Kelly Menzel

My PhD by prior publication was an autoethnographic and tribalographic study that aimed to critique and question higher education processes of inclusion and exclusion. It addressed experiences and patterns I have experienced in my interactions with white institutional power. I generated five publications that address racist policies, processes and behaviours that assert and maintain colonial power deeply embedded in Australian systems of governance across public institutions. I investigated current practices in the delivery of education at all levels, the ongoing effects of multigenerational
trauma significantly influencing many Indigenous Australians’ access to equitable education, and their experiences of educational institutions.

The study findings challenge existing discourses of Indigenous academic inclusion. The study was a form of critical inquiry investigating the political climate and work environments of educators and practitioners. My analysis was grounded in an Indigenous Woman’s Standpoint through Indigenous autoethnographic methodological practice and this largely referred to using my point of view as an Indigenous woman to offer insights disrupting the systemic processes that position Indigenous Australian peoples and Knowledges as “the other” within the academy. I sought to offer some new insights into the causative factors of institutional racism, which, despite policies of diversity and inclusion, continue to exacerbate the socioeconomic, educational and health gaps between Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and the possibilities of reforms that may facilitate Indigenous social mobility through professional advancement and achievement.