Resistance, Activism and Empowerment
Overview
This unit focuses on the history of First Nations' resistance, self-representation and sovereignty expressed through cultural strengths, alliance-building capacity, and effective participation in decision-making processes. Students develop critical understandings of their own journey toward becoming culturally responsive, and how this relates to building maturity in Australian society. Students explore anti-colonial and political movements, creative expression, education, and other forms of resistance to the colonial state, to enhance their understandings of truth, treaty, and reconciliation in pre-contact Australia. Examples of resistance provide critical insight into colonial hegemony, and the formation of grass roots activism and alliance-based campaigns. The unit privileges First Nations peoples’ standpoints in Australia and elsewhere, to develop critical understandings of resistance, activism and empowerment through media, literature, education, sport, and art. The strength of self-determination and culture emerges as a theme.
Requisites
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Identify key moments of Indigenous resistance to colonisation, sovereignty, and self-determination in Australian history and in contemporary culture
- Think critically about the diverse expressions of Indigenous culture and the way resistance is embedded cultural continuity in people’s everyday lives
- Engage with scholarly debates about power, resistance, empowerment and protest in Australian history
- Evaluate the diverse and varied forms of protest, dissent and action that occurred at different times throughout Australia’s past and present
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Class |
2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
On Line Lecture (asynchronous) |
1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Specified Activities Various |
3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Unspecified Activities Various |
6.25 | 12 weeks | 78 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal and Review | Individual | 20% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Presentation | Group | 40% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Written Assignment | Individual | 40% | 1,2,4 |
Content
- Indigenous self-representations across a variety of contexts, media and historical periods
- Community control, self-determinism, empowerment and governance
- Cultural and political expressions across a range of forms such as sport, art, literature, film, theatre, humour, protest, music, storytelling, dance, language
- Activism and activists and key legal moments of resistance, sovereignty assertion and chang including the Kulin treaty, the Tent Embassy, the Mabo Judgement, the Hindmarsh Island Bridge case, and the Uluru Statement of the Heart
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.