First Principles

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

Admission into the postgraduate diploma, postgraduate certificate or fourth year honours in Australian Indigenous studies.

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Following indications from thinkers such as Muecke, Elkin, Bird Rose, Swain, Mowaljarlai and others, this subject will ask the following questions:

• Is there an Aboriginal philosophy?
• What fundamental principles might such a philosophy be grounded in?
• Would it be an Australian philosophy?

An analysis of tropes and images and identification of structural commonalities in some of the Australian Indigenous works we will be studying will provide a framework for this discussion.

Students who successful complete this subject will:

• experience an expansion in intellectual horizons and the ability to participate in original work in the field of Australian Indigenous studies;
• learn to make distinctions between essential and transitory aspects of Aboriginal culture and philosophy; and
• understand the implications of an Aboriginal philosophy in any consideration of social and ecological issues affecting contemporary Australian society and the reconsideration of the idea of an Australian nation in the 21st century.

5000 word essay 100% (due in the examination period). Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% (or 10 out of 12) classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed. Any student who fails to meet this hurdle without valid reason will not be eligible to pass the subject. All required written work must be submitted in order to pass the subject. Essays submitted after the due date without an extension will be penalised 2% per day. Essays submitted after two weeks of the assessment due date without a formally approved application for special consideration or an extension will only be marked on a pass/fail basis if accepted.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• have a sophisticated understanding of the role of theory in Australian Indigenous studies;
• develop the ability to undertake high-level individual research;
• gain a developed understanding of the ethical requirements of research in Australian Indigenous studies; and
• appreciate the enhanced intellectual outcomes of collegiality.