Beyond Black and White: Transformative Learning and Educator Practice in Australian Indigenous Studies

Abstract

The need for non-Indigenous Australians to be more cognisant of the entangled histories of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, has reverberated through a range of recent reviews of Australian higher education and policy documents which recommend better understanding of Indigenous Australia grounded in tertiary curricula. This policy emphasis has led to a national commitment to curricular which prepares university graduates to practise more effectively when working with or for Indigenous Australians. Consequently, university graduates will need to think beyond the simple binaries of black and white, which too often impede understanding and practise, to develop deeper understandings of our nation's complex colonial legacy. Given the turbulent history of Aboriginal-settler relations it is inevitable that some learners will come to their study with pre-existing prejudices, and misconceptions. Such learners can find the Australian Indigenous Studies curriculum challenging, as courses of study present perspectives that do not accord with their existing views. Such learners can be labelled by educators as racist or prejudiced. However, Australian Indigenous Studies educators also suggest that learners can experience significant shifts in their thinking, or transformations, during a period of formal Indigenous Studies learning. This qualitative study uses the threshold concepts framework as a theoretical guide to explore such transformation processes, for learners. Threshold concepts are key ideas, not always explicitly taught, which foster a learners ability to think like a discipline expert. Critically, a threshold concept frequently involves troublesome knowledge, conceptualised as occurring in a liminal space in which learners might grapple with a particular disciplinary idea, oscillating between understanding and confusion, before fully attaining the required knowledge. Data collected for the study includes interviews with Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners enrolled in Indigenous Studies subjects, from three university sites, Indigenous academics teaching Australian Indigenous Studies, and a group of Aboriginal Elders and Knowledge holders. Focusing on the threshold concepts notion of liminality as a rite of passage, I outline a process of transformation whereby the study learners separate from the familiarity of their home disciplines to enter the often culturally dissonant Indigenous Studies classroom space. For some students this causes a disorientation which can be challenging but also leads to significant shifts in thinking. Learners in this study experience transformative reorientations not just in the way they understand their discipline but also in how they see the world and behave in their lives. The student accounts of their learning experiences are compelling, explicitly addressing issues such as resistance and racism. For the educators interviewed for this research, teaching practise was motivated by a desire to see students contribute to enhanced Indigenous community outcomes through their graduate professional practice. The Elders group illuminate a critical juncture between learning and teaching which coalesces through the notion of truth, and the telling of Indigenous stories. I argue that labelling of students as racist or resistant early in their Indigenous Studies learning is counterproductive, reflecting neither the complexity of an individual's experiences nor the potential for transformed shifts in thinking. Instead, I propose a wholistic model for understanding these student transformative learning experiences which can inform teaching practice and the preparation of teachers for practise. Returning to the threshold concepts framework I suggest that colonial violence is a threshold concept in Indigenous Studies, opening the gateway for deeper engagement with key disciplinary concepts. Show more