In Australia, the interplay between government and Indigenous peoples frequently feels similar to an abusive and controlling relationship.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
If the representations we see of black women in Australia only focus on disadvantage and deficit – not success and excellence – how do we expect power imbalances and stereotypes to change?
Wilhem Berrouet’s impression of Columbus arriving in America.
Salon de la Mappemonde/Flickr
When the remains of Aboriginal people who died more than a century ago were found, the local Aboriginal community wanted to know more about these past lives.
Christian missionaries in Congo in 1911. From the biography of Gwen Elen Lewis.
Princeton Theological Seminary
It’s hailed as one of the greatest works of fiction to emerge from Africa. But Things Fall Apart was written in English, sparking debate about the colonisation of language.
Except during the relatively brief period of colonial rule, Rwanda was, and is, a violent society.
EPA/Olivier Matthys
Throughout the entire period, central political power has been almost absolute.
An engraving of Dirimera and Conaci by Giuseppe Mochetti taken from a daguerreotype of April 5 1852. Acc no 77930P .
With acknowledgements to the Archives of the Benedictine Community of New Norcia.
Aboriginal children are rarely named in the colonial archive. But the remarkable story of Dirimera and Conaci reveals two boys who, while removed from their land, had a keen sense of sovereignty.
The author pictured with the Lombadina mob during a workshop.
#thismymob Research Team
A consultative approach to designing digital technologies can prevent the structures that keep Indigenous people marginalised in the real world from being replicated in the digital world.
The influence of countries in francophone Africa, like Ivory Coast, have shifted how universities think about the French language.
Reuters/Luc Gnago
French is no longer taught as a European language representative of “French” culture in South Africa. New modes of teaching, learning and research speak to an inclusive Africanist agenda.
African universities can work towards decolonisation while championing the UN’s Agenda 2030.
Shutterstock
Universities play a major role in procuring the human and intellectual resources needed for fulfilling the various goals of the UN’s Agenda 2030.
Those who grow up in toxic environments are up to 12 times more likely to experience addiction, depression and to try to commit suicide.
(Shutterstock)
World Suicide Prevention Day draws attention to the rising tide of teenagers taking their own lives. “Toxic socialization” involving emotional and physical abuse in families is a major cause.
Luxury in the British Raj: Calcutta’s memorial to Queen Victoria, 1921.
PA Archive
The marking of our national day has long been fraught, and this year is no exception.
The idea that there’s a moral imperative for humans to expand beyond Earth is echoed by influential proponents of space exploration.
Tamara Craiu/Flickr
Technology had enabled humans to explore the deep sea, the Earth’s poles, and outer space. But we shouldn’t forget historical lessons about frontiers in the process of traversing them.
The health of astronauts will be one of the main challenges for Musk.
D Mitriy/wikimedia
Musk’s know-how cannot be dismissed but there are significant challenges standing between him and his dream of colonising Mars.
Apologies for past injustices issued to indigenous people in Canada, Australia, the United States and New Zealand in the last few decades are signs of progress.
butupa/Flickr
Australia’s national legitimacy is compromised by the failure to repair its relationship with its Indigenous population. Our series explores different ways of resolving this unfinished business.
Australia’s shared past with Brazil enriches understanding of the two former European colonies.
EPA/Antonio Lacerda
The First Fleet had three layovers on its voyage to Australia – one was Rio de Janeiro. As Australia and Brazil celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations, it’s worth remembering this encounter.
Still on lease: the Chagos island of Diego Garcia.
NASA via Wikimedia Commons
Why are the UK’s left-over possessions in the Indian Ocean still the subject of furious legal dispute?
In some parts of Australia, cattle properties have been hand over to the traditional owners, but for others the return of their land seems further away than ever.
AAP/Jordan Baker
The company built by ‘Cattle King’ Sidney Kidman is for sale. He enjoyed good relations with the Indigenous inhabitants, but proper recognition of their rights to their land seems ever more elusive.