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  Program: pre-conference workshop program  
  Relevance, resistance and responsibility: teaching and learning with indigenous knowledges in universities
 
  Facilitators: Katrina Thorpe, Leah Lui, Arthur Smith, Peter Minter, Dennis Foley & Michelle Blanchard,
The Koori Centre, The University of Sydney, Australia
Professor Patricia Maringi Johnston, Te Whare Wananga O Awanuiarangi, New Zealand
 
       
  Drawing on our teaching and learning experiences in the Koori Centre and at Te Whare Wananga O Awanuiarangi, this workshop explores the pedagogies of indigenous knowledges we see being put to work around us, imputed upon us, and across universities more broadly. As academics, we are often asked to provide advice on appropriate strategies to support indigenous students' learning, or to work in different disciplinary areas to include indigenous perspectives, or to consult with our academic colleagues in cultural awareness training. In this workshop, we want to move beyond this 'perspective' approach, and other similar tendencies which work to shore up singular or static conceptions of indigeneity. Instead, we want to explore how we can recuperate or reinstate the view that indigenous knowledges, like all others must be put to work as contested knowledge in order to prepare our students to participate fully in civic life. To this end, we want to ask the following questions:
 
     
  What does it mean to work with indigenous knowledges in higher education? Why are these knowledges relevant?

 
  What sorts of teaching and learning spaces and communities do we need to create in order for indigenous knowledges to flourish? What are we to make of the resistances we encounter?
 
  What are the responsibilities of the higher education sector to indigenous peoples and communities?
 
       
  These questions are not about a denial of the particularity, place and strength of indigenous knowledges, rather - they are our attempt to situate the complexity of indigenous peoples' and communities' experiences as they respond to and intersect with Western knowledge systems. This is particularly relevant for the way we work across both our indigenous and university communities. This workshop will be of interest to all those who want to engage openly and critically in a discussion of the ways in which indigenous knowledges are put to work pedagogically. It will also be useful for those grappling with the integration of indigenous issues in their curricula; for those working with indigenous students, and for those who want to work toward a more ethically and socially responsible higher education system.
 
       
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