Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Summit 2023

Researchers from the Department of Indigenous Studies recently held key roles as part of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Summit 2023. AIATSIS is Australia’s only national institution focused exclusively on the diverse history, cultures and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia.

From 5 to 9 June 2023, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, academics, native title stakeholders, legal experts, community and cultural sectors and government attended the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Summit 2023 to collaborate in addressing current and future challenges. This year’s theme, 'Navigating the spaces in between', recognised that it’s often in these in-between spaces that innovation and complexity can be found. Sessions focussed on the importance of relationships and connectivity, radical creativity, and how we can re-imagine futures.

Zac Roberts, Associate Lecturer and PhD Candidate from the Department of Indigenous Studies, was selected to deliver a keynote on the final day.

Zac’s keynote explored how Indigenous people can utilise settler repositories (like archives) to tell histories and create opportunities for the future. While archives are often places of trauma and harm for Indigenous people, they can be used to create places of healing and re-imagining of how the settler state has established “the Indigenous” as a category of knowledge. Zac’s keynote drew inspiration from his current PhD, which uses both archive material and oral histories to explore the ways Indigenous and Jewish communities in Australia have interacted and formed relationships with each other since 1788.

“Our communities are more than what these institutions have categorised us as, and my keynote explored some of these themes and how we can utilise the spaces in-between settler knowledges to re-claim our own knowledges, histories, and identities,” says Zac.

“The AIATSIS Summit was a really fantastic opportunity to engage with people from across different industries and connect or re-connect with people. It was my first time delivering a keynote, and I’m glad this was the place I got to have that experience.”

Noeleen Lumby, Early Career Research Fellow in Indigenous Strategy and PhD candidate in the Department of Indigenous Studies, was selected as a member of the AIATSIS Languages Advisory Committee. The Committee is made up of Indigenous people across Australia, and Noeleen will hold an advisory role providing key advice and recommendations on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

“I’m really excited about being part of the AIATSIS Languages Advisory Committee, providing advice on an important initiative during a significant time as we acknowledge the Decade of Indigenous Languages,” says Noeleen.

Dr Jo Anne Rey, Research Fellow in the Department of Indigenous Studies, was also invited to present during the third day of the Summit, sharing reflections and progress on her post-doctoral research ‘Walking in between: A journey activating Dharug Ngurra/country-as-city.’ Jo’s presentation focused on the historic journey being led by Dharug women and allies to undertake the first cultural burn at the site known as Brown’s Waterhole, Lane Cove National Park.

“Presenting at the AIATSIS summit was exciting because it brings Dharug cultural practice, rejuvenation and knowledges into the frame of other activism being undertaken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the continent. It alerts everyone to the fact that Sydney is still Dharug Ngurra and needs custodial connecting, caring and belonging for the benefit of all sentient beings, especially in a climate changing context,” says Jo.