TEAC 7013 At the cultural interface - learning two ways

This is an archived copy of the 2021-2022 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit https://hbook.westernsydney.edu.au.

Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 102165

Coordinator Erin Mackenzie Opens in new window

Description From 2020 students should note that core units are now taught in semesters rather than half yearly sessions. History, politics and ignorance make the cultural interface between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians contested and fraught. In turn, cultural misunderstanding contributes to inequities in educational attainment, employment and social disadvantage. Students apply a critical perspective to the discourses surrounding Aboriginal disadvantage and white privilege. They develop processes to engage respectfully with local Aboriginal and Islander communities in order to learn and share in a two-way exchange of knowledge. They listen deeply and intersubjectively in their exploration of Aboriginal worldviews, and they reflect on what it means to decolonise their own thinking so as to build partnerships based on mutuality and reciprocity.

School Education

Discipline Teacher Education

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Postgraduate Coursework Level 7 subject

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  1. Critically evaluate the issues that impact on social disadvantage in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  2. Apply critical race perspectives to analyse white privilege and dominant knowledge systems
  3. Advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, worldviews and languages and identify ways to support them to flourish
  4. Reflect critically on the process of decolonisation in terms of personal insights and contributions
  5. Communicate ethically and respectfully with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Engage effectively with the diversity of circumstances and needs experienced within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  6. Develop ethical and constructive professional and research partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities

Subject Content

1. Rights and wrongs: traversing the contact zone in black and white Australia
2. Deep listening: stories of life, land, dispossession and remembering
3. The cultural interface - no neutral place to be
4. Whose knowledge matters? The need for unlearning
5. Intersubjectivity and decolonising practices
6. Being in place, sharing in country
7. Research politics; decolonising methodologies
8. Closing the gap? Deinstitutionalising whiteness

Assessment

The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.

Item Length Percent Threshold Individual/Group Task
Case Study 2,500 words 50 N Individual
Essay 2,500 words 50 N Individual

Prescribed Texts

  • Craven, R., Dillon, A., & Parbury, N. (Eds.). (2013). In black and white: Australians all at the crossroads. Ballan, Australia: Connorcourt.

Teaching Periods

Structures that include subject