Staging standpoint dialogue in tristate education: privileging Anangu voices Samuel Osborne 2016 Doctor of Philosophy thesis Victoria University, Melbourne College of Education, Footscray Park Campus Abstract Aboriginal education in remote areas of Australia continues to be a contested focus for policy and practice, with little debate that actively involves Aboriginal people themselves. This thesis attempts to redress this gap in a small way by in-depth conversations about education with Anangu in the tristate area of central Australia (the region where Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory meet). Here Aboriginal people live in relatively small, dispersed desert communities with close language and familial connections. Contact with Europeans is relatively recent, with provision of schooling moving from centralised mission-based schooling to decentralised community schools following the 1967 referendum. Anangu children are frequently positioned as deficient in mainstream educational achievement narratives within colonial and neo- colonial educational endeavours. This study seeks to inform Anangu education policy and practice from Anangu standpoints and to explore the potential for standpoint dialogue in negotiating alternatives in tristate education (Harding, 1992). This thesis privileges Anangu standpoint accounts in relation to young people, education and the future. The series of interviews, held across several years and translated and presented with minimal editing, are predominantly held in local languages and demonstrate the priority of oral histories and stories as Indigenous genres for knowledge sharing. A textual standpoint dialogue is staged between Anangu participants and trusted Piranpa (non-Indigenous) education leaders whom Anangu participants identify, describing practice from the 1950s to the current day. Through investigation of a number of historical sources, the background to colonial contact and approaches to provision of education in the tristate area in the twentieth century is provided which correlates with the Anangu standpoints given in the series of interviews. Diverse histories and interactions with colonialism and education shape points of difference between and among Anangu (Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara/Ngaanyatjarra) standpoints (Nakata, 2007a). The Anangu stories reflect how colonial interests are privileged in the historical interactions with cattle stations (including the removal of children), the Maralinga bomb, centralisation of populations to mission centres and sporadic engagement with mining interests. This study found that deep conversations about education across Anangu and Piranpa standpoints have been difficult even where educators spoke local languages and developed close relationships with Anangu. Educators feel caught between professional imperatives for upward accountability and personal conviction of the need for reciprocal accountability to community priorities and demands. Significant points of epistemic differentiation between Western norms represented in educational policy and practices and Anangu lives underscore the importance of seeking venues for standpoint dialogue where Anangu voices are privileged in (re)shaping Anangu education provision. Implications for inducting educators into remote schools are also explored. Sam Osborne – Anangu Voices ii Student Declaration Doctor of Philosophy Declaration “I, Sam Osborne, declare that the PhD thesis entitled ‘Staging standpoint dialogue in tristate education: privileging Anangu voices’ is approved to exceed 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work”. Signature Date Sam Osborne – Anangu Voices iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my family. To you, Rebekah and all the kids, I hope this work is a positive investment into your lives and futures: David Ilyatjari, Jeremiah Kunyima, Jakob Tjatjinytja, Samekah Tinimayi, Kenny Wirkima and also Iwana Nevaeh, Ni-kiea, Lewin and Selina Douglas. This thesis is for Anangu everywhere as they work together with educators towards a better future for their children which honours who they are and who they have been. Acknowledgement I would like to acknowledge and thank my wife Rebekah, my parents Bill and Norma and Sandra Ken for your love and encouragement over many years. Special thanks goes to my supervisors and supporters Marie Brennan, Lew Zipin and John Guenther. I owe you all a great deal for the wisdom, encouragement and friendship you have so generously shared through this time. Most of all, thank you to those who have shared their stories, knowledge, wisdom and lives to help children, educators and leaders in Anangu communities. Sam Osborne – Anangu Voices iv Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. ii Chapter 1: Examining remote Indigenous education .......................................................................... 1 Overview of the project ................................................................................................................... 2 The social, geographical and cultural context of the tristate area ................................................... 3 A brief history of Aboriginal education in Australia and the international context ...................... 13 Schooling in the tristate area ......................................................................................................... 19 Positioning myself in the research ................................................................................................ 25 Significance and context of the study ........................................................................................... 28 Overview of chapters .................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 2: Framing the study ............................................................................................................ 31 Literature review: politics, media and theoretical framing ........................................................... 31 Pursuing socially just education: the need for standpoint dialogue .............................................. 46 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................................... 50 Ethical and methodological considerations in Indigenous research .............................................. 50 Narrative and Indigenous research ................................................................................................ 59 Developing a historical context to education in the tristate area ................................................... 67 Pragmatic considerations in remote research ................................................................................ 68 Chapter 4: Cows, bombs, mines and missions: A history of the centralising and decentralising influences on Anangu populations .................................................................................................... 75 Brief overview ............................................................................................................................... 75 The centralising and decentralising influences on Anangu populations ....................................... 81 Schooling in the tristate region: a structural and historical overview ........................................... 97 Chapter 5: Sandraku tjukurpa (Sandra’s story) ............................................................................... 102 Background and overview........................................................................................................... 102 The early days ............................................................................................................................. 103 Schooling and life at Areyonga ................................................................................................... 121 Life after school .......................................................................................................................... 125 Looking forward, looking back; reflections and visions for the future ....................................... 133 Chapter 6: The stories of Gordon Ingkatji ...................................................................................... 140 Background and overview........................................................................................................... 140 Learning as family; family as foundation ................................................................................... 141 Choir, learning and life in the early days of the Ernabella Mission ............................................ 145 Talking to the next generation..................................................................................................... 149 Sharing the teaching; working with Piranpa ............................................................................... 154 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................................ 160 Chapter 7: The stories of Katrina