The Australian National University
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
-A +A
Syndicate content
2008

Revisiting the Role of Rhetoric in Economics: A review of Helen Hughes’ Lands of Shame

Boyd Hunter

Topical Issue 7 / 2008

June 2008 - Revisiting the Role of Rhetoric in Economics: A review of Helen Hughes’ Lands of Shame

A review of Helen Hughes’ Lands of Shame: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘Homelands’ in Transition (Centre for Independent Studies, 2007) in which Dr Hunter examines the role of rhetoric in economics and the social sciences generally. A version of this review was published in The Economic Record, 84(265) 279–81.

[18 June 2008]

'Development' in Indigenous Australia: international meanings and local approaches

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

There is growing recognition that a 'development' approach to Indigenous communities could be useful, in contrast to (or to complement) a service delivery approach to Indigenous Affairs. But what does a development approach mean? There are many different ideas about what 'development' is and how it is achieved, and hence many different approaches to 'development'. This seminar will canvass some approaches to 'development' common in the international arena and critically explore how they are being articulated in Indigenous Australia, explicitly or implicitly.

Seminar Recordings
Audio

Literacy and remote Indigenous youth: Why social practice matters

Wednesday, 4 June 2008

Writing about literacy in the remote Aboriginal context rarely considers anthropological aspects such as whether literacy has been incorporated into social practice, and how we understand change, transmission and transformation in the evolving social practices and cultural conceptions of reading and writing across the generations in the remote world. In this seminar Jerry Schwab and Inge Kral suggest that, in addition to schooling, everyday social practice is critical to literacy acquisition, maintenance and development in remote contexts.

Seminar Recordings
Audio

The politics of 'the gap' in Australia and New Zealand

Wednesday, 28 May 2008

This paper is part of a longer project about the history of Indigenous population statistics in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In the contemporary use of official statistics by Indigenous and non-Indigenous policy intellectuals, a particular understanding of social justice has emerged. Public discussion highlights the population binary 'Indigenous/non-Indigenous' and finds unjust the 'gap' between Indigenous and non-Indigenous values of certain socio-economic variables. I will answer two questions: 

Seminar Recordings
Audio

Indigenous Housing Tenure in Remote Areas: Directions and Constraints

William Sanders

Topical Issue 6 / 2008

May 2008 - Indigenous Housing Tenure in Remote Areas: Directions and Constraints

Adapted from the ANU-Toyota Public Lecture ‘Closing the Gaps in Indigenous Mortality and Housing: Perspectives from the Social Sciences’, presented at the ANU on Friday 4 April 2008, this paper explores directions and constraints in remote area housing tenure through census statistics and a regional case study. It argues that land title is not the key impediment to, or constraint on, home ownership in remote Aboriginal communities, but rather that the key constraint is the economic status of the residents of such communities.[23 May 2008]

Challenges for sustainable governance in the development and implementation of comprehensive mining agreements

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Agreement making, especially through Indigenous Land Use Agreements, is an increasingly important aspect of native title practice. Major mining agreements in particular are typically highly complex legally-driven documents which focus on meeting or reconciling the various parties' perceived aspirations and interests within a risk management framework. However, comparatively little attention is given to agreements' necessarily intercultural character, and their roles in social and cultural as well as economic transformation.

Seminar Recordings
Audio

Closing the Gap rhetoric buys into Howard legacy

Jon Altman

Topical Issue 4 / 2008

May 2008 - Closing the Gap rhetoric buys into Howard legacy

The 2008 federal Budget shows overwhelming evidence of continuing policy inertia in Indigenous Affairs. First published in Crikey, 15 May 2008.

[20 May 2008]

Re-vitalising the Community Development Employment Program in the Northern Territory

Jon Altman and William Sanders

Topical Issue 5 / 2008

May 2008 - Re-vitalising the Community Development Employment Program in the Northern Territory

This submission was prepared in response to the Northern Territory Government's Review of Community Development Employment Program discussion paper. The submission, focusing mainly on CAEPR research findings produced since 1990, provides evidence-based research findings that the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) scheme is an important and beneficial program for Northern Territory Aboriginal communities and individuals.

[20 May 2008]

Fresh Water in the Maningrida Region's Hybrid Economy: Intercultural Contestation over Values and Property Rights

Jon Altman and Virginie Branchut

Topical Issue 2 / 2008

May 2008 - Fresh Water in the Maningrida Region's Hybrid Economy

This report was prepared for the North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management Alliance's (NAILSMA) Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG), and is hosted on the NAILASMA website. The NAILSMA IWPG project aims to articulate the least known aspects of water policy particularly relevant to north Australia’s Indigenous population, for example, issues relating to property rights, use and management.

Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Australians: Submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review

Jon Altman and Kirrily Jordan

Topical Issue 3 / 2008

May 2008 - Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Australians: Submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review

Indigenous Australians now own over 20 per cent of the continent under a number of different forms of tenure. Much of this Indigenous estate is in relatively intact environmental condition and has high biodiversity value. This submission is based on preliminary CAEPR research and highlights some of the potential costs of climate change to Indigenous Australians, and notes some of the positive contributions that Indigenous Australians might make to ameliorate anthropomorphic causes of global warming.

[19 May 2008]