Education for democracy: Assimilation or emancipation for aboriginal Australians?

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 40, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 426-435

  Taylor, Anthea ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0030517268     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/447402     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Gillian Cowlishaw, Black, White or Brindle, Race in Rural Australia (Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 148.
2. See Edwin Fenton, The New Social Studies (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967).
3. For a brief overview of civics and citizenship education in Australia prior to this period, see J. Thomas, "The History of Civics Education in Australia," in Whereas the People, Civics and Citizenship Education: Report of the Civics Expert Group (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994), app. 4.1, pp. 161-71.
4. See, e.g., N.C.S.S. yearbooks and bulletins published by the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S), Washington, D.C.: Education for Democratic Citizenship (1952), Citizenship and a Free Society: Education for the Future (1960), Skill Development in Social Studies (1963), Values of the American Heritage (1976), Developing Decision-Making Skills (1977), and Building Rationales for Citizenship Education (1977).
5. See, e.g., N.C.S.S. yearbooks and bulletins published by the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S), Washington, D.C.: Education for Democratic Citizenship (1952), Citizenship and a Free Society: Education for the Future (1960), Skill Development in Social Studies (1963), Values of the American Heritage (1976), Developing Decision-Making Skills (1977), and Building Rationales for Citizenship Education (1977).
6. See, e.g., N.C.S.S. yearbooks and bulletins published by the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S), Washington, D.C.: Education for Democratic Citizenship (1952), Citizenship and a Free Society: Education for the Future (1960), Skill Development in Social Studies (1963), Values of the American Heritage (1976), Developing Decision-Making Skills (1977), and Building Rationales for Citizenship Education (1977).
7. See, e.g., N.C.S.S. yearbooks and bulletins published by the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S), Washington, D.C.: Education for Democratic Citizenship (1952), Citizenship and a Free Society: Education for the Future (1960), Skill Development in Social Studies (1963), Values of the American Heritage (1976), Developing Decision-Making Skills (1977), and Building Rationales for Citizenship Education (1977).
8. See, e.g., N.C.S.S. yearbooks and bulletins published by the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S), Washington, D.C.: Education for Democratic Citizenship (1952), Citizenship and a Free Society: Education for the Future (1960), Skill Development in Social Studies (1963), Values of the American Heritage (1976), Developing Decision-Making Skills (1977), and Building Rationales for Citizenship Education (1977).
9. See, e.g., N.C.S.S. yearbooks and bulletins published by the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S), Washington, D.C.: Education for Democratic Citizenship (1952), Citizenship and a Free Society: Education for the Future (1960), Skill Development in Social Studies (1963), Values of the American Heritage (1976), Developing Decision-Making Skills (1977), and Building Rationales for Citizenship Education (1977).
10. See, e.g., H. McCracken-Carpenter, ed., Skill Development in Social Studies, 33d yearbook (Washington, D.C.: N.C.S.S., 1963).
11. See reference in Robert Cleary and Donald Riddle, "Political Science in the Social Studies," in Teaching the Social Studies: What, Why, and How, ed. R. Gross, W. McPhie, and J. Fraenkel (Scranton, Pa.: International Textbook Co., 1969), pp. 48-57, esp. p. 53.
12. The Australian Community and Its Governments, Constitution, Citizenship and Civics: Community Knowledge and Understanding (Australian national opinion poll report presented to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, November 1994). See executive summary in Whereas the People, Civics and Citizenship Education: Report of the Civics Expert Group (Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994), app. 3, pp. 128-60.
13. The Australian Community and Its Governments, Constitution, Citizenship and Civics: Community Knowledge and Understanding (Australian national opinion poll report presented to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, November 1994). See executive summary in Whereas the People, Civics and Citizenship Education: Report of the Civics Expert Group (Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994), app. 3, pp. 128-60.
14. Whereas the People, Civics and Citizenship Education: Report of the Civics Expert Group.
15. Ibid., App. 6.
16. See, e.g., The National Framework of Adult English Language: Literacy and Numeracy Competence (Frankston: Australian Committee on Training Curriculum, 1994) and the accompanying National Reporting System: A Mechanism for Reporting Adult English Language, Literacy and Numeracy Indicators of Competence (Adult Community and Further Education, Ministry of Education, Melbourne, 1995).
17. See, e.g., The National Framework of Adult English Language: Literacy and Numeracy Competence (Frankston: Australian Committee on Training Curriculum, 1994) and the accompanying National Reporting System: A Mechanism for Reporting Adult English Language, Literacy and Numeracy Indicators of Competence (Adult Community and Further Education, Ministry of Education, Melbourne, 1995).
18. "Civics, Citizenship and Democracy" (ministerial statement by the Hon. Ross Free, M.P., federal minister for schools and vocational education and training, January 1995), pp. 2-3.
19. Anthea Taylor, "Unmasking Assumptions: Literacy and the Fit between Employment-Oriented Literacy and Aboriginal Language-Use" (paper presented to the Australian Council for Adult Literacy 18th Annual Conference, "Critical Issues, Essential Priorities," La Trobe University, November 1995).
20. See, e.g., discussion of this issue by various authors in Schooling Reform in Hard Times, ed. B. Lingard, P. Knight, and P. Porter (London: Falmer, 1993). See also discussions in James Avis, "The Ethnography of Further Education and the Policy-Oriented Literature Contrasts," Vocational Aspect of Education 46, no. 3 (1994): 241-56; and David Burchell, "The Curious Career of Economic Rationalism: Government and Economy in the Current Policy Debate," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 30, no. 3 (November 1994): 322-33.
21. See, e.g., discussion of this issue by various authors in Schooling Reform in Hard Times, ed. B. Lingard, P. Knight, and P. Porter (London: Falmer, 1993). See also discussions in James Avis, "The Ethnography of Further Education and the Policy-Oriented Literature Contrasts," Vocational Aspect of Education 46, no. 3 (1994): 241-56; and David Burchell, "The Curious Career of Economic Rationalism: Government and Economy in the Current Policy Debate," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 30, no. 3 (November 1994): 322-33.
22. See, e.g., discussion of this issue by various authors in Schooling Reform in Hard Times, ed. B. Lingard, P. Knight, and P. Porter (London: Falmer, 1993). See also discussions in James Avis, "The Ethnography of Further Education and the Policy-Oriented Literature Contrasts," Vocational Aspect of Education 46, no. 3 (1994): 241-56; and David Burchell, "The Curious Career of Economic Rationalism: Government and Economy in the Current Policy Debate," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 30, no. 3 (November 1994): 322-33.
23. Janice Dudley, personal communication, January 14, 1996. D. Milibrand, ed., Reinventing the Left (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994).
24. Janice Dudley, personal communication, January 14, 1996. D. Milibrand, ed., Reinventing the Left (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994).
25. Paul Seaman, The Aboriginal Land Inquiry, report to the Government of Western Australia (Perth: Government Printer, 1984), p. 90.
26. The system operated for almost 2 decades, during which it underwent several name changes before being restructured as a result of funding changes.
27. One of those not elected was from another town and lacked a local support network and was not known widely outside the student group.
28. Edward Davis, "The Dominant Female: Politics in the Local Aboriginal Community," Australian Aboriginal Studies, no. 2 (1992): 34-41.
29. Anthea Taylor, "Negotiating Aboriginal Identity in an Urban Context: Implications for Education" (Ph.D. diss., Murdoch University, 1994).
30. In this paper, Aboriginal English - the nonstandard variety of English in widespread use among Aboriginal Australians - is signaled by employing foreign-language-use conventions. That is, I am italicizing Aboriginal usage of English and thereby signaling the potential for conceptual variations between Aboriginal Australians and the wider society. With respect to the example "looking after" cited here, Myers and Anderson have discussed the manner in which the notion of "nurture" is extended in Aboriginal conceptual schemata, from being predominantly concerned with child/ adult relationships to embracing a wider sphere of adult interaction and relationships. See Fred Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self: Sentiment, Place, and Politics among Western Desert Aborigines (Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1986); and Chris Anderson, "All Bosses Are Not Created Equal," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 4 (1988): 507-23.
31. In this paper, Aboriginal English - the nonstandard variety of English in widespread use among Aboriginal Australians - is signaled by employing foreign-language-use conventions. That is, I am italicizing Aboriginal usage of English and thereby signaling the potential for conceptual variations between Aboriginal Australians and the wider society. With respect to the example "looking after" cited here, Myers and Anderson have discussed the manner in which the notion of "nurture" is extended in Aboriginal conceptual schemata, from being predominantly concerned with child/ adult relationships to embracing a wider sphere of adult interaction and relationships. See Fred Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self: Sentiment, Place, and Politics among Western Desert Aborigines (Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1986); and Chris Anderson, "All Bosses Are Not Created Equal," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 4 (1988): 507-23.
32. ATSIC is the Aboriginal-controlled federal Aboriginal affairs bureaucracy governed by elected representatives from various Aboriginal-defined electoral regions across the country.
33. In settled Australia - and, to a lesser extent, in some areas of remote Australia - Aboriginal women are fulfilling powerful positions as "leaders" of family-based groups. See, e.g., Chris Birdsall, "All One Family," in Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in "Settled" Australia, ed. I. Keen (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988), pp. 137-58. However, in many remote areas, where traditional ceremonial life still plays an important role, men, largely by virtue of their access to gender-restricted secret sacred information, still have dominant influence. On gender-based authority in remote communities, see Tim Rowse, Remote Possibilities: The Aboriginal Domain and the Administrative Imagination, North Australia Research unit (Darwin: Australian National University Press, 1992); Anderson; David Trigger, "Equality and Hierarchy in Aboriginal Political Life at Doomadgee, North-West Queensland," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 4 (1988): 525-43. Davis, however, points out that in settled Australia, it is men who, even when not influential within the community, tend to be elected to organizational, administrative, and political roles demanding interaction and negotiation with the dominant society.
34. In settled Australia - and, to a lesser extent, in some areas of remote Australia - Aboriginal women are fulfilling powerful positions as "leaders" of family-based groups. See, e.g., Chris Birdsall, "All One Family," in Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in "Settled" Australia, ed. I. Keen (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988), pp. 137-58. However, in many remote areas, where traditional ceremonial life still plays an important role, men, largely by virtue of their access to gender-restricted secret sacred information, still have dominant influence. On gender-based authority in remote communities, see Tim Rowse, Remote Possibilities: The Aboriginal Domain and the Administrative Imagination, North Australia Research unit (Darwin: Australian National University Press, 1992); Anderson; David Trigger, "Equality and Hierarchy in Aboriginal Political Life at Doomadgee, North-West Queensland," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 4 (1988): 525-43. Davis, however, points out that in settled Australia, it is men who, even when not influential within the community, tend to be elected to organizational, administrative, and political roles demanding interaction and negotiation with the dominant society.
35. In settled Australia - and, to a lesser extent, in some areas of remote Australia - Aboriginal women are fulfilling powerful positions as "leaders" of family-based groups. See, e.g., Chris Birdsall, "All One Family," in Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in "Settled" Australia, ed. I. Keen (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1988), pp. 137-58. However, in many remote areas, where traditional ceremonial life still plays an important role, men, largely by virtue of their access to gender-restricted secret sacred information, still have dominant influence. On gender-based authority in remote communities, see Tim Rowse, Remote Possibilities: The Aboriginal Domain and the Administrative Imagination, North Australia Research unit (Darwin: Australian National University Press, 1992); Anderson; David Trigger, "Equality and Hierarchy in Aboriginal Political Life at Doomadgee, North-West Queensland," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 4 (1988): 525-43. Davis, however, points out that in settled Australia, it is men who, even when not influential within the community, tend to be elected to organizational, administrative, and political roles demanding interaction and negotiation with the dominant society.
36. Trigger, p. 535.
37. See n. 20 above on Aboriginal English.
38. See, e.g., Kenneth Liberman, "The Organization of Talk in Aboriginal Community Decision-Making," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 1 (1980/82): 38-53; K. Liberman, Understanding Interaction in Central Australia (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985); Nancy Williams, "On Aboriginal Decision-Making," in Metaphors of Interpretation: Essays in Honour of W. E. H. Stanner, ed. D. Barwick, J. Beckett, and M. Reay (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1985), pp. 240-69; Fred Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self, and "Reflections on a Meeting: Structure, Language and the Polity in a Small-Scale Society," American Ethnologist 13, no. 3 (1986): 430-47.
39. See, e.g., Kenneth Liberman, "The Organization of Talk in Aboriginal Community Decision-Making," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 1 (1980/82): 38-53; K. Liberman, Understanding Interaction in Central Australia (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985); Nancy Williams, "On Aboriginal Decision-Making," in Metaphors of Interpretation: Essays in Honour of W. E. H. Stanner, ed. D. Barwick, J. Beckett, and M. Reay (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1985), pp. 240-69; Fred Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self, and "Reflections on a Meeting: Structure, Language and the Polity in a Small-Scale Society," American Ethnologist 13, no. 3 (1986): 430-47.
40. See, e.g., Kenneth Liberman, "The Organization of Talk in Aboriginal Community Decision-Making," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 1 (1980/82): 38-53; K. Liberman, Understanding Interaction in Central Australia (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985); Nancy Williams, "On Aboriginal Decision-Making," in Metaphors of Interpretation: Essays in Honour of W. E. H. Stanner, ed. D. Barwick, J. Beckett, and M. Reay (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1985), pp. 240-69; Fred Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self, and "Reflections on a Meeting: Structure, Language and the Polity in a Small-Scale Society," American Ethnologist 13, no. 3 (1986): 430-47.
41. See, e.g., Kenneth Liberman, "The Organization of Talk in Aboriginal Community Decision-Making," Anthropological Forum 5, no. 1 (1980/82): 38-53; K. Liberman, Understanding Interaction in Central Australia (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985); Nancy Williams, "On Aboriginal Decision-Making," in Metaphors of Interpretation: Essays in Honour of W. E. H. Stanner, ed. D. Barwick, J. Beckett, and M. Reay (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1985), pp. 240-69; Fred Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self, and "Reflections on a Meeting: Structure, Language and the Polity in a Small-Scale Society," American Ethnologist 13, no. 3 (1986): 430-47.
42. Williams.
43. Ibid.; and Liberman, Understanding Interaction m Central Australia
44. See also Birdsall.
45. See also Liberman, Understanding Interaction in Central Australia; Williams; and Myers, "Reflections on a Meeting," esp. pp. 437-38. Myers notes that among the Pintupi in remote Central Australia "even when two successive speeches in a meeting are directly opposing . . . the speakers usually do not refer to each other." Contradictions in Pintupi meetings are viewed as "shameful," and interruptions are viewed in the context of a "joint production," rather than as a form of assertiveness.
46. See also Liberman, Understanding Interaction in Central Australia; Williams; and Myers, "Reflections on a Meeting," esp. pp. 437-38. Myers notes that among the Pintupi in remote Central Australia "even when two successive speeches in a meeting are directly opposing . . . the speakers usually do not refer to each other." Contradictions in Pintupi meetings are viewed as "shameful," and interruptions are viewed in the context of a "joint production," rather than as a form of assertiveness.
47. Myers, "Reflections on a Meeting."
48. For an extended discussion, see Anthea Taylor, "The Application of the National Framework of Adult English Language, Literacy and Numeracy Competence to Curriculum Development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People," report presented to the Commonwealth Department of Employment Education and Training, Canberra, November 1995.
49. Myers, Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self (n. 20 above), p. 257.
50. See, e.g., Rowse (n. 22 above); and Ralph Folds, "Assimilation by Any Name . . . Why the Federal Government's Attempts to Achieve Social Justice for Indigenous Australians Will Not Succeed," Australian Aboriginal Studies, no. 1 (1993): 31-36.
51. The term "Clayton's choice" has recently passed into Australian language use and refers to an apparent choice where none really exists. The term derives from the brand name in an advertising campaign for a nonalcoholic drink that advertised the product as the "drink" for those who did not want to drink.
52. See, e.g., Alastair Davidson, "The Citizen Who Does Not Belong: Multiculturalism, Citizenship and Democracy" (paper presented to the "Extending Democracy Conference," Deakin University Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights, August 12-14, 1994).