Amy Thunig Tiffany Jones
Monday 17 August 2020
Indigenous academic women are in high demand but are often positioned as ‘black performer’ by their fellow academics and colleagues
@IndigenousX,
12 August 2020:
In
recent decades it has become increasingly common for higher education
institutions in so-called Australia to engage in institutional
branding and marketing which position their organisations as
‘inclusive’, ‘equitable’ and committed to ‘indigenising’
their curriculums and research practice. Goals of increased
Indigenous engagement, consultation, staffing, course content, and
student enrolment and completion rates are often noted within formal
institutional documents such as Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP).
They may also be noted in speeches performed by executive members of
the university, commitments made within Ethics applications as part
of research project and grant applications; and communicated via the
university’s online and community presence through social media and
marketing campaigns. However, this study reveals that how and by whom
such institutional goals and commitments are actually enacted within
the academy remains an ongoing point of tension, and one which
produces a significant burden on a minuscule workforce of Indigenous
academics.
It
is undeniable that Indigenous academics are in high demand, but with
less than 430 Indigenous academics currently employed within
Australian higher education institutions, and 69% of that cohort
identified as female, what does it look like to experience this
demand as an Indigenous academic woman? In 2019 I travelled this
continent and spoke with Indigenous women who are presently employed
within academic roles in Australian higher education institutions.
Due to their belonging to a small, highly identifiable workforce, in
order to ensure their anonymity, I cannot share the specific
institutions they work in or identifying features such as which
Nation group they belong to.
A
novel finding of this study, and the focus of this article, is that
despite being highly qualified within the academic system, and
sovereign beings of these unceded lands, Indigenous academic women
are often positioned as ‘black performer’ by their fellow
academics and colleagues…..
Read
full article here.
BACKGROUND
Academic
Paper
Amy Thunig Tiffany Jones
Received:
20 February 2020 / Accepted: 24 July 2020 © The Australian
Association for Research in Education, Inc. 2020
Abstract
In
an era where higher education institutions appear increasingly
committed to what Sara Ahmed calls ‘speech acts’ whereby declared
goodwill, through stated commitments to diversity, equity, and
increasing Indigenous student enrolment and completion have been
made; it is undeniable that Indigenous academics are in high demand.
With fewer than 430 Indigenous academics currently employed here on
the continent now commonly referred to as ‘Australia’, and 69%
of that cohort identifying as female, what does it look like to
experience this demand as an Indigenous academic woman? Drawing on
data collected from a Nation-wide study in 2019 of 17 one-on-one,
face-to-face interviews with Indigenous academic women, using
Indigenous research methodologies and poetic transcription, this
paper explores the experiences and relational aspects of Indigenous
academic women’s roles in Australian higher education.
Sunday 16 August 2020
Shortage of doctors at Lismore Base Hospital due to Queensland-NSW border closure
Life during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a little harder across the NSW Northern River region......
ABC News,
12 August 2020:
A
senior doctor at a major hospital on the New South Wales north coast
says the closure of the Queensland border is a "political
stunt".
Chris
Ingall, an executive on the Medical Staff Council at the Lismore Base
Hospital, said the health service was "scrambling" to cope
with the effects on patients & staff, who must quarantine for 14
days if they enter Queensland from outside the so-called border
bubble in the Tweed Shire.
"You've
got over 100 doctors that work at Lismore Base Hospital that live in
Queensland; they are no longer available to us because they don't
want to leave their families & not get back," he said.
"So
we are scrambling for doctors, anaesthetists, emergency doctors, a
lot of the frontline doctors who are no longer going to be able to
support Lismore Base Hospital."
Dr
Ingall said it was having a significant impact on the risk posed to
residents in the Northern Rivers.
"This
doesn't need to happen at all from a medical perspective because
there is no community transmission in the Northern Rivers," he
said.....
Queensland
has relaxed its border restrictions for people "entering to
obtain specialist health care, or as a support person to a person
obtaining specialist health care, that cannot be obtained at their
place of residence".
But
those entering from beyond the border bubble will have to go into
government-provided quarantine for 14 days.
The
cost for an adult is $2,800; one adult and one child is $3,255.
People
classified as vulnerable or who can prove financial hardship can
apply to have the fees waived.....
Australian Defence Force in 2020
The
Australian, 11 August 2020:
The
Defence Force has asked an independent expert to examine cultural and
leadership failings involving Australia’s special forces ahead of a
war crimes report on dozens of alleged murders of prisoners and
civilians by the elite units in Afghanistan.
The
study will look at the ethical standards and command culture of the
secretive Special Air Service and Commando regiments from 1999 to the
present day, with a focus on their deployment to Afghanistan in the
war against al-Qa’ida and the Taliban.
The
Australian can reveal that Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell
has commissioned former naval officer and Anglican bishop Tom Frame
to undertake the study, to be released in mid-2022.
The
move comes as the government prepares for the release of a report by
the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force into at least
55 alleged breaches of the laws of war by Australian personnel during
the nation’s 13-year on-the-ground commitment in Afghanistan.
The
alleged crimes are expected to include the killing of unarmed men and
children, and the mistreatment and execution of Taliban prisoners who
posed no threat to their captors.
The
IGADF report, by NSW Supreme Court judge Major General Paul Brereton,
will rock the nation’s military establishment and tarnish community
perceptions of the nation’s most revered warriors.
Professor
Frame, a respected military historian with the University of NSW,
will examine the wider context of the alleged crimes, including
actions of senior ADF leaders and Australia’s military strategy in
Afghanistan.
His
study will be used as a basis for further reforms to the SAS and
Commando regiments, and in planning military operations.
One
former SAS officer spoken to by The Australian on condition of
anonymity said by 2010, special forces operators on the ground in
Afghanistan had lost faith in the strategy and “the whole thing was
just starting to unravel”.
He
said mentally ill soldiers were regularly sent on to the battlefield,
and commanders -allowed a culture where lower ranked soldiers became
more influential than their officers. “You’ve got guys doing six
or seven tours. Think about what that does — six or seven tours
with heavy combat,” the officer said.
He
said “wild swings in roles and strategy” also took their toll,
along with the intensity of the fighting.
“All
these things led to a culture and an environment where I think there
was a degree of impunity,” he said.
“The
only thing that was important to us was our own tribe. We didn’t
trust anyone. We didn’t think necessarily we were being supported
by some of the leadership.”
Another
former SAS officer, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, said the Australian
people needed an explanation of the war in Afghanistan that went
beyond individual cases of wrongdoing....
Labels:
Australian Defence Force,
war,
war crimes
Saturday 15 August 2020
Tweets of the Week
This TIME cover is something else. pic.twitter.com/fn406fSVrA— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) August 7, 2020
Remarkable. The Federal Govt is threatening to take the NSW #RubyPrincess Inquiry to the High Court.
— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) August 12, 2020
Why? @ScottMorrisonMP doesn’t want federal officials to give evidence.
@LucyHughesJones with the story @dailytelegraph 👇#auspol https://t.co/GdeOzy2Ujx
Friday 14 August 2020
A conga line of #COVIDIOTS - Part 3
NSW
Police, News,
12 August 2020:
- A 23-year-old man was issued a $1000 PIN by officers from Murray River Police District after attempting to enter NSW for the third time without a valid permit.
- A 65-year-old man was issued a $1000 PIN by officers from Barrier Police District after continuing through the Buronga border checkpoint despite being denied entry due to not having a valid permit.
- A 58-year-old man was issued a $1000 PIN by officers from Murray River Police District after entering NSW without a valid permit. The man was stopped on the Hume Highway at Woomargama for the purposes of a Random Breath Test yesterday (Tuesday 11 August 2020). When spoken to by officers, he produced a Victorian licence and an invalid NSW border entry permit. He was issued a $1000 PIN, directed to leave NSW and escorted back to the Victorian border.
Labels:
COVID-19,
New South Wales,
pandemic,
public health order,
Victoria
What little Koala habitat remaining in NSW is being logged right now
https://youtu.be/3JKA5ZoRDD4
NatureConservation Council (NSW),10 August 2020:
Wildlife
rescuer and arborist Kailas Wild shows us evidence of koalas in the
middle of a logging operation in the Lower Bucca State Forest on the
NSW North Coast.
The
bushfires burnt over 2 million hectares of koala habitat and yet the
state-owned logging agency Forestry Corporation is right now cutting
down unburnt forests that koalas call home.
The
NSW Government has the power to stop this destruction. We need to
create a groundswell of support for protecting koala habitat. If more
people know this destruction is happening and raise their voices in
protest, we can work together to ensure our koalas are not forgotten.
Take
a stand for koalas. Sign the petition to call on Premier Berejiklian to stop logging now.
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