Aboriginal Women: Activism & Leadership (INDG20003)

Aboriginal Women: Activism & Leadership is an interdisciplinary subject exploring the diverse roles Aboriginal women have played in Indigenous and Settler societies. You will have the opportunity to investigate historical and contemporary issues and the activism and leadership that Aboriginal women have undertaken. You will learn about activism and leadership, agency, and power from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous standpoints. Through teachings, readings, and assessment tasks you will come to know a wide range of Aboriginal women who are too often silenced or made invisible through societal structures and colonisation.

A major theme running through this course is to compare, contrast and critically analyse mainstream representations of Aboriginal women with the words and knowledges of Aboriginal women themselves. You will learn of Aboriginal women in contemporary times as well as from early colonial days and on the missions, Aboriginal women feminism and the making of a nation, Aboriginal women’s literature and roles in higher education, Indigenous women in sport, social and emotional wellbeing as well as Aboriginal women and criminal justice.

The subject draws on a diversity of disciplines and knowledges including history; psychology; sociology; criminology; political science; literary theory; musicology and performance. Narrative, story, and metaphor are used to teach Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing in partnership with scholarly resources such as journal articles, book chapters and reports. At times websites, media, film, music, dance and literature will be used to develop your ability to learn and articulate new knowledge and challenge the stereotypes often attributed to Aboriginal women. Overall, the aim is to increase students desire to learn more and become critical thinkers.