Blak Focus June 2025 Edition – Indigenous Knowledges in Higher Education
Indigenous knowledges are shaped by tens of thousands of years of cultural, environmental, and ancestral continuity. Indigenous knowledges are increasingly recognised as being critical to the intellectual and ethical fabric of Australian Higher Education institutions.
For all of colonial history, Indigenous cultural heritage and peoples have been excluded, marginalised, fetishised and ‘othered’ (Bhabha, 1983 & 2004, Fanon, 2007, Hook, 2005,). This exclusion and othering have perpetuated deficit narratives and reinforced epistemological dominance (Rigney, 1999, Moreton-Robinson, 2015). However, the integration of Indigenous knowledges into teaching, research, and governance practices challenges colonial norms of knowledge production, offering a more socially just and relevant education system (Nakata, 2007; Martin, 2008).
Growing recognition of the significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges has led to national strategies aimed at redressing these imbalances. The Universities Australia Indigenous Strategy 2022–2025 outlines a sector-wide commitment to embedding Indigenous perspectives and knowledges across institutional practices. It highlights the need for genuine partnerships with Indigenous communities and the recognition of Indigenous knowledge holders as experts in their own right (Universities Australia, 2022). The strategy also calls for the recognition of Indigenous knowledges as a distinct and unique intellectual tradition, yet challenges remain in embedding these knowledges beyond tokenistic curriculum additions. However, Nakata, Nakata, Keech, and Bolt (20212) highlight that there is a tension in embedding Indigenous knowledges in the curriculum without reinforcing colonial logics.
Through the Deakin Indigenous Strategy 2023–2028, the university aims to incorporate Indigenous knowledges into the curriculum and seeks to “position authentic Indigenous Knowledges into the fabric of Australian life.” The university aims to inform the teaching and research spaces in ways that respect Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing, acknowledging epistemological differences while also critically engaging with colonial histories.
Curriculum Guide
The Australian Council for Dean Sciences research grant project Co-creation of Indigenous Curricular in Science has considered how tertiary students engage with Indigenous knowledges and systems in ways that question the impacts of colonialism. Through the creation of A guide for curriculum development First Nations Australians’ Science, teachers can ethically engage with teaching about Indigenous knowledges in science without teaching Indigenous culture. The guide also addresses colonial practices by asking teachers to reflect on their own and their institutions’ positionality (Ah Chee, Bennett, Cirkony, Coutts, Fairbrother, Gunning, Raven, Sambono, Singh, Uink, Ziebell, 2024).
Elevating Indigenous voices
The Deakin 50th Indigenous Oral History and First Nations Education project aims to “interrogate the historical marginalisation of Indigenous worldviews and lived experiences in Western education and archival systems” (Raven, Fletcher, Minney, Potter, Lauer, Sabet Collins, Burgoyne, Wain, McCulloch, Catrice, 2025). The project will include:
- Recording oral histories of at least 10 Indigenous people with connections to Deakin.
- An Indigenous Community Yarn session during NAIDOC week. We encourage all Deakin Indigenous staff, students, and alumni to register for this event. We have limited capacity, so get in early.
- Research the creation of a digital archive to increase accessibility for family members to recorded oral histories.
- An exhibition including excerpts of oral histories, findings from the Community Yarn and university archival materials.
To move beyond symbolic inclusion and address the deeper epistemological and structural challenges, universities must commit to transformative and innovative changes grounded in Indigenous leadership and ethical and cultural engagement. It is only through these authentic and responsive partnerships that universities will be provided with the necessary expertise and innovation to succeed in this goal.
At Deakin Library, by collaborating with the Office of Indigenous Innovation and Strategy, NIKERI and faculties, we are working in these ways to genuinely integrate Indigenous knowledges.
Blak Focus is a monthly edition of Indigenous-focused content, created by Deakin Library’s Indigenous Programs team. Blak Focus is intended to share Indigenous ways of being and knowing to help facilitate the transition to embedding Indigenous knowledges into academic practice. For enquiries about Blak Focus, or to request topics for future editions, please reach out to lib-indigenous@deakin.edu.au.
References
Ah Chee, J., Bennett, R., Cirkony, C., Coutts, K., Fairbrother, L., Gunning, T., Raven, T., Sambono, J., Singh, L-J., Uink, B., Ziebell, A. (2024) A guide for curriculum development – First Nations Australians’ Science. Australian Council of Deans of Science grant project. Published by Deakin University. Retrieved from https://www.acds.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/A-guide-for-curriculum-development-First-Nations-Australians-Science-Online-v2.pdf
Australian Government, Department of Education (2024) Australian Universities Accord – Final Report. Retrieved from https://universitiesaustralia.edu.au/policy-submissions/diversity-equity/universities-australias-indigenous-strategy-2022-2025/
Bhabha, H. K. (1983). The Other Question…. Screen, 24(6), 18–36. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/24.6.18
Bhabha, H. K. (2004). The location of culture. Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=6574a8f7-ab77-3a6b-ab63-1455f1d4ab76
Deakin University. (2023). Deakin Indigenous Strategy 2023-2028. Retrieved from https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/2568125/Deakin-Indigenous-Strategy-2023-2028.pdf
Fanon, F. 1925-1961., & Philcox, R. (2007). Black skin, white masks / Frantz Fanon ; translated from the French by Richard Philcox. Grove Press.
Hook, D. (2005). The Racial Stereotype, Colonial Discourse, Fetishism, And Racism. Psychoanalytic Review, 92(5), 701-34. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/racial-stereotype-colonial-discourse-fetishism/docview/195060764/se-2
Martin, K. L. (2008). Please knock before you enter : Aboriginal regulation of outsiders and the implications for researchers. 168 p. Retrieved from https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/family.a143001
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2015). The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. University of Minnesota Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt155jmpf
Nakata, M. (2007). The Cultural Interface. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, Suppl.1, 36, 7-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1326011100004646
Nakata, N. M., Nakata, V., Keech, S., & Bolt, R. (2012). Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 120-140. Retrieved from https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18628
Raven, T., Fletcher, G., Minney, P., Potter, M., Lauer, K., Sabet Collins, M., Wain, J., McCulloch, A., Burgoyne, C., Catrice, A. (2025) Project Description Protocol – Deakin Human Research Ethics Application 2024-HREA0045
Rigney, L.-I. (1999). Internationalization of an Indigenous Anticolonial Cultural Critique of Research Methodologies: A Guide to Indigenist Research Methodology and Its Principles. Wicazo Sa Review, 14(2), 109–121. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/1409555
Image credit: Through Learning We Heal by Talitha Podger. Permission for use by Tui Raven supported by ‘Agreement for License of Artwork’ (2024).