Fear and Assuagement: Representations and engagements of First Nations' Peoples across national museum spaces - Sandy O'Sullivan (9 Mar 16)

Imagine you're doing a multi-year Australian Research Council-funded project on the representation of First Peoples in national museum spaces,  and you've already visited 150 (of the eventual 462) museums over three countries. Suddenly you find your work grinding to a halt because of a major sticking point for your participants. In this presentation, there will be a discussion of some of the key moments that led to this and the solutions that finally restarted the conversations and the research.

The project, now in final write-up, began as a way to identify effective representations and engagements of First Nations' Communities and Peoples in the leading museum spaces of their own countries.  The research asked a single question of staff of the visited museums: what works? This presentation focused on some of the stories and ideas that have emerged from this question, and highlighted the difficulties that some museums have in dealing with their own reductive ideas around identity.

The seminar was followed by a YARNING CIRCLE

The 'Yarning Circle' was a chance to have an informal chat with Sandy. The Yarning Circle focused on First Nations' research in the context of exchange and engagement across institutions and communities nationally and internationally. Discussion covered international and national contexts relevant to both specific and the broader research areas, as well as opportunities for engagement.

Slides from this presentation will be available for download shortly.

Dr Sandy O'Sullivan is an Aboriginal (Wiradjuri) academic, and Director of the Centre for Collaborative First Nations' Research at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in the Northern Territory. She has a PhD in Fine Art and Performance, and for the last 23 years has taught across performance, design and First Nations' perspectives. Sandy is an enduring Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow, is completing an internationally-focused Australian Research Council program examining the representation and engagement of First Peoples across 450 museums, and is committed to supporting positive outcomes for both museums and other keeping places.