Indigenous women in higher education

Asserting Aboriginality and advancing allyship

Bronwyn Fredericks, Tracey Bunda, Abraham Bradfield

Introduction

In Australian universities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander^[1] academic staff are grossly underrepresented, comprising just 1.3 per cent of university staff nationally. While the number of Indigenous academic staff doubled from 2005 to 2020, Indigenous academics continue to be overrepresented at lower-level and short-term positions (Universities Australia, 2022). In 2014, the number of promotions to senior leadership roles have stagnated with “12 of the 39 Australian universities having no senior Indigenous appointments at the level of Pro Vice-Chancellor or Deputy Vice-Chancellor” (Trudgett et al., 2021). Although Indigenous women made up 69 per cent of the entire Indigenous workforce (Fredericks et al., 2014), none have been promoted to senior leadership positions within the Vice-Chancellery, Deputy Vice-Chancellor positions in departments including governance, research, and academic, or as Pro Vice-Chancellor of learning and teaching, vocational education, international relations, or other strategic positions (Fredericks and White, 2018: 248). At the time of writing this chapter, this situation has not changed.

Universities and colonialism

There are numerous structural, social, and cultural reasons for the disparities that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in higher education, including that universities are not always welcoming or culturally safe places. Western education has been synonymous with colonisation and has produced knowledge about the so-called native “other”. It has subjectified Indigenous peoples within universities whilst white sovereignty and the power to frame the world and its governing structures through a normalised Eurocentric lens “predicated on white supremacy” is maintained (Moreton-Robinson, 2021: 14). Smith (2012: 132) explains how for Indigenous peoples “universities are regarded as rather elite institutions which reproduce themselves through various systems of privilege,” and how “many indigenous students find little space for indigenous perspectives in most academic disciplines and most research approaches”.

Since British and European arrival, there have been continuous attempts to silence and possess Indigenous peoples, cultures, epistemologies, standpoints, and ways of knowing, doing, and being. Moreton-Robinson (2021: 7-8) describes possession as an “act of classifying, ordering and assigning value; to make a thing have meaning, to assign value to it and to classify it.” In the context of colonisation, possession involved inscribing British meaning to the land which was dependent on the classifying of Indigenous peoples as having no value, no meaning, and the land having no inhabitants – demonstrated by the legal fiction terra nullius. Through policies such as “assimilation” or “protectionism,” white authorities, organisations, and the wider public sought to possess and control every aspect of Indigenous peoples’ lives. Universities, research, and Western science were (and continue to be) central to the characterisation of Indigenous people as inferior and in need of paternalistic care, possession and control.

Despite attempts to silence and exclude Indigenous peoples from universities, Indigenous people have always been present. Universities are built on Indigenous land filled with the memories and stories of Indigenous ancestors. Even before Indigenous people could enroll in tertiary education programs in the late 1950s, Indigenous people occupied service roles such as cleaners or ground staff. Margret Williams-Weir was the first Aboriginal woman to graduate with a diploma from Melbourne University in 1959 and a degree in 1966 from the University of New England (Kennedy et al., 2019). Since then, Indigenous people have perused higher education as a tool of emancipation and have contributed to the advancement of Indigenous peoples, communities, and scholarship more broadly. This emancipation involves the amplification of Indigenous voices as means to ensure that Indigenous perspectives and knowledges are not silenced (Bunda, 2017: 4). Indigenous peoples continue to make their presence and contributions to higher education known whilst simultaneously working to improve outcomes for Indigenous communities.

Resistance

For Indigenous academics, asserting Indigeneity is an act of resistance that can expose and unsettle the racist underpinnings of colonialism which continues to drive institutional disadvantage for Indigenous people. Resistance can disrupt existing governance structures, and whilst this may carry some emotional and professional toll, it is nonetheless a necessary part of being “change agents”, as expressed by Shay (2022: 145):

[W]hile I consider my Aboriginality as a gift, me naming and articulating my standpoint as an Aboriginal woman clearly is inherently an act of provocation (and perhaps, irritation) to a system that values and rewards western philosophies, ideals, and knowledges.

Indigenous academics – women especially – are often exoticised in ways where they are expected to assert their identities through their research and scholarship. This presupposition is rarely applied to non-Indigenous scholars, many of whom fail to unpack how their positionality and whiteness permeates through their thoughts, actions, research, and words (Bradfield, 2019). Despite Indigenous research being praised by many non-Indigenous people on account of it “beating the odds” – as if there is a normalised expectation that most Indigenous academics will fail – Indigenous research is commonly critiqued as being too autobiographical, not scholarly enough, or even “too white”. The Indigenous authors of this chapter have often had to rework their writing in ways that are marketable to broader academic audiences, or limit their work to Indigenous journals that are not as highly ranked (Fredericks, 2011b). The merits and contribution of our research is rarely recognised on its own terms (Gilbey and Bunda, 2017b). Our experiences often relate to those of Jackie Huggins who wrote how Indigenous academics are treated as being “too white to be Black and too Black to be white” (Huggins, 2022: 42-43). For Indigenous people, content is often judged in relation to its convergence or divergence from how Indigeneity is imagined by the white non-Indigenous hegemony and how this should be featured in scholarship, policy, and decision-making. This continues colonial practices of treating Indigenous peoples as possessions or subjects of a white gaze where non-Indigenous peoples retain the power to dictate the terms under which Indigenous people operate (Moreton-Robinson, 2000).

One example of how Indigenous scholarship is controlled relates to the discipline of Indigenous Studies, which is not always seen as a legitimate discipline for Indigenous academics who are often thought to “naturally” hold knowledge and methodologies on account of their Indigeneity. Indigenous Studies; Indigenous centres; and employment positions targeted specifically towards Indigenous people are areas where Indigenous people are often thought to “belong”. Accompanying this presumption is the notion that these are the areas where Indigenous peoples should remain. There are certainly examples of where and how Indigenous peoples become “trapped” in these areas of work. At the same time, non-Indigenous academics are praised and rewarded for their contributions to Indigenous topics, or participation on reconciliation boards and committees and often receive promotions for their efforts. The delegitimisation of Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous peoples means that Indigenous staff are not always supported by faculties and schools in attending Indigenous conferences and professional development events where research outputs, methodologies, and strategies can be shared amongst Indigenous academic peers.

Like Shay (2022), Fredericks (2011a) has also spoken on how her Aboriginality has been seen as an “irritation” to Western structures that prioritise white standpoints. When campaigning for the position as National President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), Fredericks had her Aboriginality questioned by the election panel who saw it as potentially conflicting with her ability to administer policy for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. In her response, Fredericks called the racism of the question out, for none of the non-Indigenous/white candidates were questioned on their ability to develop policy for Indigenous students, or any other cultural or social group for that matter. Indigenous grant applicants are similarly questioned on their research projects’ benefit to the wider (non-Indigenous) community and whether non-Indigenous people will be included. Cases such as these demonstrates the anxiety felt by many white people when Indigenous peoples attain positions of power. Assertions of authority from Indigenous peoples continue to be seen as threatening.

Some of the struggles faced by Indigenous women in universities are caused by the actions of non-Indigenous academics who “espouse notions of justice and equity” for Indigenous people whilst simultaneously engaging in behaviours that advance their own career pathways via silencing Indigenous peoples and white privileges (Fredericks, 2009b). Since colonisation, non-Indigenous academics have capitalised on Indigenous knowledges, epistemologies, and input, treating them as epistemological white possessions of the state – a practice that continues today. Indigenous peoples are regularly treated as “house pets” or “window dressers” (Mihesuah, 2004) meaning that they are publicly paraded to demonstrate the “authenticity” and “legitimacy” of a committee, research project, reconciliation action plan, or other strategic proposals that target Indigenous peoples.

Throughout their careers, both Fredericks and Bunda have been asked to sit and contribute to numerous bodies and committees for the benefit of the institution. This work is often labour intensive, demanding, and unpaid (Ward, 2022). When Fredericks once questioned why she was not being paid or compensated for her contributions to the development of Indigenous curriculum at a university (when other committee members were paid through their ongoing employment as university staff), it was met by silence (Fredericks, 2009a). Fredericks did not sit on that panel and was unfairly characterised as being “problematic” as a result, jeopardizing her working relationship with the institution. For Fredericks, it was an avid reminder that “the invitation [to participate on the committee] was on the university’s terms and just how easy it is for institutions such as universities to dispossess and exclude us and for them to maintain power and control” (Fredericks, 2009a: 9). For many Indigenous people, this can severely hinder or put an end to their career progression.

Although progress has been made within feminist discourse to promote equal opportunity and address the disadvantages and institutional barriers faced by women within the workplace, Indigenous women are often left out of the conversation (Moreton-Robinson, 2020). Gender equity initiatives have mostly benefited non-Indigenous women and have led to opportunities for their promotion and advancement. Yet, many non-Indigenous women have not used their status or platforms to advocate the rights and create pathways for Indigenous advancement. This is observed by Fredericks and White (2018: 246-7):

Few non-Indigenous women provide promotion or recruitment opportunities for Indigenous women in ways that enable Indigenous women to move through the ranks of the academy to senior roles and in this way they are complicit in the system that biases Indigenous women and maintains the stratified Indigenous workforce. It also further embeds women from the dominant culture as privileged over and above Indigenous women and participants in the ongoing subjugation of Indigenous women.

While non-Indigenous women speak broadly of the “glass ceiling”, for Indigenous women this is seen as being made of concrete or steel. Not only is the ceiling impenetrable, but the promotions beyond it are rarely visible. Resistance is an inevitable part of being an Indigenous woman within a patriarchal Western institution, but at the same time places unfair pressures and burdens on Indigenous women and can significantly impact careers. Many non-Indigenous people remain ignorant to the invisible power and normalised privilege bestowed upon them from universities, highlighting the need for wider recognition that universities are cultural interfaces where diversity and competing and complementing ideas exist.

Cultural interfaces

A public art project held at the University of Queensland [UQ] in 2014, titled Courting Blakness: Recalibrating Knowledge in the Sandstone University exposed many of the challenges faced by Indigenous people when working and studying in universities (Foley et al., 2015). The project involved eight Indigenous artists whose art installations on UQ’s Great Court amplified Indigenous knowledges and voices to pronounce Indigenous people’s presence within the university and reassert the university as being on Indigenous land. This collaboration demonstrates how universities continue to be contested interfaces where Indigenous and non-Indigenous standpoints intersect, and at times clash.

Whilst UQ supported and approved the project, the extent to which Indigenous voices were pronounced remained conditional. The university, for example, failed to provide renumeration which meant that funds had to be raised independently. Some of the faculties that provided financial support were hesitant to be involved out of fear that it would instigate “white anger” and “violent backlash” (Foley et al., 2019: 194), even as they were happy to be seen “supporting” an Indigenous event. The fear of compromising political alliances between the university and the Liberal/National government of the time led to the censorship of one art installation and an (unsuccessful) attempt to prevent Labor MP Linda Burney from opening the exhibition. Decision-making meetings were often held without the curators and director being present – some of whom had gained a reputation of being “difficult” (Foley et al., 2019). Labels depicting Indigenous women as “angry”, “defiant” and “problematic” are familiar reminders of the continuation of patriarchal coloniality that exists within the universities (Moreton-Robinson, 2000; Fredericks and Bradfield, 2021).

Foley’s experience with the project can be likened to that of many Indigenous women’s interactions in universities, where research is gatekept via institutional structures and the decisions of non-Indigenous personnel who dictate the conditions to which Indigenous scholarship is held (Fredericks, 2009a). The control maintained by non-Indigenous gatekeepers ensures that both content and the researchers who produce it do not threaten existing power structures (Mihesuah, 2004). As Shay (2016: 288) observes, this has far reaching ramifications on Indigenous scholarship for it defines and legitimises knowledge production, giving non-Indigenous peoples “the authority to control how knowledge about us is produced and re-produced”. Universities function as cultural interfaces where multiple “realities and connections to place” (Fredericks, 2015) exist. Despite attempts to eradicate Indigenous cultures and knowledges from the social environment or render Indigenous people as passive and powerless bystanders to colonial “progression”, Indigenous peoples continue to assert their attachment and connections to place.

A 2019 writers’ workshop Singing the court further documented Indigenous peoples’ experiences of studying and working in tertiary education (Fredericks, 2020). This workshop resulted in a piece of collaborative poetry from 15 Indigenous scholars whose work documents the complexities of navigating contested spaces where the beauty of Indigenous place collides with the imposed Western architecture and systems associated with colonialism. An extract from the poem reads:

Nature imprisoned by colonial tradition

Shadows and shapes paint the earth

Guarded by shadows of the past

Red, beauty, blossoms, blood

Institution seen past nature

See the forest for the trees

Blood on the walls

Continue-P/ Indigenising the university means confronting the institution’s colonial roots – the “blood on the walls” – so that the Eurocentric epistemologies, pedagogies, and methodologies that continue to disadvantage Indigenous peoples can be confronted. Scholars such as Nakata (2007) and Rigney (2006) have argued that Indigenising the university means recognising the plurality of knowledges and voices that exist within settler-colonial spaces and the interfaces where different ways of knowing, doing, and being come into contact (see also Bunda, 2014). It is within these interfaces that greater understandings of shared and differing interests can improve relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people as well as enhance research and academic rigor. Both Bunda and Fredericks have worked towards Indigenising curriculum in different universities across Australia, exposing Western epistemological privileges so that Indigenous content and pedagogies can be embedded across all faculties, boardrooms, and committees. It is often met with resistance as will be discussed in the next section.

Gatekeeping white sovereignty

Indigenous academics who teach courses in universities continue to experience resistance by non-Indigenous students and staff, particularly when their agency and authority as Indigenous educators is asserted. The inclusion of Indigenous content, preparation for engaging different Indigenous cultures, and interrogation of colonial history is seen by some students as a “waste of time”, or met by others with accusations that it makes white people feel guilty. In an extreme example, a group of non-Indigenous students once petitioned to have an Aboriginal Education Core subject discontinued on grounds that it was a violation of “equal opportunity” (Gilbey and Bunda, 2017a). The petition was not successful but nonetheless illustrates white entitlement and efforts to maintain white sovereignty.

Indigenous peoples’ characterisations of universities and tertiary education being “culturally unsafe” is not a dramatisation. In an anonymous evaluation of a compulsory core subject on Indigenous education, Bunda was once told by a non-Indigenous student that her teaching could be improved by her “dying” (Gilbey and Bunda, 2017a). Situated within a colonial history where the “solution” to the so-called “Indigenous problem” was through their eradication and genocide (McKenna, 2016), this racist comment – empowered by its anonymity – was a deliberate attempt to maintain white sovereignty through the dehumanisation, domination, and intimidation of Indigenous people.

Fredericks has also experienced what is, at best, cultural insensitivity, and at worst, a deliberate act to characterise Indigenous peoples as inferior. During her appointment as CAPA National President, Fredericks visited Western Australia which contained a large faction of delegates who voted against her appointment (Fredericks et al., 2014). On arrival, Fredericks was told that her accommodation was a converted cottage in the Old Fremantle Prison, a popular tourist site. Upon raising her concerns about staying in a location that epitomises colonial oppression and domination of Indigenous people, and particularly potent considering the number of Indigenous deaths in custody, some of the organisers were embarrassed by their neglect to consider its appropriateness. Others rallied against her, labelling Fredericks as difficult and making “too big an issue” out of it. In these cases, the students who petitioned against the Aboriginal core subject and the organisers who failed to consider or empathise with Indigenous history took on the position as gatekeepers of white supremacy whose actions can be likened to Mihesuah’s (2004: 32) characterisation of gatekeepers more broadly:

Gatekeepers rarely confront us to our faces; rather, they act out their frustrations behind the scenes through annual merit evaluations, promotion and tenure decisions, search and curriculum committees, and countless other academy portals through which they strike, do their damage, and plot the next attack.

It is within the spaces “behind the scenes” where decisions about Indigenous are made by committees and boards, but not with them. Hence, knowledge, resources, opportunities or “unspoken rules and pro¬cesses” are passed on to some but not others. This is known amongst Indigenous academics as the “secret academic business” of the university (Fredericks et al., 2019: 87). Indigenous peoples should not be excluded from contributing to the governance of universities. Whole-of-university reforms therefore are needed so that executive leaderships positions on decision-making boards are made available to Indigenous women and men, initiating change top-down.

Culturally safe spaces

To begin to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers and educators, capacity building is needed amongst Indigenous scholars across all faculties, schools, departments, and within executive structures. The success that Fredericks and Bunda have personally achieved in their careers has been the result of the support they have received from other Indigenous peoples (both within the academy and communities more broadly). Through a shared commitment of re-empowerment, Indigenous leaders encourage others by sharing their knowledge, skills, and experiences of how to navigate what can be a hostile environment (Fredericks et al., 2023b). Indigenous scholars at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies unit (ATSIS) at UQ are therefore working towards building and engraining a capacity building program that will provide new and emerging researchers with access to mentorship, training, and support (Fredericks et al. 2021). This builds on the legacy of other research and writing projects that both Fredericks and Bunda have led and been involved in (e.g Brien and Fredericks, 2020).

To build the confidence and skills of emerging Indigenous scholars, more spaces and opportunities for collaboration and networking are needed so that career pathways may be established. Capacity building programs such as Tiddas showin’ up, talkin’ up, and puttin’ up – which was exclusively led and run by Indigenous women – provide culturally safe spaces where Indigenous women can discuss and unpack the components, and challenges of navigating the Western academy. Such culturally safe spaces are integral to building successful academic careers. The Tiddas program (held in 2007 and 2008) involved four full day workshops that were not only beneficial to participants’ academic progression, but like other programs targeted towards Indigenous peoples, aimed to provide scholars with a stronger sense of their “human worth”, identity, and capability as strong Indigenous women (Andersen et al., 2008). The Tiddas program re-empowered Indigenous scholars,

rebuilding and reviving Indigenous women’s spiritual and cultural practices, accompanied by healing. Part of the strength of this re-empowerment has been the reclaiming of power and the Indigenous women’s domain by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (Fredericks and White, 2011).

As universities exist on Indigenous country, the reclamation of Indigenous sovereignty also means reclaiming the space as partly a “women’s domain.” Indigenous cultural traditions have long had gendered knowledge systems with designated men’s and women’s sites where kin gather to learn and reflect on their law, roles, expectations, and experiences (Fredericks et al., 2017). This is recognised in the final report of the Tiddas program,

Indigenous women were economically independent and played important roles within traditional Aboriginal society. They were acknowledged as the main food providers and primary care-givers and teachers of the children; they practiced healing and contributed to the spiritual lives of their communities (Bunda and White, 2009: 12).

Gendered spaces for Indigenous women (but also men who face their own challenges), similar to the one created by Tiddas, can aid Indigenous women’s experience and contributions to the academy. Additional support and funding are needed to ensure their longevity to enable them to become part of the university’s core business rather than one-off events dependent on competitive and time-limited grants.

Our interactions with Indigenous students as well as the personal experiences of Fredericks and Bunda have demonstrated that the university is often a place where Indigenous people are unable to see themselves (Fredericks et al., 2023a), or are environments where they feel unwelcomed. Negative interactions with non-Indigenous staff whose knowledge of Indigenous cultures and lived experiences is lacking, non-existent, or disregarded, can discourage students from accessing support which can impact academic results and retention. Past strategies that have focused on improving Indigenous enrolment rates have now shifted towards retention as Indigenous students continue to struggle to complete degrees due to cultural and socioeconomic factors (Universities Australia, 2022).

Indigenous support centres are cultural hubs that provide spaces where Indigenous students and staff can collaborate and access resources, mentoring, affirmation, and support networks to improve experiences within universities, as well as advance career pathways. Studies have shown that universities with established Indigenous support centers achieve better completion rates compared to those that do not have them (Fredericks et al., 2022). This suggests that creating supportive and culturally safe and affirming environments where relationships are nurtured over the entirety of a student’s education is an important component of closing the gaps in tertiary education, employment, and other target areas.

Support centres and Indigenous offices however can become overburdened with “cultural load” where staff are requested to conduct and advise on tasks such as Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country, as well as other duties beyond their resourcing and capability (Ward, 2022). While integrating Indigenous protocols that help build relationships and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are welcomed, the lack of initiative taken by some schools and faculties raises questions about the extent to which they are committed to improving outcomes for Indigenous people, and signal the disproportionately small number of Indigenous staff they employ. When faculties do employ Indigenous staff, they are often the only person who identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and are treated as the sole authority for all matters “Indigenous”. The expectation that Indigenous staff should conduct duties beyond their job description, or purely on account of their Indigeneity, is an unfair and racialised burden not placed on, or expected of, non-Indigenous white staff. It maintains colonial sentiments that Indigenous peoples are single-minded and homogenous, failing to recognise the diversity of cultures and that a single person cannot, nor has the authority to, speak for others.

Indigenous staff at the ATSIS unit at UQ have recognised the importance of Indigenous leadership, whilst highlighting how the burden of cultural load can be lessened through the employment of additional Indigenous staff across all areas of the university. Elsewhere, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff from the ATSIS unit have written on how “Indigenous staff, and in particular, Indigenous academic staff, need to be able to engage in teaching, research and scholarship and contribute to the development of the higher education sector in ways that many non-Indigenous academic staff do not” (Fredericks et al., 2021: 8). This requires greater support from universities and the “cross fertilization of ideas and learnings between Indigenous centre staff, staff from other areas of the university, and cross-institutionally” (Andersen et al., 2008).

Indigenous scholars who work in the academy have little option but to work within existing structures and paradigms. Indigenous peoples have always forged their own spaces to provide safety and solitude from institutional pressures and structural racism (Fredericks and Bradfield, 2021). Systemic changes and reforms however are needed from within the institution itself, necessitating the support and involvement of non-Indigenous people. Capacity building programs such as Tiddas can greatly improve the awareness and cultural competency of non-Indigenous peoples (Fredericks and White, 2011). This is demonstrated by Emmitt who wrote on how Tiddas “increased my awareness of the issues that impact on Indigenous women academics today and strengthened my resolve to do more from a Faculty of Education perspective to develop awareness of Indigenous issues” (in Fredericks and White, 2011: 98). While we welcome the awareness of the issues, it must be backed with practical actions that address the root cause of the problem; institutional racism. Building capacity amongst Indigenous staff must be a long-term commitment, and appropriate “time to consider how we can draw on the power of diverse Indigenous knowledges and build a sustainable cohort of Indigenous researchers that can contribute to a research-intensive university and benefit Indigenous communities” needs to be provided (Fredericks et al., 2021: 7). Greater responsibility and accountability of the university also needs to occur. Improving cultural competency is one way that awareness of colonialism and institutional racism can be exposed, with aim of provoking meaningful reform.

Cultural competency

Over recent years there has been increased focus on improving non-Indigenous people’s cultural literacy through awareness courses known by names such as cultural competence, safety, sensitivity, humility, and capability (Fredericks and Bargallie, 2020b, Fredericks and Bargallie, 2020a). Whilst we welcome building the skillsets to navigate intercultural and settler-colonial spaces, cultural courses must nonetheless be met with some caution lest they become another means of controlling narratives about the so-called exotic Indigenous “other”. Cultural training cannot provide quick fixes to the deeply embedded structural problems of colonialism. Its effectiveness becomes compromised if not executed in collaboration with Indigenous peoples, informed by Indigenous theories or methodologies (Moreton-Robinson, 2000), or organised so that participants are encouraged to interrogate their positionality in relation to Indigenous lived experiences. Otherwise, such programs can quickly become self-gratuitous and tokenistic. Engaging Indigenous standpoints means recognising the cultural interface, securing Indigenous agency, and confronting the tensions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations.

Cultural competency transcends preconceived notions of Indigenous culture and encourages participants to focus inwardly and reflexively engage their own cultural identity. Within universities, this means unpacking the historical context of the institution whilst considering how its structures, governing frameworks, and epistemologies privilege white people. In other words, competency involves recognising race as a component of the university’s history, foundation, and continuing structures. While confronting the notion of white privilege can cause some discomfort (Moreton-Robinson, 2000) such emotions should not lead to disengagement or be interpreted as accusatory or antagonistic.

In our careers we have observed how many white and non-Indigenous peoples often embrace the aesthetically pleasing components of Indigenous cultures – such as Welcomes to Country or Acknowledgements to Country, along with song and dance, smoking ceremonies and Indigenous artwork, or even by wearing items of clothing with Indigenous designs – yet are less willing to engage the more challenging work around race. When confronted with knowledge that exposes colonial power, or challenges Eurocentricity, and racism, it is often met with resistance or denial.

At the University of Queensland, all staff are required to complete two (out of a possible ten) modules of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Core Cultural Learning course. The purpose of the training is to increase awareness of some of the fundamental issues surrounding Indigenous/non-Indigenous cultures, histories, and interactions. Whilst the training alone will not reconcile relations or undo past and present wrongs, when used in conjunction with strategic action plans^[2], a foundation is laid on which structural reforms may be built by and with Indigenous people. Strategies and documents such as these, help guide non-Indigenous staff by providing foundational knowledge, measurable targets, and visions for the future. The responsibility to bring them to fruition, however, remains the commitment of all staff. Cultural competency therefore is most effective when it encourages transformative knowledge where insights are brought back to schools, faculties, and executive structures who can implement reforms to policy. This process needs to be ongoing. Indigenous academics who teach courses in universities continue to experience resistance by non-Indigenous students and staff, particularly when their agency and authority as Indigenous educators is asserted. The inclusion of Indigenous content, preparation for engaging different Indigenous cultures, and interrogation of colonial history is seen by some students as a “waste of time”, or met by others with accusations that it makes white people feel guilty. In an extreme example, a group of non-Indigenous students once petitioned to have an Aboriginal Education Core subject discontinued on grounds that it was a violation of “equal opportunity” (Gilbey and Bunda, 2017a). The petition was not successful but nonetheless illustrates white entitlement and efforts to maintain white sovereignty.

Conclusion

Indigenous women continue to face numerous challenges that obstruct their career pathways and opportunities for promotions to senior leadership positions and research roles within Australian universities. Whilst many of these relate to socio-cultural factors such as obligations to family or entering tertiary education later in life, these challenges primarily arise out of a context of colonialism and institutional racism stemming from Eurocentric worldviews and notions of white possession. Indigenous women and men have always been integral to universities, whether through maintaining the land on which they are built, occupying service roles as cleaners, cooks, or landscapers, or contributing to research as academics and educators. Despite efforts to silence Indigenous people and exclude them from positions of authority, Indigenous women continue to gain positions in universities and play vital roles. As the capacity and confidence of Indigenous women continues to grow, so does the pressure for institutions to listen and respond to Indigenous peoples and their concerns. Indigenous academics are asserting their identities on their own terms, pushing back on colonial structures, and acting as agents of change. The will, tenacity, and forbearance of Indigenous women however is not enough to create the systemic reforms needed to close the gap on the disparities that continue to plague higher education. Moreover, this should not be the sole responsibility and burden of Indigenous women and Indigenous peoples. It is the responsibility of all of those within universities. As cultural interfaces, universities must work in partnership with Indigenous people and listen to Indigenous peoples’ concerns; acknowledge colonial history; confront white privilege; and create culturally safe spaces where capacity can be built and opportunities to govern and lead can materialize and transform universities.

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Notes

1. The Authors note the cultural and historical distinction between the diverse language groups of Australia’s mainland and its surrounding islands, who are known as Aboriginal, and the communities of the Torres Strait. Unless otherwise indicated, we use the collective term “Indigenous” to refer to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. ↑

2. As with many universities, the University of Queensland has implemented an array of strategic plans to help the university become a more inclusive space for Indigenous peoples. These include a Reconciliation Action Plan to harbour reconciliation through the integration of Indigenous knowledges; a Research and Innovation Strategy to advance ethical and responsible research; an Employment Strategy to improve outcomes in employment, career development and support; and a Design Framework to shape the built and landscape environments into spaces that recognise Indigenous history, culture values, and excellence. ↑