Serious Whitefella Stuff: When solutions became the problem in Indigenous affairs

Description

"With individual chapters by Alyson Wright and Paul Memmott." How does Indigenous policy signed off in Canberra work-or not-when implemented in remote Aboriginal communities? Mark Moran, Alyson Wright and Paul Memmott have extensive on-the-ground experience in this area of ongoing challenge. What, they ask, is the right balance between respecting local traditions and making significant improvement in the areas of alcohol consumption, home ownership and revitalising cultural practices? Moran, Wright and Memmott have spent years dealing with these pressing issues. Serious Whitefella Stuff tells their side of this complex Australian story.

Professor Mark Moran leads the Development Effectiveness group at the Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland. His career spans academia, not-for-profit organisations, government and consultancy work. Mark has a unique background of technical and social science research with a degree in civil engineering and a PhD in human geography and planning. He has worked in Indigenous communities in Australia, USA and Canada, and in developing communities in Lesotho, China, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Bolivia. He was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 1997 and The University of Queensland Dean's Commendation for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis in 2006. His writing has appeared in The Australian and Griffith Review.

If you want to help, you should read Serious Whitefella Stuff.' - Noel Pearson 'This book reminds us that the dance between policy and practice is an awkward one, and that change is tough to achieve and sustain. Mark Moran and his colleagues offer both chastening experiences and some pointers to how more systemic change could happen.'-Tim Costello