This thesis constructs and verifies a methodological practice of conversation groups and grounded theory for examining and changing the dominant discourse that situates Indigenous Australian tertiary students in mainstream education. Within this research, not only was a rich shared discourse development on a conceptual level valuable and necessary in the telling of our stories but it offered us as co-researchers—Indigenous students and a non-Indigenous researcher—a means of revealing and working through understandings and mis-understandings. Using such a methodological approach also suggested future possibilities for effective Indigenous/non-Indigenous stakeholders’ working relationships in research, and possibly policy-making in Australian institutions generally. As a methodological and communicative tool for opening up a dialogic space, the use of conversation groups for developing effective communicative relationships held promise for highlighting the experiences of Indigenous students who themselves, then negotiated the position for theoretically and pragmatically directing individual and collective decisions and actions. Inviting Indigenous students into this space provided an environment for the development of an Indigenous standpoint, which is not merely an Indigenous opinion but requires an engagement with the questions and issues affecting Indigenous students as interdependent individuals. Such a standpoint does not happen automatically and needs opportunities to grow and mature. I found that conversation groups involving the Indigenous students and me working together as co-researchers provided this opportunity. With Indigenous students’ narratives of success chosen as the research topic, productively communicating views became a verification of the research methodology used and an enactment of their right to be heard, both highlighting voice and representation issues. The research methodology we used and the ensuing discourse development became an entwined interplay, where each served to reinforce the other. The Indigenous students and I were practising the research approach of conversation groups while developing a conceptualised discourse on being successful. This transdisciplinary approach in co-research, encompassing Indigenous and Western research approaches, allowed for experiential and theoretical engagement with questions of cultural authority, representation, power and agency by Indigenous students and me as a non-Indigenous researcher. Central to the Indigenous students’ stories were notions of “place” as created, negotiated and manipulated by successful Indigenous students as they move between and within fluid subjectivities or stances in relationships, time and space. A broader view was taken of how intersections, layers and parallels are negotiated by the Indigenous students within and between multitudes of places in the blurring of living in two worlds: Black and White.

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The purpose of this research is to contribute a non indigenous perspective to current discourse on sense of place in contemporary Australia. The research employs a number of strategies to investigate current responses to our geographic and historical time position. Within the exegesis there is a vers libre poem, written from the imagined viewpoint of members of the Burke and Wills’ expedition. The poem is supported by a superimposition of the Don Quixote story over that of the ill-fated inland Australian explorers. [...] / Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

Since Papua became part of Indonesia in 1963, hundreds of thousands of people have migrated there from other parts of the nation. By 2000, over a third of the province??s residents were non-indigenous people, with the great majority of these immigrants living in the more developed urban areas along the coast. This mass movement has transformed the territory??s society, altering the social, cultural and economic position and opportunities of the indigenous inhabitants. This thesis uses statistical data from Indonesian government publications to describe the development of these changes to the province??s population from 1963 to the early part of the 21st century. While it is acknowledged that the military presence and actions in the territory have played a crucial role in creating distrust of the Indonesian government among the indigenous people, this material supports the thesis that the mass movement of people to the region has developed an identification among the indigenous peoples of the territory of being part of a single Papuan community, a Papuan nationalism. This migration has also limited the educational and employment opportunities of indigenous people, creating hostility towards the newcomers among indigenous people and resulting in an alienation from the Indonesian nation. It will be argued that the patterns of settlement, employment and perceptions of ethnic difference between indigenous and migrant groups reflect a form of internal colonialism that has resulted from this immigration. While independence is a popular aspiration among indigenous Papuans, an evaluation of the national political situation suggests that this event is unlikely in the foreseeable future. If Papuans are to be incorporated fully into the nation of Indonesia, an understanding of the impact of migration on the province??s people is vital. This material also suggests that while there have been negative consequences of the Indonesian rule of the territory, claims that the indigenous population has suffered from genocide perpetrated by Indonesian forces are not supported by the statistical data.

This thesis constructs and verifies a methodological practice of conversation groups and grounded theory for examining and changing the dominant discourse that situates Indigenous Australian tertiary students in mainstream education. Within this research, not only was a rich shared discourse development on a conceptual level valuable and necessary in the telling of our stories but it offered us as co-researchers—Indigenous students and a non-Indigenous researcher—a means of revealing and working through understandings and mis-understandings. Using such a methodological approach also suggested future possibilities for effective Indigenous/non-Indigenous stakeholders’ working relationships in research, and possibly policy-making in Australian institutions generally. As a methodological and communicative tool for opening up a dialogic space, the use of conversation groups for developing effective communicative relationships held promise for highlighting the experiences of Indigenous students who themselves, then negotiated the position for theoretically and pragmatically directing individual and collective decisions and actions. Inviting Indigenous students into this space provided an environment for the development of an Indigenous standpoint, which is not merely an Indigenous opinion but requires an engagement with the questions and issues affecting Indigenous students as interdependent individuals. Such a standpoint does not happen automatically and needs opportunities to grow and mature. I found that conversation groups involving the Indigenous students and me working together as co-researchers provided this opportunity. With Indigenous students’ narratives of success chosen as the research topic, productively communicating views became a verification of the research methodology used and an enactment of their right to be heard, both highlighting voice and representation issues. The research methodology we used and the ensuing discourse development became an entwined interplay, where each served to reinforce the other. The Indigenous students and I were practising the research approach of conversation groups while developing a conceptualised discourse on being successful. This transdisciplinary approach in co-research, encompassing Indigenous and Western research approaches, allowed for experiential and theoretical engagement with questions of cultural authority, representation, power and agency by Indigenous students and me as a non-Indigenous researcher. Central to the Indigenous students’ stories were notions of “place” as created, negotiated and manipulated by successful Indigenous students as they move between and within fluid subjectivities or stances in relationships, time and space. A broader view was taken of how intersections, layers and parallels are negotiated by the Indigenous students within and between multitudes of places in the blurring of living in two worlds: Black and White.

This thesis is an ethnography of the indigenous religion, education system and social organization of the community living in the central mountains of Sikka Regency on the island of Flores in Indonesia. The question that has motivated my research is ‘how are the ideas and practices of this community’s indigenous cosmology taught and learned so to persist with continuity through generations?’ In answer I explore the ways in which cosmological ideas and practices are taught to be valued as truth as they are embodied during the practical activity of ritual. This study advances a performative theory of ritual education through a combination of Gregory Bateson’s theory of the ecology of mind and Roy Rappaport’s theory of ritual and sanctification / I begin with a critical examination of the representations of the community in question that have been made by scholars and neighboring populations. I argue that these representations wrongly imply a static and bounded community. Instead, I contend that the community is constituted by dynamic village and clan relationships anchored on sentimental and structural forms of individual belonging to particular villages and clans. This belonging is principally developed through individuals’ adherence to the indigenous cosmology, locally called Adat. I continue by discussing the educational methods by which this cosmology is perpetuated. Ritual language lessons concerning education insist that from an early age community members participate fully in daily religious life (particularly in the practice of ritual) under the guidance of close family. I then describe the learning environments found in childhood, marriage and mortuary rites. Following Bateson, I argue that during ritual contexts participants ‘deutero-learn’ embodied skills that are patterned by previous experiences, and generate the future conditions, of these same ritual contexts. / In addition to traditional educational settings, the Adat cosmology is now taught in Indonesian primary and high schools in ‘local content curriculum’ classes. I compare Adat education based on participation in ritual with that of modern schools, and I argue that in the classroom the indigenous cosmology is abstracted from its performative underpinnings. Adat is embodied differently in ritual and school contexts, and the tensions caused by these differences lead to transformations in Adat knowledge. I end this thesis by contextualizing my findings with national discourses of indigeneity and intercultural education.

The purpose of this research project has been to gain a deeper awareness of the practice of Cultural Awareness Training and to develop resources that will support other practitioners in the field. My hope in undertaking this project is to make the wider community more aware of what it means to be Aboriginal, at a time when jail is replacing initiation for many young Indigenous people. I want to engender a greater understanding about social, cultural and political issues in the Aboriginal community, by building bridges of awareness between Indigenous and Western cultures. My research question is: How does my approach to Cultural Awareness Training deal with uninformed and racist attitudes towards Aboriginal people in ways that effect positive, constructive change? In the documentation of my professional practice, I have examined critical incidents that have shaped my responses to uninformed and racially stereotyped attitudes within an educational context. This includes stories of overt racism in the classroom experience. In undertaking critical reflection about my professional practice as a Cultural Awareness Trainer, I have aimed to provide insights, as well as practical resources, to support the professional practice of others in this field.

Title page, table of contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / The key research question examined in this thesis was: Could POCT ( point-of-care pathology testing) models that were analytically sound and clinically and culturally effective be established in Australian Indigenous medical services for the prevention and management of diabetes and renal disease? The systematic approach to answer this overarching research question included the scientific validation of the analytical performance of suitable point-of-care (POC) devices, the development of a culturally appropriate education and training program for Aboriginal Health Workers (and nurses) as POCT operators, the implementation of a quality management framework for maintaining surveillance of the analytical quality of POCT results, and an assessment of qualitative and quantitative research outcomes to determine the clinical and cultural effectiveness of POCT. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1277656 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007

Title page, table of contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / The key research question examined in this thesis was: Could POCT ( point-of-care pathology testing) models that were analytically sound and clinically and culturally effective be established in Australian Indigenous medical services for the prevention and management of diabetes and renal disease? The systematic approach to answer this overarching research question included the scientific validation of the analytical performance of suitable point-of-care (POC) devices, the development of a culturally appropriate education and training program for Aboriginal Health Workers (and nurses) as POCT operators, the implementation of a quality management framework for maintaining surveillance of the analytical quality of POCT results, and an assessment of qualitative and quantitative research outcomes to determine the clinical and cultural effectiveness of POCT. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1277656 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007

Title page, table of contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / The key research question examined in this thesis was: Could POCT ( point-of-care pathology testing) models that were analytically sound and clinically and culturally effective be established in Australian Indigenous medical services for the prevention and management of diabetes and renal disease? The systematic approach to answer this overarching research question included the scientific validation of the analytical performance of suitable point-of-care (POC) devices, the development of a culturally appropriate education and training program for Aboriginal Health Workers (and nurses) as POCT operators, the implementation of a quality management framework for maintaining surveillance of the analytical quality of POCT results, and an assessment of qualitative and quantitative research outcomes to determine the clinical and cultural effectiveness of POCT. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1277656 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007