Art and Indigenous Voice

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

136 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject is designed to give students a solid basis from which to start engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and cultural practice. Utilising both existing and new cultural frameworks, through lectures in cultural safety, traditional beliefs and culture, contemporary history and art as voice, students will be walked through the artistic, cultural and political histories of Australia’s first people with a specific focus on the diversity within Victoria and the south-east of Australia. With a focus on connection to country and place, students will learn from leading elders, visual artists, theatre makers and activists.

At the completion of this subject students should be able to:

• Analyse, discuss and evaluate Indigenous culture, history, cultural safety, art and resistance; pre-contact, post-contact and now.
• Classify and identify some of the ways in which culture and identity have flourished in this landscape for over 2,000 generations.
• Apply the cultural skills they have developed to engage through their own work with the oldest continuing culture on earth.
• Relate, acknowledge and further develop connections to the land upon which they live and study, its stories and songs.
• Identify the diversity and breadth of Aboriginal culture from Victoria and south-eastern Australia.
• Distinguish and construct numerous pathways and access points in the local Indigenous community for them to further access language, art and cultural programs.

• In-class participation i.e. contribution to class discussion, preparation of reading material, active contribution to group work, etc; ongoing throughout semester (10%)
• Relective Journal entries (200 words or equivalent per week); Weeks 2-12 (45%)
• 1800 word essay (or equivalent); due during assessment period (45%)

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Science

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

At the completion of this subject, students should be:

• Well-resourced in aspects of the nation’s shared history and the role of our artists, which will facilitate students to establish a dialogue across cultures.
• Able to identify and access areas of greater cultural diversity within their own community.
• Capable of critically analysing and understanding the power of Art as a tool for societal change.
• Better resourced in problem solving and communication skills within diverse cultural frameworks.
• Well-versed in alternative methods of recoding, maintaining and perpetuating history and identity.