Beyond Guarding Ground - A Vision for a National Indigenous Cultural Authority

02 October 2009

Terri Janke

In the past 20 years Indigenous Australians have called for greater recognition of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. The intellectual property system doesn't acknowledge Indigenous communal ownership of cultural expressions and knowledge passed down through the generations, and nurtured by Indigenous cultural practice. Sacred knowledge is also at risk.

This lecture sketched out the ground gathered by Indigenous copyright cases and examine international model laws and draft provisions. Ms Janke argued for greater infrastructure to support and defend Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. Her vision is for a National Indigenous Cultural Authority to facilitating consent and payment of royalties; to develop standards of appropriate use to guard cultural integrity, and to enforce rights.

Broad Topics:

Sub-topics: Indigenous Studies

Areas: University

Terri Janke is an Indigenous Australian lawyer with her own law firm that represents Indigenous artists and creators. She is the author of Our Culture: Our Future: A report on Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights (1999) and Minding Culture: Case Studies on Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions, prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Geneva 2003. She writes and speaks internationally about Indigenous cultural and intellectual property. She enrolled as a PhD candidate with the National Centre for Indigenous Studies in February 2008.

This Lecture was the 20th Anniversary of the Jabal Centre Lecture, presented by the Jabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre.

Part of the Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series 2009