Socialization, land, and citizenship among aboriginal Australians

Culturally appropriate education for people of Indigenous descent is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right. Such an education is also a powerful resource for all educators and all cultures. This book explores Indigenous Australian education, particularly over the last thirty years. The major objective is to examine issues of education and pedagogy and to suggest forms of reconciliation between the dominant Western education and Indigenous forms of education. The work is grounded in an ethnographic case study and wide-ranging interaction and consultation with Indigenous Australians. The provision of the most appropriate education for Indigenous students is extraordinarily complex and presents an enormous challenge to educators, in Australia and elsewhere. The implications are profound; continued ignorance and arrogance from the dominant cultures will lead to even greater resentment, social alienation, poverty and divisiveness. The book explores these issues and concerns in both the broad historical, and more particular localized sense, each informing the other.