Introduction to Indigenous Australia: Peoples, Places and Philosophies – Final Essay

You are required to submit a 1,500 word academic essay by Monday the 4th of October 2021 midnight. This essay should provide a scholarly overview of the topic and a deep reflection of your learning experience.

Essay Question:
“From you reading so far of Indigenous worldviews, philosophies and perspectives, define Indigenous relationality. Discuss what you learnt about Indigenous people in this unit and how this relates to your own understanding of self. Reflect on how this might be applied in your professional career at the completion of your degree”.

• The assessment is designed to assist you to reflect/’see’ how your learning has been developed over time.
• References: minimum of at least 6 academic sources, plus any non-academic references of your choice. 

Minimum 4 have to be from essential weekly readings (provided PDF’s).

Minimum 2 have to be from outside the course readings/content (find your own).

Suggested Essay Structure to answer this question:

1. Introduction:
   Who you are (Aleksandar Uzelac 18 years old, student at Western Sydney University, first year studying a Batcheler of Criminology), what this course was about (Class name - Introduction to Indigenous Australia: Peoples, Places and Philosophies 102815). Define the concept of Indigenous relationality and discuss why this is important to the Indigenous worldview. Briefly describe your own relationship to learning about Indigenous Australia and the experience of learning this content.
2. Background/Body:
   Outline the key points on the topics/subject matter discussed and explored in each week. Unpack key points of each week using scholarly references - peer reviewed literature. Relate it back to Indigenous relationality. Some of the weekly learning module topics 1: Why Indigenous Social Sciences Matters? 2: Indigenous Worlds, Land Country and Kinship. 3: A historical timeline: Race and Settler Colonialism in the global South. 4: Contemporary Indigenous Identities, Racialisation and Intersectionality. 5: Interrogating Close the Gap and other policies in relation to Indigenous Peoples.

3. Define what you learnt about Indigenous people. Describe the key characteristics of Indigenous relationality.

4. Describe what you learnt about yourself. Relate it back to Indigenous relationality.

5. Conclusion:
   Synthesis this and where you are now. Relate it back to Indigenous relationality. Include points that discuss the significance of this for the future, in your professional field of practice after your degree or in other contexts (police work).