Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Contemporary Indigenous Australia
Enrolment code: HAB102
Offered: Ltn, sem 1; Hbt, sem 1; dist.ed, sem 1
Unit description: Provides a detailed introduction to contemporary
Aboriginal socio-economic experience on mainland Australia during the final
decades of the 20th century. Issues addressed include the extent of Aboriginal
disadvantage; the experience of racism; aspects of contemporary Aboriginal
cultures; child welfare, health and education issues. All issues are examined
within the context of Indigenous self-determination. The unit highlights both
Aboriginal disadvantage and Aboriginal achievement.
Staff: Dr M Rolls
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: int: 2 lectures and 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks); dist.ed: 3x3-hr
classes monthly in Hbt & Ltn, 2x4-hr classes NWC
Assess: int: short essay (15%), 1,500-word essay (35%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: short essay (20%), 1,500-word essay (40%),
2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Unit Reader
Courses: R3A R3J
Indigenous Australia to the 1950s
Enrolment code: HAB103
Offered: Ltn, sem 2; Hbt, sem 2; dist.ed, sem 2
Unit description: Offers a general survey of Indigenous history, society and
culture from the earliest times until the 1950s. The unit is divided into two
sections. The first section provides an introduction to Aboriginal culture and
society before the British invasion. Archaeological and anthropological sources
are used to make an historical study of Indigenous spirituality, relations with
the land, kinship systems and economy. The second section examines the
dispossession of the Aboriginal peoples from 1788 until the 1950s. Topics
include Aboriginal-explorer relations, colonial violence, Aboriginal resistance,
and government policies including segregation and protection.
Staff: Assoc Prof I Green
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: int: 2 lectures and 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks); dist.ed: 3x3-hr
classes monthly in Hbt & Ltn, 2x4-hr classes NWC
Assess: int: 750-word essay (15%), 1,500-word essay (35%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: short essay (20%), 1,500-word essay (40%),
2-hr exam (40%)
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Required texts, etc:
Henry Reynolds, The Other Side of the Frontier, Penguin, Melb, 1982
Unit Reader
Courses: R3A R3J
Special Topic in Aboriginal Studies A
Enrolment code: HAB201/301
Offered: Ltn, sem 1; Hbt, sem 1; dist.ed, sem 1
Special note: may be taken only with the approval of the Director of
Riawunna
Unit description: The Aboriginal Studies Special Topic can be taken only with
the approval of the Director. Approved students can enrol in both units
(HAB201/301 and HAB202/302) to form a 25% unit. Normally each unit
consists of a research project involving structured reading and writing on a
topic agreed to by the individual student and a supervisor. Students are
expected to employ the skills and conceptual knowledge acquired in earlier
units to investigate an appropriate issue or topic in Aboriginal Studies.
Staff: Director and staff of Riawunna
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: tba
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Assess: 3,500-word research paper (for those combining HAB201/301 and
HAB202/302: 7,000-word research paper)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A
Special Topic in Aboriginal Studies B
Enrolment code: HAB202/302
Offered: Ltn, sem 2; Hbt, sem 2; dist.ed, sem 2
Special note: may be taken only with the approval of the Director of
Riawunna
Unit description: See HAB201/301.
Staff: Director and staff of Riawunna
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: tba
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Assess: 3,500-word research paper (for those combining HAB201/301 and
HAB202/302: 7,000-word research paper)
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A
Contemporary Indigenous Tasmania
Enrolment code: HAB206/306
Offered: Not offered in 2001
Unit description: Explores Tasmanian Aboriginal identity, activism, and
socio-economic experience since the 1970s. Issues addressed include Aboriginal
socialisation processes; contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal associations with
the land; the process of Aboriginal identity construction; media representations
of Aboriginal activism; contemporary attitudes to Aboriginal identity;
institutional prejudice, especially relations with the legal system; the level of
access to government services such as education, health, housing, and
employment; the causes and concerns of Aboriginal activism and the
proliferation of Aboriginal political/community organisations; the impact of
Aboriginal activism in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Tasmania; and links
with the influences of Indigenous activism in other Australian states and
elsewhere in the world. The unit makes extensive use of materials generated by
Tasmanian Aborigines and includes lectures by visiting Tasmanian Aborigines.
Staff: Ms J Sabbioni
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: int: 3x1-hr lectures every second week, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
dist.ed: 3x3-hr classes monthly in Hbt, Ltn and NWC
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Mutual excl: HHB241/341, HGE230/330, HSP206/306
Assess: int: 750-word essay (10%), 2,000-word essay (40%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: 750-word essay (20%), 2,000-word essay
(40%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies, Social Ecology
Courses: R3A R3K
Indigenous Justice Issues
Enrolment code: HAB208/308
Offered: Ltn, sem 2; Hbt, sem 2; dist.ed, sem 2
Special note: may be taken as an elective
Unit description: Engages students in a detailed study of Indigenous
experience of Australian legal and justice systems, and of the historical
interaction between Indigenous and Australian law. Contexts in which these
themes are explored include Land Rights and Native Title, criminal justice,
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
Indigenous Dispute Settlement, and Indigenous ownership of intellectual and
cultural property. Where appropriate, comparisons are drawn from the
experience of Indigenous people in other places.
Staff: Dr M Rolls
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: int: 3x1-hr lectures fortnightly, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks); dist.ed:
Ltn, Hbt 3x3-hr classes; NWC 2x4-hr classes
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Mutual excl: HSP211/311
Assess: int: 2,500-word essay (40%), tutorial and class participation (20%), 2-hr
exam (40%); dist.ed: 1,000-word essay (20%), 2,000-word essay (40%), 2-hr
exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Unit readers (contact School for details)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A R3K
Indigenous Tasmanians and the Bass Strait
Islands 1830–1950
Enrolment code: HAB209/309
Offered: Ltn, sem 2; dist.ed, sem 2
Special note: may be taken as part of a History major
Unit description: Explores the post-invasion experience of Indigenous
Tasmanians on Flinders and Cape Barren Islands. Topics include: the role of
conciliation policy, especially of GA Robinson, in the Aboriginal dispossession;
colonial portrayals and commemorations of Aborigines; the post-invasion
evolution of the Aboriginal Islander community; government policy,
missionary activity and scientific racism; the history of Islander activism; and
enforced and voluntary relocations to mainland Tasmania in the 1940s and
1950s. The unit develops in students a working awareness of the idea of
historical process, the ability to conceptualise historical data, and the
development of bias detection skills.
Staff: Dr S Breen
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: Ltn: 1-hr lecture, 1.5-hr tutorial weekly dist.ed. Hbt: 4x2.5-hr study
sessions; dist.ed. Ltn & NWC: 3x3-hr study sessions.
Prereq: HAB102 and HAB103 or equiv
Mutual excl: HAB204/304
Assess: int: 750-word essay (10%), 2,000-word essay (40%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: 750-word essay (20%), 2,000-word essay
(40%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
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Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
Ryan L, The Aboriginal Tasmanians, ISBN 1863739653
Unit reader (contact School for details)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies, History
Courses: R3A
Indigenous Tourism
Enrolment code: HAB210/310
Offered: Hbt, sem 2
Special note: may be taken as part of the BTourism degree course
Unit description: Explores Indigenous tourism in the contemporary
Australian context. Taking a number of case studies from various parts of the
country, the unit applies a range of critical and post-colonial theoretical
perspectives to examine the role of tourism in respect of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander self-determination and the compatibility of Indigenous tourism
with efforts to maintain the integrity of Indigenous cultural heritage. Ethical
issues pertaining to ownership, control and appropriation of Indigenous
cultures and territories are also considered in some detail, along with key
aspects of cross-cultural communication and education.
Staff: Dr A Onsman (Coordinator)
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1-hr lecture, 1.5-hr tutorial weekly
Prereq: HAB102 and HAB103 or equiv (BTourism: HGT101 and HGT102)
Assess: 1,000-word tutorial paper (20%), 2,000-word essay (30%), class
participation (10%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Unit reader(s) (contact School for details)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A R3J
Indigenous Health
Enrolment code: HAB213/313
Offered: Ltn, sem 2
Special note: available to nursing students as an elective
Unit description: Statistics gathered over the last few decades have
consistently shown the mortality rates of Indigenous Australians far exceed
those of the non-Indigenous population; indeed, some 50% of Indigenous
Australians die before they reach the age of 50. This unit investigates why this
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Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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should be the case. The unit surveys the range of empirical research on
Australian Indigenous health matters, exploring the various conceptual and
theoretical frameworks that the research derives from and reflects on, and
examining the impact of the research on actual health care practices. The unit
also looks at the differing constructs of health and well-being to be found in
Indigenous and western cultures, the consequences of these differences for
Indigenous health in the post-colonial context and the effectiveness of
contemporary strategies which seek to reconcile both western and Indigenous
value-systems in the provision of health care and the training of health
professionals.
Staff: Ms J Sabbioni
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 1 lecture, 2-hr tutorial weekly
Assess: tutorial presentation (10%), 2,000-word essay (40%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Unit reader (contact the School for details)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A +OC
Language in Aboriginal Society
Enrolment code: HAB214/314
Offered: Ltn, sem 1; Hbt, sem 1;dist.ed, sem 1
Special note: may be of interest to students studying Asian or European
language and culture or education or social theory
Unit description: Provides an understanding of the role of language in the
construction of social identity and the transmission of cultural values in
Aboriginal societies. Issues for consideration include: the nature and historical
development of Indigenous Australian languages; language affiliation and
territoriality; language, semantics and ‘worldview’; kinship terminology and
social cohesion; socio-linguistic conventions (eg politeness and avoidance);
cross-cultural (mis)communication and the place of indigenous creoles (eg
Kriol) and Englishes. The unit also explores the effect of colonisation on
Indigenous language viability, and investigates the effectiveness of various
strategies, especially bilingual education, in stemming the loss of this rich
linguistic heritage. Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations involved in local
language initiatives are invited to address the class on their work. Students also
engage directly in some language learning activities.
Staff: Assoc Prof I Green
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 3x4-hr classes monthly in Hbt, Ltn and NWC
Prereq: HAB102 and HAB103 or equiv
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Assess: int: tutorial participation (10%), 1-000-word essay (15%), 2,000-word
essay (35%), 3-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: language assignment (10%),
1,000-word essay (15%), 2,000-word essay (35%), 3-hr exam (40%)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A +OC
Aboriginal Women
Enrolment code: HAB232/332
Offered: Ltn, sem 1; Hbt, sem 1
Special note: may be taken as an elective
Unit description: Provides students with an understanding of the roles,
functions and status of women in past and present Aboriginal societies from
Aboriginal womens’ perspectives. Particular areas of study include feminism
and racism, gender politics, Aboriginal women and power, and Aboriginal
women and social issues.
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 3x1-hr lectures fortnightly, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks)
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Mutual excl: HAF261/361
Assess: 2,000-word essay (30%), 13-week journal (20%), tutorial participation
(10%), exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Unit reader (Contact Centre for information)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies, Women’s Studies
Courses: R3A
Aboriginal Arts
Enrolment code: HAB240/340
Offered: Not offered in 2001
Special note: may be taken as an elective
Unit description: Provides a comprehensive exploration of Aboriginal art
forms. Students develop an understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal
creative expression. They learn about the significance of Aboriginal visual and
aural expression to ‘traditional’ and contemporary Aboriginal cultures and
identity. This includes learning about the ‘traditional’ and contemporary roles
and functions of this expression. Apparent changes in Aboriginal creative
expression are also examined, including those brought about by the influence of
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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market forces. These are considered in the context of how any such changes
have affected the meaning, purpose and significance of artistic forms to
Aboriginal peoples and their cultures. The unit examines closely key issues
relating to the production and marketing of Aboriginal art forms, including the
issues of copyright, reproduction, appropriation, and postmodern and the
post-conceptualist practice of ‘quotation’ and ‘translation’.
Staff: Dr M Rolls
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 3x1-hr lectures every second week, up to two field trips
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies or by negotiation
Assess: 750-word essay (15%),2,000-word essay (35%), class participation (10%),
2-hr exam in Nov (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Howard Morphy, Aboriginal Art, Phaidon, Lond, 1998
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A +OC
Indigenous Identity and Place
Enrolment code: HAB241/341
Offered: Not offered in 2001
Unit description: Provides a comparative investigation into Indigenous
concepts of identity and relationships to land. Four peoples to be studied are
drawn from Tiwi Islanders of Northern Australia, James Bay Cree of North
America , the Saami people of the Arctic; and the Karen people of Southeast
Asia. This selection spans major racial groups and a diverse range of antiquity
in order to compare and contrast the manner in which Indigenes have struggled
to maintain their concepts of place and identity in the face of burgeoning
post-modernism. Indigenous relationships to the land, with a particular
emphasis on politico-legal factors and responses to environmental change and
economic development are also considered.
Staff: Dr A Onsman
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 3x1-hr lectures fortnightly,1-hr tutorial weekly
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Assess: 750-word essay (10%), 2,000-word essay (30%), class participation
(20%), 2-hr exam in June (40%)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A
Indigenous Life Histories
Enrolment code: HAB252/352
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Offered: Not offered in 2001
Unit description: Pursues two related streams: an historical evidence stream,
in which the focus in on historical and thematic analysis of selected
20th-century personal and community histories produced by Aboriginal
writers; and an issues stream, in which several issues related to the production
of Aboriginal history are examined. Students use selected themes to investigate
the various depictions of Aboriginal experience presented in the texts. The
selected texts focus on Western Australia and New South Wales, and involve
comparison and contrast of Aboriginal experience in the east and west of the
continent. The themes have been developed to reflect and access the central
concerns of Aboriginal historians. They include living on the fringe, living
place, growing up, gender, identity, and family and community. In the issues
stream, topics include: Aboriginal history as the history of an oppressed
Indigenous minority; the relationship between traditional oral and modern
Aboriginal history, and the use of oral methods in the production of
contemporary histories; the role of the Aboriginal historian in Aboriginal
history, culture and contemporary society; the contribution of Aboriginal
historians and their work to constructions of contemporary Aboriginal identity;
and the often controversial question of who is qualified to write Aboriginal
history.
Staff: Assoc Prof I Green
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: int: 3x1-hr lectures every second week, 1-hr tutorial weekly (13 wks),
dist.ed: 3x3-hr classes monthly in Hbt, Ltn, NWC
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Mutual excl: HHB252/352, HTA282/382
Assess: int: 750-word essay (10%), 2,000-word essay (40%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: 750-word essay (20%), 2,000-word essay
(40%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Morgan S, My Place, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1987
Langford R, Don’t Take Your Love to Town, Penguin, 1988
Matthews J (ed), The Two Worlds of Jimmie Barker, Aboriginal Studies Press
Unit Reader.
Majors: Aboriginal Studies, Economics
Courses: R3A
Dynamics of Indigenous Cultures
Enrolment code: HAB253/353
Offered: Hbt, sem 1; Ltn, sem 1
Unit description: Compares the extant cultures of four contemporary
Indigenous peoples. A particular focus will be the ethno-linguistic bases of
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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culture. Four peoples to be studied will be drawn from Australian Aborigines;
First Nations of North America; the Saami people of the Arctic; and the Karen
people of Southeast Asia. This selection spans major racial groups and a diverse
range of antiquity in order to examine origins and to compare and contrast the
manner in which each group has experienced modernisation.
Staff: Dr A Onsman
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: 3x1-hr lectures fortnightly, 1-hr tutorial weekly
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Mutual excl: HGA278/378
Assess: 1,000-word essay (20%), 2,000-word essay (30%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Unit Reader
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A S3T
Indigenous Tasmania and Colonial
Dispossession
Enrolment code: HAB256/356
Offered: Ltn, sem 1; dist.ed, sem 1
Unit description: Covers the period from the earliest times of Indigenous
occupation of Tasmania until the end of the initial period of British colonisation.
Issues considered include: the history of Aboriginal interactions with the
physical environment; debates about the impact of the 10,000-year, post-ice-age
period of geographic isolation; British ideologies about colonisation and race;
relations between Aborigines and pre-invasion European sailors; Aboriginal
resistance to British invasion; and the conduct of the Black War. the unit
explores a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of the Indigenous past,
mainly from the discipline of History, but also drawing on geological,
archaeological and anthropological concepts and sources.
Staff: Dr S Breen
Unit weight: 12.5%
Teaching: Ltn: 1-hr lecture, 1.5-hr tutorial weekly dist.ed. Hbt: 4x2.5-hr study
sessions; dist.ed. Ltn & NWC: 3x3-hr study sessions.
Prereq: 25% at level 100 in Aboriginal Studies
Mutual excl: HAB255/355
Assess: int: 750-word essay (10%), 2-000-word essay (40%), class participation
(10%), 2-hr exam (40%); dist.ed: 750-word essay (20%), 2-000-word essay
(40%), 2-hr exam (40%)
Required texts, etc:
Ryan L, The Aboriginal Tasmanians, ISBN 1863739653
Unit details (Course and Unit Handbook 2002)
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Unit Reader (contact School for details)
Majors: Aboriginal Studies
Courses: R3A
Aboriginal Studies 4 (Honours)
Enrolment code: HAB400/401
Full time/Part time
Offered: Hbt, sem 1&2; Ltn, sem 1&2
Special note: full-time students enrol in HAB400 (100%), part-time students in
HAB401 (50%); individual units have notional weight, but for HECS purposes
must be weighted at 0%
Unit description: Is made up of the four components: (a) a coursework
seminar in semester 1 called ‘Research Methodologies and Social Theory’,
focusing on an intensive analysis of Indigenous and western research methods
and theory, and giving particular attention to the formulation of theoretical
positions, the uses of concepts, and the issue of objectivity; (b) a coursework
seminar in semester 1 called ‘Indigenous Culture and Country’, focusing on
spirituality, kinship and economy in the past and present in a range of places
drawn from Central Australia, the Kimberley, Torres Strait Island, Cape York
and Arnhem Land; (c) a course of supervised reading in semester 1 for full-time
students or semester 2 of first year for part-time students; (d) a thesis based on
students’ own research, including regular contact with an appointed supervisor
and regular attendance at ‘Thesis Workshop’.
Staff: Dr S Breen (Coordinator), Assoc Prof I Green, Dr A Onsman
Unit weight: 100%/50%
Teaching: (a) 3-hr class fortnightly, with times and venues negotiated with
students; (b) as for (a); (d) Thesis Workshop
Prereq: Major in Aboriginal Studies or cognate discipline, including satisfaction
of the Faculty Grade-Point Average
Assess: (a) 2,500-word essay, class participation, 3-hr exam in June (20%); (b) as
for (a) but a 2-hr exam (20%); (c) 3,000-word independent research project
(20%); (d) 12,000-word (max) thesis, attendance at and reporting progress
of research to Thesis Workshop (40%)
Courses: R4A