This Indigenous-led project addresses one of the most foundational and enduring gender justice issues for the Australian nation – reparations for colonisation – from the standpoint of First Nations women and girls. The strength of this project lies in its novel and highly innovative use of desire-based frameworks and Indigenous methods of storywork (through art) and yarning to redress the historic exclusion of First Nations women’s voices and stories from scholarship and practice of reparative justice. This project will reshape scholarly understandings of reparative justice by co-designing with First Nations women new practices of reparations which are embedded in Indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

Key aims and contributions
This Indigenous-led project addresses one of the most foundational and enduring gender justice issues for the Australian nation – reparations for colonisation – from the standpoint of First Nations women and girls. It commissions First Nations women and girls to create artwork that shares their desires for reparative justice and visions for more just futures in Australia which will be celebrated in a national exhibition. This project aims to reshape scholarly understandings of reparative justice by co-designing with the artists new practices of reparations which are embedded in Indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

Why this work matters
The strength of this project lies in its novel and highly innovative use of desire-based frameworks and Indigenous methods of storywork (through art) and yarning to redress the historic exclusion of First Nations women and girl’s voices and stories from scholarship and practice of reparative justice. By amplifying their voices, this project empowers First Nations women and girls to participate in decision making about reparative justice and advances Indigenous self-determination.
 

Project Team

ANU researchers: Associate Professor Elfie Shiosaki (project lead, Crawford School of Public Policy) - Associate Professor Elise Klein (Crawford School of Public Policy) - Dr Lillian Tait (POLIS: The Centre for Social Policy Research)

External Collaborators

Donna Oxenham (Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together, UWA) - Damien Miller (University of Melbourne) - Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together Towards 2029 and Beyond - Elders from Ngalakgan Country - Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity - Beyond Development Working Group