Welcome to the National Centre for Indigenous Studies (NCIS). The National Centre for Indigenous Studies promotes and initiates cross-disciplinary research and teaching in a wide range of areas of relevance to Indigenous Australians. Through this research NCIS aims to deepen Australia's understanding of Indigenous cultures and histories and ensure Indigenous knowledges, perspectives and experiences are respected, valued, accessed and incorporated into all learning environments at the ANU and beyond.
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what's new
2011 ANNUAL ANU RECONCILIATION LECTURE
Click here to download PDF
NCIS SUMMER SCHOLARSHIP
NCIS will be offering one Summer Research Scholarship this year. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are strongly encouraged to apply. Scholarship details available here.
Australian Senate Occasional Lecture Series
NCIS Director, Professor Mick Dodson, will deliver the Australian Senate Occasional Lecture this Friday 5 August at 12.15pm in the Main Committee Room, Parliament House.
The lecture is titled: Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians
More information on the attached flyer.
For lecture transcript/audio recording click: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/pubs/occa_lect/index.htm
Katherine Aigner, MPhil Candidate,
National Centre for Indigenous Studies, The Australian National University
Forget the Koalas, what about us!
Oral Presentation, 25th July 2-4pm, Phillipa Weeks Law Library
Refreshments will be served after the presentation
For Indigenous knowledge holder Lorraine Mafi-Williams in her fight to keep cultural identity and the right to transmit cultural teachings, why did old alliances with Green politicians create a division within the community? I ask, in this case, if environmentalism and Aboriginal activism can co-exist? My thesis Reconciliation of a Stolen Generation Indigenous Scholar looks at the profile of this Elder of high degree and the recognition of her role in maintaining and protecting cultural heritage.
Teaching Aboriginal culture around the world from 1988, she sat on stage with the Dali Lama, represented her people at the United Nations in New York and received a Proclamation and the Key to the City of New York in 1992 for her contributions to culture and education. She is known for being culturally and creatively active in any role she took on: as a teacher, writer, filmmaker, actress and in health and housing initiatives. Her strong mind for politics led her to run for parliament as an Independent in the 1995 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Ballina.
Returning home to northern NSW in her final years to set up a Cultural Sanctuary to teach from in 1997, in the bush on public reserve crown land, she made a determined stand for land rights and custodial rights which became highly contested in the local debates over native title.
My thesis examines why she was opposed and how her stance brought her into direct conflict with local council and state politicians. I analyse the work of Mafi Williams and her predecessors in its social, historical and political context.
PhD graduates lead the next wave of Indigenous scholars
NCIS congratulates Drs Megan Davis and Peter Radoll who will graduate at the ANU's July Conferring of Degree Ceremonies on 14 and 15 July 2011.
Read more
NCIS Director, Professor Mick Dodson, will be part of a panel of experts for the forum A Constitution for all Australians - the Top End Experience to be held in Darwin on 30 June 2011. The forum will be broadcast on the ABC Radio National program Big Ideas on Sunday 10 July at 5pm. Further details can be found here.
ISSUE #12 of the NCIS quarterly e-Newsletter is available for download now. Printed copies are also available, just email Anna Damiano for your copy.
Download current issue
Past issues
The Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture
The 2010 Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture "Post Normal Reconciliation: using science to reframe the reconciliation agenda" was presented on 11 November by Dr Kerry Arabena.
Click here for a copy of the speech.
Indigenous Australian Views on Knowledge production and Indigenist Research
Lester-Irabinna Rigney, Goduka book
available for download here
John Maynard's Allan Martin Lecture
is available for download here
2010 Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture
The 2010 Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture will be held on Thursday 11 November at 5.30pm in the Arc cinema at the National Film and Sound Archive. We are delighted that Dr Kerry Arabena will deliver this year's lecture. Further details at: http://law.anu.edu.au/ncis/activities.html#2010Rec
NAIDOC Week
NCIS Adjunct Professor, Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, delivered the NAIDOC Week Address "Speaking for Country, Speaking for Self" at the University of Melbourne on 6 July, 2010. Click here for a copy of the address
Public Ethics Radio Interview
NCIS Research Fellow, Dr Sarah Holcombe was interviewed on Public Ethics Radio on the topic of research ethics in relation to Indigenous Australia. The interview podcast and transcript can now be found at - http://www.cappe.edu.au/media/public-ethics-radio.htm or on http://www.cceia.org/resources/audio/rss/index.html (USA Carnegie Council)
Megan Davis elected to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
NCIS congratulates former Visiting Fellow, Megan Davis, on her election to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Megan who is currently the Director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of New South Wales was a Visiting Fellow in 2008 and will join the Centre as a visiting scholar again in June/July this year. Further details can be found at:
http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=2108
Professor Frank Brennan SJ AO appointed Adjunct Professor with NCIS
More information
here
Mick Dodson off to Harvard
NCIS Director Mick Dodson has been appointed the next Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University. Professor Dodson will take up the temporary posting at the US university next year, sharing the honour with Dr Chris McAuliffe from the University of Melbourne.
More information: http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=1993
New University Guidelines for Higher Degree Research Students
The new guidelines can be found at http://www.anu.edu.au/sas/hdr/researchguide.php
Many gaps remain in indigenous policy
Opinion piece by Mick Dodson
The Age, February 13, 2010
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/many-gaps-remain-in-indigenous-policy-20100212-nxh5.html
Mick's Australian of the Year Activities
Mick Dodson had an extremely busy year as the 2009 Australian of the Year. A summary of activities can be downloaded here.
Activities 2009
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Project
The resources to better manage Indigenous ecological knowledge and intellectual property in the Northern Territory are now available online at: http://www.nrmbnt.org.au/iek.shtml
NCIS website
We are currently working on a new look NCIS website which we hope to launch very soon!
Congratulations to Professor Mick Dodson - 2009 Australian of the year
The ANU National Centre for Indigenous Studies joins countless others in expressing our great pride that Professor Mick Dodson AM is currently the 2009 Australian of the Year. The Centre offers its heartfelt congratulations to the very deserving recipient of this national award for his lifetime commitment to human rights and social justice.
Click here for archived NCIS news |
