the Crocodile Islands, off of the coast of the Northern Territory. The Yan-nhangu language belongs to the Yolngu Matha language group of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in northern Australia. The Yan-nhangu Language Team, which consists of both linguists and native speakers, is working to compile resources, including a dictionary, for the description of Yan-nhangu culture and the revitalization of Yan-nhangu language.

Colonising Research: Academia's Structural Violence Towards Indigenous Peoples

The View from the Poststructural Margins: Epistemology and Methodology reconsidered

This report was released on 21 April 2011. It was produced by the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP). It contains all Indigenous data reported in the Report on Government Services 2011. The Services include: - Early Childhood, Education and Training - Justice - Emergency management - Health - Community services - Housing and homelessness

Practically highlights 'culture' from many different aspects including traditional and contemporary, professional and institutional. It is extremely useful as a resource on effective communication and raises some of the challenges experienced by Aboriginal people working in health services with non-Aboriginal workers.

Since the 1970’s, there has been a growing impetus in Australian education to include Aboriginal issues across the full range of educational settings, from pre-school to tertiary levels. In practice, the provision of an Aboriginal perspective has often lead to socio-cultural constructions of Aboriginal people that tend to reflect, rather than contest, hegemonic understandings of Aboriginal people and culture. In doing this some fundamental misconceptions are continuing to have currency within mainstream Australia, becoming more entrenched due to the ascribed legitimacy of the educational institutions. The discipline of sociology has recently self-identified an absence in its scholarship related to provision of comment on Aboriginal issues. The challenge for the future is to find meaningful alternatives that allow for the diversity of Aboriginal cultures and histories to be interpreted through a multiplicity of cultural subjectivities. Given the diversity of both Aboriginal cultures and the student cohorts examining them, an essentialising curriculum based on the inclusion of Aboriginal content is ultimately unhelpful. Rather, the development of critical pedagogies actively seeking a localised praxis is of far greater utility. This thesis considers the author’s pedagogical approach to teaching Aboriginal perspectives within the mainstream discipline of sociology at a regional university in New South Wales, Australia. Methodologically, the thesis is framed on a syncretic model between the Western mode of auto-ethnography and the Indigenous narrative tribalography. It includes a deeply reflexive component that aims to illustrate the way the Aboriginal lived experience can inform teaching, as well as a more standard textual engagement with academic literature and debate. Specific focus will be applied to consideration of The Dreaming as a foundational Aboriginal philosophy.

In this paper I take as given that whiteness refers to a set of locations that are historically, socially, politically, and culturally produced, as I explore the question of ‘being white’ with a small group of young, well-educated Australian women. Despite the fact that it has become almost axiomatic that as whites, we do not define ourselves by our skin colour and subsequently experience ourselves as non-racialised, when I interviewed these women in 2000 and asked if they had ever thought about the fact that they were ‘white’, all reported that they had given the matter some thought. Key issues that emerged during these interviews related to issues of unearned privilege, guilt, fear and alienation. I conclude the paper by suggesting that becoming aware of our racial positionality is not quite enough and as a teacher educator I take up the implications of this for my professional praxis.

This is the tenth in the CRC for Aboriginal Health's Discussion Paper Series. This paper has been prepared by the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association (AIPA) to generate discussionaround the determinants of Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB), and to provide a range of recommendations for addressing the current gap in social and emotional wellbeing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Individuals in managerial and professional jobs now work long hours for a variety of reasons. Building on previous research on workaholism and on types of passion, the results of three exploratory studies of correlates of work-based Passion and Addiction are presented. Data were collected in three samples using anonymously completed questionnaires: Canadian managers and professionals, Australian psychologists, and Norwegian journalists. A common pattern of findings was observed in the three samples. First, respondents scoring higher on Passion and on Addiction were more heavily invested in their work. Second, respondents scoring higher on Passion also indicated less obsessive job behaviors, greater work satisfactions, and higher levels of psychological well-being. Third, respondents scoring higher on Addiction indicated more obsessive job behaviors, lower work satisfaction, and lower levels of psychological well-being.

This research focuses on deepening our understanding about Indigenous women’s participation in contemporary Australian society by exploring their experiences in employment, careers, education and leadership. Since the purpose of this study is to explore how university education Indigenous women understand and make sense of it of their career journeys, the epistemological framework of the research is constructionism using an interpretivist approach. The particular interprevetivist perspective used is symbolic interactionism, but the research has also been guided philosophically by the Indigenous worldview and emerging Indigenous research methodologies which assert the right of Indigenous people to research in their own way. The methodology adopted is a case study approach in keeping with the aim of the study. Data was collected by in-depth interviews to build the women’s stories, focus groups, and researcher’s journal. Throughout the study, there was a strong emphasis on observing ethical guidelines for research on and with Indigenous people. The research design aimed to honour cultural dimensions such as Indigenous knowledge, ways of knowing and culturally appropriate data gathering techniques. The study found that Indigenous women are deeply committed to their personal and professional growth. However there are enormous barriers, both personal and institutional, to their success. Vestiges of colonialism such as racism, sexism, socio-economic and educational disadvantage remain entrenched in contemporary Australian society. Despite these obstacles, Indigenous women through their strength, resilience and determination, strive to make better lives for themselves, their families and communities. Their stories are significant in that they offer important insights into how Indigenous women can be supported on their career journeys.

Justice as Healing: Going Outside the Colonizers' Cage

Underlying employment services policy in many countries is the assumption that the unemployed exhibit a range of deficits. The goal of employment activation programs is to develop self-efficacy. Noting the determinants of self-efficacy, we illustrate how case managers and social workers think about the unemployed and suggest that negative attitudes held by case managers are not conducive to the promotion of self-efficacy, unlike the orientation displayed by social workers. We suggest that employment services, wherever provided, would be significantly improved if social work frameworks informed policy and practices.

This reports presents research findings into the knowledge and aspirations of vocational education and training (VET) held by Central Australian Indigenous women leaders. It identifies and reviews some current initiatives to improve access and participation for women in remote Aboriginal communities in the region. The project is based upon the perceptions of women in Central Australia who are: – Training participants: Aboriginal women undertaking training in a unit of the Certificate IV Training and Assessment in order to gain employment as Training Nintiringtjaku (community training facilitators) – Advocates and decision-makers: Aboriginal women on the Management Committee of Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Association, representing their remote community and the concerns of communities across the Central Australian region – Training providers: Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff of two Aboriginal Registered Training Organisations: Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi (Waltja) and the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT).

Indigenous Knowledges in Education: Complexities, Dangers, and Profound Benefits

In the first Annual Review of Psychology chapter since 1977 devoted exclusively to work motivation, we examine progress made in theory and research on needs, traits, values, cognition, and affect as well as three bodies of literature dealing with the context of motivation: national culture, job design, and models of person-environment fit. We focus primarily on work reported between 1993 and 2003, concluding that goal-setting, social cognitive, and organizational justice theories are the three most important approaches to work motivation to appear in the last 30 years. We reach 10 generally positive conclusions regarding predicting, understanding, and influencing work motivation in the new millennium.

This study draws upon a small sample of university students in Australia to investigate how organizational preferences are related to different attitudes about work and reward. It extends past sectoral research to analyse both sectoral and organizational differences, and looks beyond individuals who are working in the sectors and organizations, to those who aspire to enter the various sectors and organizations, and therefore is valuable for recruitment. Apart from a few exceptions, the respondents in this survey who intend to enter the different sectors in the near future appeared to be largely motivated by job attributes which are similar to those reported in past studies on the employees in these sectors.

Government figures put the current indigenous unemployment rate at around 23%, 3 times the unemployment rate for other Australians. This thesis aims to assess whether Australian indirect discrimination legislation can provide a remedy for one of the causes of indigenous unemployment - the systemic discrimination which can result from the mere operation of established procedures of recruitment and hiring. The impact of those practices on indigenous people is examined in the context of an analysis of anti-discrimination legislation and cases from all Australian jurisdictions from the time of the passing of the Racial Discrimination Act by the Commonwealth in 1975 to the present. The thesis finds a number of reasons why the legislation fails to provide equality of opportunity for indigenous people seeking to enter the workforce. In nearly all jurisdictions it is obscurely drafted, used mainly by educated middle class white women, and provides remedies which tend to be compensatory damages rather than change to recruitment policy. White dominance of the legal process has produced legislative and judicial definitions of "race" and "Aboriginality" which focus on biology rather than cultural difference. In the commissions and tribunals complaints of racial discrimination are often rejected on the grounds of being "vexatious" or "frivolous", not reaching the required standard of proof, or not showing a causal connection between race and the conduct complained of. In all jurisdictions the cornerstone of liability is whether a particular employment term, condition or practice is reasonable. The thesis evaluates the approaches taken by appellate courts, including the High Court, and concludes that there is a trend towards an interpretation of reasonableness which favours employer arguments such as economic rationalism, the maintenance of good industrial relations, managerial prerogative to hire and fire, and the protection of majority rights. The thesis recommends that separate, clearly drafted legislation should be passed to address indigenous disadvantage and that indigenous people should be involved in all stages of the process.

This paper outlines the extent of current Indigenous employment disadvantage in Australia, compares this to the situation that has been evident over the past three decades, critiques the nature of current understanding of the problem and identifies issues which urgently require further research. There is an implicit assumption in much that has been written on this issue that Indigenous disadvantage is in some way attributable to characteristics inherent in Indigenous people rather than to factors outside their control. In fact, current economic disadvantage of Indigenous Australians follows on from almost two hundred years of discriminatory law and practice. This paper explores the nature and extent of the on-going effects of this past unequal treatment, in order to establish the extent of the issues, to identify inadequacies in current attempts to explain this situation and to define the larger research problem which needs to be addressed. It concludes that any explanation based almost exclusively on quantitative data cannot explain the qualitative reasons why such a situation of inequity developed and has been maintained over a long period.

A research was carried out in Queensland to improve the recruitment, retention and professional development of Indigenous managers in the health sector. It was concluded that potential Indigenous health managers were not advancing to middle and senior management level positions and to break this major barrier, two checklists of strategies are presented.

In April 2002, the Council of Australian Governments commissioned the Steering Committee to produce a regular report against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage. This report has an important long-term objective. It is to inform Australian governments about whether policy programs and interventions are achieving positive outcomes for Indigenous people. This will help guide where further work is needed. The latest edition of the report, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011, was released on 25 August 2011. Previous editions were published in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Overview of the Darwin Labour Market

This submission focuses on identified opportunities for improvements to strengthen the current performance of employment and related service provision for people with mental ill-health. It also highlights broad areas where Government strategies are vital to overcome barriers such as myths and misconceptions which deter the private sector from being better engaged in providing opportunities for inclusion and participation which would benefit the lives of those experiencing and supporting people with mental ill-health.

The concept of 'pathways' has been a powerful organising idea in Australian education and training over the past 10 years. The imagery of the pathway, with its sense of order and structure, and linked education and training experiences that lead to employment, has had a significant impact on Australian policy. Two related trends have been affecting young people: a rapid decline in the number of fulltime jobs available to 15-19 year-olds; and increasing education participation rates among 15- 24 year-olds. In this environment policy makers have used the pathways concept in pursuing two major objectives: (1) to strengthen or even create pathways that connect schooling and work for the majority of young people who neither enter university nor obtain an apprenticeship after leaving school; and, (2) to help young people navigate their way through the increasingly complex array of education and training options that are now available. Australia has not been alone in engaging in .pathways engineering. during the 1990s. As the recent OECD comparative review of education-to-work transitions in 14 countries reported, most countries have been attempting to make the pathways by which young people move from school to work more attractive, open and flexible, and to provide more opportunities to combine vocational learning with general education (OECD, 1999). A common motivation in these policy initiatives has been the desire to better prepare young people for an increasingly uncertain economic and social future. The pace of change is so rapid that individuals need to acquire new skills and knowledge throughout their adult lives to maintain their employability and capacity to engage effectively in society . in other words, to be active lifelong learners. There is a growing recognition that a successful transition to work depends on having a sound foundation for further learning, as well as having skills that the labour market requires now. Although many of the pathways policy initiatives adopted by OECD countries during the 1990s share similar rationales and objectives, the particular forms they have taken in each country have been greatly influenced by existing education and labour market structures and approaches to policy making. This paper attempts to provide an overview of the main features of education and training pathways in Australia and the policy challenges they give rise to.

Scientific research occurs within a set of socio-political conditions, and in Canada research involving Indigenous communities has a historical association with colonialism. Consequently, Indigenous peoples have been justifiably sceptical and reluctant to become the subjects of academic research. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is an attempt to develop culturally relevant research models that address issues of injustice, inequality, and exploitation. The work reported here evaluates the use of Photovoice, a CBPR method that uses participant-employed photography and dialogue to create social change, which was employed in a research partnership with a First Nation in Western Canada. Content analysis of semi-structured interviews (n = 45) evaluated participants' perspectives of the Photovoice process as part of a larger study on health and environment issues. The analysis revealed that Photovoice effectively balanced power, created a sense of ownership, fostered trust, built capacity, and responded to cultural preferences. The authors discuss the necessity of modifying Photovoice, by building in an iterative process, as being key to the methodological success of the project.

This paper discusses the methodological framework and perspectives that were used in a larger study aiming at examining the experience of working life among female Aboriginal health care workers. Currently, the voice of Aboriginal women who work in the Australian health system has not received much attention. In comparison to other occupations and backgrounds, there is virtually no literature on Aboriginal woman health care workers despite 15% of health care and social service industry employees in Australia being Aboriginal. In this study, we selected female participants because of the fact that of these 15% of health workers in the Victorian health system, 76% of them are women. This paper outlines some of the barriers in researching Indigenous communities. These barriers were overcome in this study by framing the research in feminist theory, decolonising theory, empowerment and by employing the photovoice method. The photovoice method was used because it is relatively unobtrusive and has the capacity to be empowering. All data was extrapolated from the participants’ own narratives that were prompted by the photographs they had taken. The data produced were rich descriptions and narratives that were oral as well as visual. Finally, the article discusses the experience of using the photovoice method from the researcher and participants’ perspective.