Outline

Overview

Globally, Indigenous peoples have challenged museums, heritage agencies and professional practitioners over issues of ownership, control, management, display and interpretation of Indigenous culture, history and cultural property. We will examine how Indigenous communities, scholars and practitioners are decolonising museum and heritage practices and spaces.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Archaeology
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Tristen Jones, tristen.jones@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Participation	Participation Active participation and written positionality statement.	10%	Week 05	250 words
Outcomes assessed:
Presentation	Presentation Presentation on an Indigenous heritage issue	10%	Week 05	10 minutes
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Blog Instructions will be posted on the Canvas site	35%	Week 07	2000 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Essay Essay topics and instructions will be posted on the Canvas site.	45%	Week 08	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Work of exceptional standard. Written work demonstrates initiative and ingenuity in research and reading; pointed and critical analysis of material; innovative interpretation of evidence, makes an insightful contribution to historical debate; engages with values, assumptions and contested meanings contained within original evidence, develops abstract or theoretical arguments on the strength of detailed research and interpretation. Properly documented; writing characterised by creativity, style, and precision
Distinction	75 - 84	Work of a superior standard. Written work demonstrates initiative in research and reading, complex understanding and original analysis of subject matter and its context, both empirical and theoretical; makes a good attempt to ‘get behind’ the evidence and engage with its underlying assumptions, takes a critical, interrogative stance in relation to historical argument and interpretation, shows critical understanding of the principles and values underlying the unit. Properly documented; writing characterised by style, clarity, and some creativity
Credit	65 - 74	Competent work, although further development is needed. Written work contains evidence of comprehensive reading, offers synthesis and critical evaluation of material on its own terms, takes a position in relation to various interpretations. In addition, it shows some extra spark of insight or analysis. Demonstrates good selection of evidence, coherent and sustainable argument, some evidence of independent thought, grasp of relevant museology or studies in cultural heritage.
Pass	50 - 64	Work of a satisfactory standard. Written work meets basic requirements in terms of reading and research, and demonstrates a reasonable understanding of subject matter. Offers a synthesis of relevant material and shows a genuine effort to avoid paraphrasing, has a logical and comprehensible structure and acceptable documentation, and attempts to mount an argument though there may be weaknesses in particular areas.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Week 1 Friday 25 February 2022: Theme: Theory and Practice in Heritage and Museums – Decolonisation, Indigenous sovereignty and ethical practice 1. Introduction and unit of study overview. 2. Framing - issues, terms and concepts. 3. Practical in class activity – positionality reflections. 4. Decolonising Practices – case studies from the field on decolonising practices in a settler-colonial context from heritage and museums projects.	Block teaching (5 hr)
Week 02	Week 2 Friday 4 March 2022: Theme: Theory and Practice in Heritage and Museums - Repatriation 1. Problematising archaeology and truth telling – legacies of colonisation, collecting and the theft of human remains and sacred objects 2. Etched in Bone film and group discussion 3. Repatriation in Australia – current programs and issues	Block teaching (5 hr)
Week 03	Week 3 Friday 11 March 2022: Theme: Decolonising the Museum – 1. Revisiting decolonisation in a museum context – Understanding the histories of collecting. What does ‘decolonisation’ in practice look like? How ‘decolonised’ are our museums? Class Discussion 2. Australian Museum fieldtrip	Block teaching (5 hr)
Week 04	Week 4 Friday 18 March 2022: Theme: Managing Country Indigenous Heritage Practice in Australia 1. Caring for Country, contemporary archaeology and Indigenous heritage land management practice with case studies 2. Njanjma Rangers – How Rangers and Working for Country are safeguarding Indigenous heritage 3. Australian Indigenous archaeologists and the current issues in managing Country	Block teaching (5 hr)
Week 05	Week 5 Friday 25 March 2022 1. Class presentations and discussion 2. Reconciled futures?	Block teaching (3 hr)
Week 06	Week 6. Friday 1st April: Fieldtrip Waverton Coal Loader Indigenous heritage in metropolitan landscapes. Review of course and final discussion	Block teaching (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold. If a unit of study has a participation mark, your attendance may influence this mark.
Lecture recordings: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on Canvas. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Reading List for MHST6913 Indigenous Museum and Heritage

Week 1 Friday 25 February 2022

Required Reading: Decolonisation

Smith, C. and Wobst, H.M. eds., 2004. Indigenous archaeologies: decolonising theory and practice. Routledge. Chapters 1, 2

Atalay, Sonya. Community-based archaeology. University of California Press, 2012. Chapter 1

Smith, L.T., 2021. Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed Books Ltd..

Required reading: Settler colonialism

Konishi, S., 2019. First nations scholars, settler colonial studies, and indigenous history. Australian Historical Studies, 50(3), pp.285-304.

Veracini, L., 2011. Introducing: Settler colonial studies. Settler colonial studies, 1(1), pp.1-12.

Wolfe, P., 2006. Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native. Journal of genocide research, 8(4), pp.387-409.

Required reading: Indigenous sovereignty

Smith, L., 2006. ‘THE ISSUE IS CONTROL’: INDIGENOUS POLITICS AND THE DISCOURSE OF HERITAGE. In Uses of Heritage (pp. 290-312). Routledge.

Required reading: Ethical research practice

Kwaymullina, A., 2016. Research, ethics and Indigenous peoples: An Australian Indigenous perspective on three threshold considerations for respectful engagement. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 12(4), pp.437-449.

AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research, 2020 www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/ethical-research/code-ethics

Muhammad, M., Wallerstein, N., Sussman, A.L., Avila, M., Belone, L. and Duran, B., 2015. Reflections on researcher identity and power: The impact of positionality on community based participatory research (CBPR) processes and outcomes. Critical Sociology, 41(7-8), pp.1045-1063.

Week 2 Friday 4 March 2022

Required Reading: Human remains

Turnbull, P., 2020. International repatriations of Indigenous human remains and its complexities: the Australian experience. Museum and Society, 18(1), pp.6-19.

Pickering, M., 2020. A repatriation handbook: a guide to repatriating Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestral Remains. Accessed online, https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/734796/NMA-Repatriation-handbook.pdf

Required Reading: Material culture

Hicks, D 2020. A theory of taking in The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution. London: Pluto Press, pp.18-24.

Week 3 Friday 11 March 2022

Nugent, M. and Sculthorpe, G., 2018. A shield loaded with history: Encounters, objects and exhibitions. Australian Historical Studies, 49 (1), pp.28-43.

https://theconversation.com/we-identified-39-000-indigenous-australian-objects-in-uk-museums-repatriation-is-one-option-but-takes-time-to-get-right-172302

Kassim, S., 2017. The museum will not be decolonised. Media Diversified, 15, accessed online https://mediadiversified.org/2017/11/15/the-museum-will-not-be-decolonised/ https://vimeo.com/302162709

Turunen, J 2019, ‘Decolonising European minds through heritage’, International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 10, pp. 1-16.

Carty, J., 2019, October. To imagine an Australian museum. In Anthropological Forum (Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 384-396). Routledge.

German Museums Association 2021. Guidelines for German Museums for the Care of Collections from Colonial contexts, Berlin, accessed online https://www.museumsbund.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mb-leitfaden-en-web.pdf

Week 4 Friday 18 March 2022

Kakadu National Park Management Plan 2016-2026, ‘A living cultural landscape’, Australian Government Director of National Parks, Kakadu National Park Board of Management, accessed online, https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/1f88c5a3-409c-4ed9-9129-ea0aaddd4f33/files/kakadu-management-plan-2016-2026.pdf

An-Garregen: Strategy for cultural heritage management in Kakadu National Park 2012 – 2018.

McNaughton, D, Morrison, M and Schill, C 2016, “‘My Country is like my mother…’: respect, care, interaction and closeness as principles for undertaking cultural heritage assessments’, International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 415-433.

Kerins, S., 2012. Caring for country to working on country. In People on country: Vital landscapes, indigenous futures. The Federation Press.

Smyth, D., 2006. Indigenous protected areas in Australia. Parks, 16(1), pp.14-20.

Woodward, E., Hill, R., Harkness, P. and Archer, R., 2020. Our Knowledge Our Way in caring for Country: Indigenous-led approaches to strengthening and sharing our knowledge for land and sea management. Best Practice Guidelines from Australian Experiences.

Week 5 Friday 25 March 2022

Required Reading:

Griffiths, B, Russell, L & Roberts, R 2017, ‘Friday essay: when did Australia’s human history begin?, The Conversation, accessed online, https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-when-did-australias-human-history-begin-87251

Griffiths, B & Russel, L 2018, ‘What we were told: Responses to 65,000 years of Aboriginal history’, Aboriginal History Journal, vol. 42, accessed online, https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n4634/html/article02.xhtml?referer=&page=8

Week 6 Friday 1st April 2022

Required Reading:

Hinkson, M. and Harris, A., 2010. Aboriginal Sydney: A guide to important places of the past and present Second edition. Aboriginal Studies Press.

Attenbrow, V., 2010. Sydney's Aboriginal past: investigating the archaeological and historical records. Unsw Press.

Irish, P. and Goward, T., 2012. Where's the evidence? The archaeology of Sydney's Aboriginal history. Archaeology in Oceania, 47(2), pp.60-68.

Irish, P., 2017. Hidden in Plain View. University of New South Wales Press.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. appreciate key issues for Indigenous peoples in relation to the conservation, management and exhibition of cultural heritage
LO2. understand the history and current practices in relation to museums and heritage organisations working with Indigenous communities
LO3. revise and improve your skills in research, essay writing and presentation.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Class curriculum has been updated, reading list has been updated, assessment has been changed.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

MHST6913: Indigenous Museums and Heritage

Semester 1a, 2022 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect