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Notions of reconciliation and treaty should be treated as ongoing journeys rather than destinations, summit hears
Reconciliation statements can be a “get-out-of-jail-free card” that absolves universities of obligations to work more meaningfully with Indigenous communities, the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit has heard.
Shaun Ewen, pro vice-chancellor (place and Indigenous) at the University of Melbourne, said reconciliation in the Australian context had proven “helpful to a point” but had “got in the way of some action”.
“There are foundational things [that] we can and should be doing…around land recognition, access to higher education, acknowledgement in curricula, research processes, ethics and so on,” he told the event.
Professor Ewen said meetings in Australia often began with acknowledgement-of-country ceremonies. “Terrific. Then what?
“Everyone likes a good performance, but how do we [get beyond] the performative aspects of acknowledgement, and move to...