This unit continues the inquiry with 'our/Western' ways of conceptualising the 'indigenous domain'. This approach is represented in three, thematic sub-units of the course.
Ways to Think Difference which considers current understandings and constructions of 'Otherness'. Many 'post-modern' theories are rejected by contemporary scholars because it is claimed that they merely 'deconstruct' earlier categorisations and classifications only to 're-construct' new ones. This is a very valid argument and we look at the ways in which this is done in various contexts. We also look at possible directions for current theory and speculate on possibilities for the way forward.
Re-making 'New People', 'New Places' is concerned with multiple cultural significations and the ways that Indigenous peoples represent the fluid nature of their identities, particularly through that most 'Western' of media, film and video.
We explore the ways that indigenous film and video offer 'us' views, not only of alternative perspectives of the world, but alternative perspectives of 'ourselves'. It is a rare and occasionally shocking thing to be confronted with visions of how 'others' see 'us'. It is equally confronting when 'we' realise how 'like us''others' sometimes choose to be.
Indigenous Film Makers as Political Activists follows through on the previous themes and looks at specific examples of how the intercultural representations of indigenous film-makers challenge 'Western' categorisations and governmentality, the systems controlling Indigenous peoples' lives in the present. 'We' ask who controls those representations? 'How can 'we' evaluate their outcomes'?
