[Anthropgrad] CAEPR Seminar 14 May Nicole Watson

[Katarina Ferro]

CAEPR Seminar
Wed 14 May 2008
AD Hope Bdg; Humanities Conference Rm
12.30-2pm

A comparative analysis of the influence of think tanks on indigenous 
policy in Australia and the USA

Nicole Watson (Research Fellow, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS)
 
*Abstract:* One of the defining characteristics of Indigenous policy 
during the Howard era was the emerging influence of conservative think 
tanks, and in particular, the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) and 
the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership (CYIPL). While this 
development mirrors other policy settings, there are some unique 
features of the ideologies espoused by CIS and CYIPL. Both appear to 
have a religious quest to transform Indigenous societies. I use the term 
'religious' because so much of what they advocate rests on faith as 
opposed to evidence, both use apocalyptic language to describe 
Indigenous communities and promise salvation for those who embrace their 
faith. It is within this quest that the beliefs that shaped Native 
American law and policy in the nineteenth century find resonance and in 
particular, the maxim that individual property rights are critical for 
the salvation of Indigenous people. Reforms to encourage the growth of 
individual property rights did not occur in isolation, but were 
implemented contemporaneously with measures to transform the social fabric.
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