Abstract:
This paper is an early discussion of the ways we are approaching Indigenous
Studies in Australian Universities. The focus is on how disciplinary and scholarly
issues within Indigenous Studies can be interrogated and yet retain the necessary
cohesion and solidarity so important to the Indigenous struggle. The paper
contrasts Indigenous Studies pursued by Indigenous scholars to other disciplinary
perspectives in the academy. Categories such as the Indigenous community and
Indigenous knowledge are problematised, not to dissolve them, but to explore
productive avenues. I identify one of the problems that Indigenous studies faces as
resisting the tendency to perpetuate an enclave within the academy whose purpose
is to reflect back an impoverished and codified representation of Indigenous
culture to the communities that are its source. On the other hand, there is danger
also in the necessary engagement with other disciplines on their own terms. My
suggestion is that we see ourselves mapping our understanding of our particular
Indigenous experiences upon a terrain intersected by the pathways, both of other
Indigenous experiences, and of the non-Indigenous academic disciplines. My
intention is to stimulate some thought among Indigenous academics and scholars
about the future possibilities of Australian Indigenous Studies as a field of
endeavour.
