Sociology Research Seminar
How can sociology engage with Indigenous issues in Australia today?
22 October 2009, 12-1.30pm Menzies Building W10.10 Monash Clayton Campus (PSI Library)
Dr Priscilla Pyett
Associate Professor in Indigenous Health Research
Monash University Department of Rural and Indigenous Health
School of Rural Health
Abstract
The history of research on Indigenous issues in Australia is characterised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as unwelcome surveillance, exploitation, theft of cultural knowledge, production of knowledge that has been used against the informants and of findings that have rarely been fed back to communities or resulted in any benefits to the participants. Indigenous people have fought to gain control of research practices and the ethics of research that affects their communities. The gross disparities in health and socio-economic indicators between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians cry out for sociological analysis, and sociologically informed interventions. However, there has been a long-term dearth of scholarly involvement in Indigenous issues in Australia. Why sociology has not engaged with Indigenous issues has been a topic for debate in Health Sociology Review , in the newsletter of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Nexus (2004, 2006,2008), at TASA conferences (2004, 2006), and in a 2006 Special Issue of the Journal of Sociology. As a sociologist and public health researcher, I have engaged with Indigenous issues over the past 9½ years and am continuing to do so in my new position at Monash. In this paper I reflect on the problems faced by non-Indigenous sociologists and other researchers and suggest solutions that are both practical and informed by Indigenous values, ethics and politics.
Biographical note
Priscilla Pyett is a sociologist with over 20 years experience in public health research across a range of sensitive topics and working specifically with disadvantaged and marginalised population groups, including Indigenous Australians. Her particular expertise and interests lie in collaborative and participatory approaches to health research and in qualitative research methods. After 9 years at the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit at the University of Melbourne, she has recently joined Monash University Department of Rural and Indigenous Health as Associate Professor in Indigenous Health Research. She has published widely in national and international refereed journals, and in 2006 she co-edited the first special issue of the Journal of Sociology devoted specifically to Indigenous issues ‘Beyond the margins/beyond marginality’.
How to get there: http://www.monash.edu.au/campuses/clayton.html
The presentation will commence at 12 pm.