Looking forward looking black: making the case for a radical rethink of strategies for success in Indigenous higher education

Chelsea Bond; Mark Brough; Bryan Mukandi; Shannon Springer; Deborah Askew; Janet Stajic

doi:10.1017/jie.2020.13

Authors

Chelsea Bond School of Social Sciences, The University of Queensland
Mark Brough Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology
Bryan Mukandi Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
Shannon Springer Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University
Deborah Askew Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
Janet Stajic Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2020.13

Keywords:

Health workforce, higher education, Indigenous health, Indigenous knowledges, sovereignty

Abstract

This study takes a retrospective look at the educational experiences of Indigenous health professionals who graduated from The University of Queensland's Indigenous Health Program between 1994 and 2005, to understand the enablers for growing an Indigenous health workforce capable of advancing the health of Indigenous peoples. Drawing on the qualitative accounts of 31 students and 9 staff members, this paper examines the enablers to educational success at this time, juxtaposed against current Indigenising agendas in higher education, of aspiration and capacity building alongside the task of embedding Indigenous knowledges within curricula. We look back not as a call to return to Indigenous-specific cohort courses but rather reconsider both the measures of and strategies for success in Indigenous higher education, within health and beyond, interrogating the ideological assumptions that inform them.

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