Special Issue: Australian Journal of Education
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women in Higher Education: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
This open call invites female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics and HDR students to submit papers for a Special Issue to be published in November, 2018 in the Australian Journal of Education.
The Special Issue, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women in Higher Education: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, is about the Indigenous women in the education discipline honouring other Indigenous women and their influence on their individual careers. More specifically, it is building on this year’s NAIDOC theme, “Because of her, we can”. The central argument of the Special Issue is that Indigenous women’s career paths are not known and so this allows opportunity to voice an understanding of why Indigenous women came into the academy. The force of the argument acts to privilege Indigenous women’s voices in higher education and their lived experiences. This then becomes a pre-emptive conversation to the next generation of Indigenous women academics taking in account the changing sector and the challenges that are faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and the opportunities available.
The main theme of the Special Issue is to showcase the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in education within the academy and proffer encouragement for emerging Indigenous academics in this ever changing context. This speaks to professional concerns about the tumultuous nature of the academy at present and the solutions and leadership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. The Special Issue will therefore identify the lived experiences of Indigenous academic women in the discipline of education already in the academy as opposed to the objectified positionality of the observed as well as giving historical understanding of the emerging roles and responsibilities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in higher education. Indigenous women’s voices and particularly those within the discipline form a rare phenomenon and therefore enable a critical understanding of this particular field.
The Special Issue is well timed given this year’s NAIDOC theme. The contributing authors would be those who are already engaged in higher education either as an academic or HDR student focused primarily on the Education field. Resistant discourses establishing the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women within the institution are emerging as the numbers of Indigenous academics continue to increase. Strategies to prosper and find strength in each other to progress the Indigenous agenda within Universities serves to better equip the next generation to build on the efforts of others.
Possible contributions but are not limited to:
- The career paths of Indigenous women in Education
- The Indigenous women who have influenced us in the academy
- The changing sector and the challenges faced
- Indigenous women’s leadership
- Lived experience vs observed/objectified positionality
- The historical involvement of Indigenous women in education in higher education
- Honouring the role of Indigenous women in education
Timeline
Call for Contributions: March 17, 2018
Abstracts close: April 16, 2018
Forward abstracts of up to 250 words to Melitta.Hogarth@usq.edu.au and CC Tracey.Bunda@usq.edu.au
Articles Due: May 28, 2018
Revisions Due: July 23, 2018
Final Compilation: August 27, 2018
Length of contributions: 4000-5000 words max
Content provided by the Australian Council for Educational Research