Australia is a relatively new nation state built on colonisation and settler migration. These origins situate Australia’s First Peoples and Indigenous/settler and nation-state relationships as central aspects of contemporary Australian society. It would seem logical to conclude that Australian sociology curricula would include a substantial range of units and courses with Indigenous themes and content. Yet, this is not the case. Indigenous sociology is largely absent from the sociology curriculum within tertiary education. In this article we argue that the lack of the Indigenous is not an oversight but can be linked to a normalisation of a more general disengagement of the discipline with the key social force of race. Apart from consistent description of Indigenous disadvantage, Indigenous and race issues are presumed to sit outside the realm of mainstream Australian sociology. We use Whiteness and Critical Race theories to explain how this curriculum absence can be seen as a particular Australian praxis of Whiteness and colour-blind racism. Our own experiences as Aboriginal sociologists in mainstream sociology departments provide the empirical base to show how Whiteness, and its privileging practices, pervades the Australian sociology curricula. Our argument extends to addressing the pedagogic challenges faced by lecturers presenting Indigenous content to a largely Euro-Australian student body.
History
Publication title
Journal of Sociology
Volume
49
Issue
4
Pagination
397-410
ISSN
1440-7833
Department/School
School of Social Sciences
Publisher
Sage Publications Ltd.
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Rights statement
Copyright 2013 Australian Sociological Association
Repository Status
Restricted
Socio-economic Objectives
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community services not elsewhere classified