Over the past decade, the Ontario Ministry of Education has committed to increase relevant teaching material for Indigenous students. While seemingly significant, a mere “increase” in “Indigenous content” is not enough to combat the racist and colonial mentality inherent within the Ontario history curriculum. Canadian history is steeped with idealistic, imperialist discourses organized around keywords such as peacekeeping and multiculturalism, as well as progress, development, identity, and nation building. The latter serve to not only erase, but also to legitimize the atrocities of Canada’s colonial past. At the 2009 G20 meeting, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated, “Canada has no history of colonialism.” In keeping with scholars such as Smith and Alfred and Corntassel, I argue that not only does Canada have a history of colonialism, but the mainstream curriculum must be decolonized if Canada is to move towards an equal and just society. The theory guiding this research is decolonial theory. In addition, Fairclough’s conceptualization of Systematic Textual Analysis provides the methodological basis for this project. I analyse three textbooks approved by the Ontario Ministry of Education for the grade ten history curriculum, as well as supplementary curriculum documents. Considering two objectives, change and a colonial mentality, I find only modest change between 2000, 2006, and 2008 in Indigenous content in the curriculum. Further, a colonial mentality continued to be deeply entrenched within all three textbooks and the history curriculum itself. This research seeks to open up the questions and responsibilities pertaining to the wrongs of the past and contribute to the burgeoning field of decolonized knowledges and education. / Graduate

To date, the debate concerning the aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Quebec has focussed primarily on the assertion of the territorial integrity of Quebec on the one hand, and the assertion that those rights can prevent secession or force partition, on the other. / Understanding the historical and contemporary relationship between aboriginal peoples and the governments of Canada and Quebec is necessary if a rapprochement between these adversarial positions is to be achieved. / This paper explores the legal and historical basis of aboriginal rights, focussing on self-government and the fiduciary relationship between aboriginal peoples and the Crown. It discusses international law principles under which Quebec will seek recognition as an independent state and the relevance of aboriginal rights to that recognition. Finally, it urges that the current debate provides an opportunity to establish a new partnership between Quebec and aboriginal peoples, to their mutual benefit.

This thesis is a critical reflection of the author’s time as a Principal of an Indigenous state school from 2003-2004. The purpose is to reassess the impact of her principalship in terms of the staff, students and Community change that affected learning outcomes at the school and to reanalyse to what actions and to whom positive changes could be attributed. This thesis reflects and identifies, in light of the literature, strategies which were effective in enhancing student learning outcomes. The focus of this thesis was the Doongal State School*, its students, staff and facilities. The author will attempt to draw out theoretical frameworks in terms of: (1) what changed educationally in Doongal State School, (2) what seemed to be important in the Principal’s role, (3) the processes that took place, and (4) the effect of being non- Indigenous and a female. Overall, the author undertook this critical reflection in order to understand and embrace educational practices that will (a) lessen the gap between the academic outcomes achieved by Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and (b) enhance life choices for Indigenous children. The findings indicate that principal leadership is critical for success in Indigenous schools and is the centrepiece of the models developed to explain improvement at Doongal State School. School factors, Principal Leadership factors, Change factors and factors relating to being a non-Indigenous female principal, which, when implemented, will lead to improved educational outcomes for Indigenous students, have evolved as a result of this thesis. Principal Leadership factors were found to be the enablers for the effective implementation of the key components for success.

How interactive new media art can effectively communicate an indigenous philosophical concept. The sophistication and complexity of the philosophical concept concerning relationships between land and people and between people, intrinsic to the laws and customs of Australian Indigenous society, has begun to be communicated and accessed beyond the realm of anthropological and ethnological domains of Western scholarship. The exciting scope and rapid development of new media arts presents an innovative means of creating an interactive relationship with the general Australian public, addressing the urgent need for an understanding of Indigenous Australian concepts of relationship to land, and to each other, absent from Western narratives. The study is framed by an Indigenous concept of place, and relationships between land and people and between people; and explores how this concept can be clearly communicated through interactive new media arts. It involves: a creative project, the development of an interactive new media art project, a website work-in-progress titled site\sight\cite; and an exegesis, a Novella of Ideas, on the origins, influences, objectives, and potential of creative practices and processes engaged in the creative project. Research undertaken for the creative project and exegesis extended my creative practice into the use of interdisciplinary arts, expressly for the expression of philosophical concepts, consolidating 23 years experience in Indigenous community arts development. The creative project and exegesis contributes to an existing body of Indigenous work in a range of areas - including education, the arts and humanities - which bridges old and new society in Australia. In this study, old and new society is defined by the time of the initial production of art and foundations of knowledge, in the country of its origins, in Indigenous Australia dating back at least 40,000 years.

This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008.

This ethnographic study in medical anthropology is a critically interpretative analysis of fieldwork documentation I recorded during field research conducted in the mining city of Mount Isa in the far northwest of Queensland during the 1980s. Eighteen months of participant observation research was undertaken over four fieldtrips (1981-82, 1983, 1985 and 1988) at inter-connected locations: two urban reserves for Aborigines and the people I refer to as the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the local hospital and a group of hospital resident medical officers who I refer to as the Residents. During the field research I found that both Reserve Dwellers and the Residents experienced a difficult relationship during their interactions in medical consultations in the hospital clinics. Now in this dissertation I ask an overarching question of my time-lag field data. It is How can we understand the problematic relationship between indigenous reserve-dwelling help-seekers and biomedical practitioners at their local hospital clinics in the 1980s. To describe this problematic relationship I analyse time-lag data from my diaried participant observation at both the reserves and the hospital; semi-structured interviews with the hospital Residents; case studies and case histories of consenting help-seekers from the Reserves; and illustrative transcriptions of consultations between Residents and Reserve Dwellers that were tape recorded by the Residents during hospital clinics. The contemporary ethnomedical system of the Reserve Dwellers was inclusive of biomedicalized clinics and the Residents as clinicians at this remote hospital in the 1980s. I provide an ethnographic account of a changing contemporary indigenous ethnomedical system and describe the lifeways of the Reserve Dwellers in the 1980s; their pattern of help-seeking at their local hospital including grievous happenings; and their experiences in outpatients clinics and the emergency section of the local non-indigenous hospital. Their lifeways and help-seeking were in many ways defined by the collective sociality of Kalkadunga and other regional indigenous cultures as impoverished, very sick survivors of a genocidal contact history less than 100 years before. This local history is also reconstructed. The Residents view of local indigenous illness, help-seeking, and experiences of biomedicalised hospital clinics further describe the socio-cultural reality of the time. I found that the Residents had an insightful, even predictive assessment of local illness burden. At the same time, they held strong views about a pattern of help-seeking in the outpatients and emergency clinics that was considered disruptive of hospital routines. I also describe how they expressed their difficulties interacting with Aboriginal help-seekers including the taking of biomedical histories. My thesis is that a localized socio-clinical reality was shaped by a synchronic, coeval relationship between Reserve Dwellers enculturated within a changing, contemporary ethnomedical belief system that incorporated biomedicalized hospital clinics, and the Residents as clinicians enculturated within a culture of biomedical science at a remote hospital. I argue that the lifeways and pattern of help-seeking of the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the Residents’ views about sick indigenous help-seekers, formed this particular socio-clinical reality. It was then consistently replicated by problematic socio-clinical interaction and biomedicalized praxis that inhibited investigation and curative outcomes for the Reserve Dwellers and other indigenous help-seekers.

This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. The focus of this research is on Indigenous commercial enterprise development at a communal and individual level. Indigenous enterprise development is said to be different from other forms of enterprise development because of the legal rights of Indigenous peoples and because of particular cultural attributes, such as different perceptions of property rights in the Indigenous context and an emphasis on values like collectivism and sharing. These differences are found to shape notions of success and approaches to development. The research reviews literature in the international and domestic context on Indigenous economic development and Indigenous entrepreneurship. It also draws from internal and external documents of relevant institutions and news sources. These sources and findings are then built upon with fifty six in-depth, face-to-face interviews of selected participants who are experts or opinion leaders on IED in the region. These participants represented a variety of interest groups such as the government, academia, the Indigenous community and businesses from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures in the Northern Territory. This study used a qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. The researcher utilized a qualitative data analysis method, including the reporting of field notes, preparation of field notes into transcripts, coding of data, display of data, the development of conclusions, and creation of a report. This study identified five categories of barriers to successful enterprise development on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. These barriers are: high levels of conflict and mistrust, socio-cultural norms and values that can work against success, a lack of human capital, a poor institutional framework and economic and structural factors. There were four categories of factors found that support the development of successful Indigenous enterprise: developing business acumen, integrating culture within the enterprise, separating business from community politics and greater independence from government. While definitions of success varied across the region there were common objectives for Indigenous enterprise, such as eliminating welfare dependency and maintaining a link to land. Ultimately, success for Indigenous enterprise was deemed to be business survival, but in ways that are congruent with each Indigenous community?s values. The findings in this research emphasize that certain cultural attributes may act to constrain successful enterprise development, but can be integrated into an enterprise through changes in enterprise structure, or practice, to support successful economic outcomes. The research also emphasizes the importance of institutional settings on human capital and successful enterprise development in the region. This study?s findings can potentially guide and inform further research in this field. The research develops a number of policy recommendations which offer potential support to policymakers in addressing the important social problem of Indigenous disadvantage through enterprise development initiatives. / This study seeks to improve the understanding of Indigenous Enterprise Development (IED) efforts undertaken on communal Indigenous land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Success in enterprise may support the achievement of a range of social, political and economic objectives for Indigenous peoples. The thesis offers a contribution to knowledge and literature on IED by bringing understanding to the meaning of success for Indigenous enterprise, identifying those factors that contribute to its success as well as presenting the barriers that prevent it. This study is the most recent rigorous scholarly work of IED on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008

This ethnographic study in medical anthropology is a critically interpretative analysis of fieldwork documentation I recorded during field research conducted in the mining city of Mount Isa in the far northwest of Queensland during the 1980s. Eighteen months of participant observation research was undertaken over four fieldtrips (1981-82, 1983, 1985 and 1988) at inter-connected locations: two urban reserves for Aborigines and the people I refer to as the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the local hospital and a group of hospital resident medical officers who I refer to as the Residents. During the field research I found that both Reserve Dwellers and the Residents experienced a difficult relationship during their interactions in medical consultations in the hospital clinics. Now in this dissertation I ask an overarching question of my time-lag field data. It is How can we understand the problematic relationship between indigenous reserve-dwelling help-seekers and biomedical practitioners at their local hospital clinics in the 1980s. To describe this problematic relationship I analyse time-lag data from my diaried participant observation at both the reserves and the hospital; semi-structured interviews with the hospital Residents; case studies and case histories of consenting help-seekers from the Reserves; and illustrative transcriptions of consultations between Residents and Reserve Dwellers that were tape recorded by the Residents during hospital clinics. The contemporary ethnomedical system of the Reserve Dwellers was inclusive of biomedicalized clinics and the Residents as clinicians at this remote hospital in the 1980s. I provide an ethnographic account of a changing contemporary indigenous ethnomedical system and describe the lifeways of the Reserve Dwellers in the 1980s; their pattern of help-seeking at their local hospital including grievous happenings; and their experiences in outpatients clinics and the emergency section of the local non-indigenous hospital. Their lifeways and help-seeking were in many ways defined by the collective sociality of Kalkadunga and other regional indigenous cultures as impoverished, very sick survivors of a genocidal contact history less than 100 years before. This local history is also reconstructed. The Residents view of local indigenous illness, help-seeking, and experiences of biomedicalised hospital clinics further describe the socio-cultural reality of the time. I found that the Residents had an insightful, even predictive assessment of local illness burden. At the same time, they held strong views about a pattern of help-seeking in the outpatients and emergency clinics that was considered disruptive of hospital routines. I also describe how they expressed their difficulties interacting with Aboriginal help-seekers including the taking of biomedical histories. My thesis is that a localized socio-clinical reality was shaped by a synchronic, coeval relationship between Reserve Dwellers enculturated within a changing, contemporary ethnomedical belief system that incorporated biomedicalized hospital clinics, and the Residents as clinicians enculturated within a culture of biomedical science at a remote hospital. I argue that the lifeways and pattern of help-seeking of the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the Residents’ views about sick indigenous help-seekers, formed this particular socio-clinical reality. It was then consistently replicated by problematic socio-clinical interaction and biomedicalized praxis that inhibited investigation and curative outcomes for the Reserve Dwellers and other indigenous help-seekers.

This ethnographic study in medical anthropology is a critically interpretative analysis of fieldwork documentation I recorded during field research conducted in the mining city of Mount Isa in the far northwest of Queensland during the 1980s. Eighteen months of participant observation research was undertaken over four fieldtrips (1981-82, 1983, 1985 and 1988) at inter-connected locations: two urban reserves for Aborigines and the people I refer to as the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the local hospital and a group of hospital resident medical officers who I refer to as the Residents. During the field research I found that both Reserve Dwellers and the Residents experienced a difficult relationship during their interactions in medical consultations in the hospital clinics. Now in this dissertation I ask an overarching question of my time-lag field data. It is How can we understand the problematic relationship between indigenous reserve-dwelling help-seekers and biomedical practitioners at their local hospital clinics in the 1980s. To describe this problematic relationship I analyse time-lag data from my diaried participant observation at both the reserves and the hospital; semi-structured interviews with the hospital Residents; case studies and case histories of consenting help-seekers from the Reserves; and illustrative transcriptions of consultations between Residents and Reserve Dwellers that were tape recorded by the Residents during hospital clinics. The contemporary ethnomedical system of the Reserve Dwellers was inclusive of biomedicalized clinics and the Residents as clinicians at this remote hospital in the 1980s. I provide an ethnographic account of a changing contemporary indigenous ethnomedical system and describe the lifeways of the Reserve Dwellers in the 1980s; their pattern of help-seeking at their local hospital including grievous happenings; and their experiences in outpatients clinics and the emergency section of the local non-indigenous hospital. Their lifeways and help-seeking were in many ways defined by the collective sociality of Kalkadunga and other regional indigenous cultures as impoverished, very sick survivors of a genocidal contact history less than 100 years before. This local history is also reconstructed. The Residents view of local indigenous illness, help-seeking, and experiences of biomedicalised hospital clinics further describe the socio-cultural reality of the time. I found that the Residents had an insightful, even predictive assessment of local illness burden. At the same time, they held strong views about a pattern of help-seeking in the outpatients and emergency clinics that was considered disruptive of hospital routines. I also describe how they expressed their difficulties interacting with Aboriginal help-seekers including the taking of biomedical histories. My thesis is that a localized socio-clinical reality was shaped by a synchronic, coeval relationship between Reserve Dwellers enculturated within a changing, contemporary ethnomedical belief system that incorporated biomedicalized hospital clinics, and the Residents as clinicians enculturated within a culture of biomedical science at a remote hospital. I argue that the lifeways and pattern of help-seeking of the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the Residents’ views about sick indigenous help-seekers, formed this particular socio-clinical reality. It was then consistently replicated by problematic socio-clinical interaction and biomedicalized praxis that inhibited investigation and curative outcomes for the Reserve Dwellers and other indigenous help-seekers.

This ethnographic study in medical anthropology is a critically interpretative analysis of fieldwork documentation I recorded during field research conducted in the mining city of Mount Isa in the far northwest of Queensland during the 1980s. Eighteen months of participant observation research was undertaken over four fieldtrips (1981-82, 1983, 1985 and 1988) at inter-connected locations: two urban reserves for Aborigines and the people I refer to as the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the local hospital and a group of hospital resident medical officers who I refer to as the Residents. During the field research I found that both Reserve Dwellers and the Residents experienced a difficult relationship during their interactions in medical consultations in the hospital clinics. Now in this dissertation I ask an overarching question of my time-lag field data. It is How can we understand the problematic relationship between indigenous reserve-dwelling help-seekers and biomedical practitioners at their local hospital clinics in the 1980s. To describe this problematic relationship I analyse time-lag data from my diaried participant observation at both the reserves and the hospital; semi-structured interviews with the hospital Residents; case studies and case histories of consenting help-seekers from the Reserves; and illustrative transcriptions of consultations between Residents and Reserve Dwellers that were tape recorded by the Residents during hospital clinics. The contemporary ethnomedical system of the Reserve Dwellers was inclusive of biomedicalized clinics and the Residents as clinicians at this remote hospital in the 1980s. I provide an ethnographic account of a changing contemporary indigenous ethnomedical system and describe the lifeways of the Reserve Dwellers in the 1980s; their pattern of help-seeking at their local hospital including grievous happenings; and their experiences in outpatients clinics and the emergency section of the local non-indigenous hospital. Their lifeways and help-seeking were in many ways defined by the collective sociality of Kalkadunga and other regional indigenous cultures as impoverished, very sick survivors of a genocidal contact history less than 100 years before. This local history is also reconstructed. The Residents view of local indigenous illness, help-seeking, and experiences of biomedicalised hospital clinics further describe the socio-cultural reality of the time. I found that the Residents had an insightful, even predictive assessment of local illness burden. At the same time, they held strong views about a pattern of help-seeking in the outpatients and emergency clinics that was considered disruptive of hospital routines. I also describe how they expressed their difficulties interacting with Aboriginal help-seekers including the taking of biomedical histories. My thesis is that a localized socio-clinical reality was shaped by a synchronic, coeval relationship between Reserve Dwellers enculturated within a changing, contemporary ethnomedical belief system that incorporated biomedicalized hospital clinics, and the Residents as clinicians enculturated within a culture of biomedical science at a remote hospital. I argue that the lifeways and pattern of help-seeking of the Reserve Dwellers, as well as the Residents’ views about sick indigenous help-seekers, formed this particular socio-clinical reality. It was then consistently replicated by problematic socio-clinical interaction and biomedicalized praxis that inhibited investigation and curative outcomes for the Reserve Dwellers and other indigenous help-seekers.