Hi Angela,

Since this important debate started I've been trying to compile a list of comparative resources (incl examples of campaigning strategies on this front; + ‘Black history’ online learning resources/OERs) which I will submit to BlackPresence.

(I've been away from Australia for 10 years so I’ve sadly lost touch with the latest in this area. I used to be a member of ATSILIRN that you mention below & the article by Henrietta Fourmile was a key reason behind why I became an Archivist. I was never taught a complete or truthful picture of Australian history at school… it was not until University (in the early 90s), when I majored in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies streams within Politics & History, that I was soon awakened to the startling omissions in Australia’s history).

In addition to Jon Stratton’s helpful news links on the latest 'history wars', the following might also be of immediate interest (as comparative examples of ‘decolonising & democratising curriculum’):

Protest document/letter [Statement from Indigenous educators and community members on the Inclusion of Indigenous Perspectives in the Australian Curriculum To: The Hon Julia Gillard (when she was Deputy PM at the time) http://www.whatsworking.com.au/what-could-work/statement-on-inclusion/

Embedding Indigenous Perspectives in University Teaching and Learning: Lessons Learnt and possibilities of reforming and decolonising curriculum: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/10350/1/10350.pdf

McLaughlin, Juliana M. & Whatman, Susan L. (2011) The potential of critical race theory in decolonising university curricula. Asia Pacific Journal of Education. (In Press) http://eprints.qut.edu.au/42346/ “critical race theory’s emancipatory, future and action-oriented goals for curricula (Dei, 2008) would enhance effective and sustainable embedding initiatives, and ultimately, preventing such initiatives from returning to the status quo”

Silencing Aboriginal Content in the Canadian Curriculum: How are First Nation Students denied access to a democratic Education - “The modern-day Canadian curriculum continues to silence Aboriginal students by overlooking current Native issues and First Nations identity....Contemporary First Nations issues are largely absent from the curriculum, thereby reinforcing the social construction of ‘Natives’ as a historical people”. https://sites.google.com/site/ebaxresidentialschools/

NB: The views expressed here are my own and not those of SOAS or the Bernie Grant Trust

On 9 January 2013 08:54, Angela Allison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Thanks for the leads. I'll certainly follow them up.

Prior to this, the only reference I'd come across was to the Australian Indigenous Rights Activist & Historian, Henrietta Fourmile ("Who Owns the Past? Aborigines as Captives of the Archives" http://epress.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/whole33.pdf presents powerful & global-wide reasons for why we need more Archivists from BAME backgrounds. (cf. ATSILIRN & its protocols http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/atsilirn/protocols.atsilirn.asn.au/index6df0.html?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=0&Itemid=6

Angela Allison, Coventry UK

----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Stratton <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:24:56 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: School History curriculum - A comparative consideration

Hi Angela,
You ask about Australia and a national curriculum. It is my very strong suspicion that what is happening in the UK is inspired by John Howard's determination to 'correct' the history curriculum in Australia. Here is Howard reported in Murdoch's conservative national newspaper from September last year: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/john-howard-revives-history-wars-in-attack-on-labor-curriculum/story-fn59nlz9-1226482959782 . Here is another version of Howard's recent intervention: http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/10/01/the-history-curriculum-debate-back-to-the-howard-future/ .
Howard spent much time when he was prime minister campaigning for a rewriting of the Australian history curriculum to reinstate a white, triumphalist version of Australian history. Here is an account by John Hirst, a conservative academic historian, of his involvement in this process: http://www.themonthly.com.au/official-history-australia-john-hirst-781 . The 'left wing' view of history which emphasises the destruction of Indigenous society and gives space to minority concerns in the development of twentieth century 'white Australia' was described as 'black armband' history because it sees white settlement of Australia in a negative light rather than as a civilising force.
Here is an account from the 'left', by Robert Manne, of the history wars: http://www.themonthly.com.au/nation-reviewed-robert-manne-comment-history-wars-2119 .

You can find plenty more on the so-called history wars in Australia on the web.

Hope this is of interest,
Jon

________________________________________
From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Angela Allison [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 January 2013 6:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: School History curriculum - A comparative consideration

Do other nations have a 'National Curriculum'?
If so, to what extent are black nationals, the working class, women featured?

eg. America, Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Canada, Jamaica etc.

Angela Allison, Coventry UK