Being rooted is different from being connected or even grounded. As we know from our mobile phones, connectivity can be fleeting. Grounding is only at surface layers. Being rooted goes as deep in the earth as above in the sky, providing greater stability.
We have an array of prevention agencies, lifeline programs, and public mantras about “being in life”. So why don’t they seem to work in rural and remote communities?
Tony Abbott’s rejection of Indigenous-only conventions need not derail the push for constitutional recognition. But it demonstrates just how crucial sound process is to achieving change.
There are no examples of evidence being put forward by race theorists that a race other than the one they belong to is superior. That’s worth bearing in mind when it comes to ‘understanding’ racists.
Last week Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm was widely reported as suggesting that people other than Aboriginal Australians may have occupied the Australian continent in the past. At a doorstop…
One of the most hotly debated questions in Vanuatu has been about how communities can rebuild so that they are safer and more resilient to future cyclones. That’s not as simple as you might think.
A new generation of Indigenous youth is being separated from their families and culture – this time by the force of criminal law that ignores the proven alternative of community-based justice.
Superficial changes are not enough. A violent foundation and the displacement of Aboriginal laws are the bigger issues on which the Australian Constitution should be held to account.
Will completing the Constitution without making any substantive changes satisfy Indigenous Australians or make any real difference to their lives? Ahead of the proposed referendum on Indigenous recognition, such questions are vital.
Hetti Perkins has curated an exhibition of bark paintings by John Mawurndjul and Gulumbu Yunupingu that is currently on display at Tarrawarra Museum of Art. Who are these artists – and how have their lives shaped their artworks?
Can we trace modern-day racism against Indigenous Australians to the country’s British invaders? Often when trying to extinguish a fire, it is more important to know what sustains it rather than what started it.
Up to 150 ‘communities’ in ‘remote’ Australia are threatened with closure. But do such terms put a gloss on what is, in reality, the closure of people’s homes?
In 1975, people wore Shame Fraser Shame badges and demonstrated in support of the sacked prime minister, Gough Whitlam. Today, those same protestors feel powerful emotions at the passing of Malcolm Fraser. Why?
Melbourne’s new landmark building celebrates the Indigenous leader William Barak. But what should we make of the overt association between its luxury apartments and Barak’s lifelong struggle over land?
Recently, Tony Abbott asserted the government couldn’t afford to fund the “lifestyle choices” of remotely-based Aboriginal people. But such communities could be key to meeting the demands of our future.
Culture is barely mentioned in the latest Intergenerational Report – as was the case with the three preceding it. But we need strong policies to support cultural heritage, and we need them urgently.
Opinion is rife as to what Aboriginal and Torres Islander humour is, even though Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been delivering it on a platter for centuries.
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University