Assessment item 1 - Reflections

Part A:

You can complete this after doing the learning activities from Topic 1 & 2

Using your required reading from Module 1, Topic 1 'Reflecting on a Way of Being: Anchor Principles of Cultural Competence' (Russell, 2020), reflect on your own positioning using the following prompts:

• What do you know / not know about Indigenous Australian peoples and communities?

• Where and/or from whom did that knowledge come?

• What do you know / not know about Australian culture and history?

• Can you identify any limitations to what you know?

• Drawing on your reflection on the previous questions, consider which ‘anchor principles’ (Social Justice, Knowing Self, Re-storying, Action) you most identify with.

How do these principles relate to your understanding of your own positioning?

Part B:

You can complete this during Topic 3

Locate a media article which relates to Indigenous peoples, knowledges or cultures and which aligns with your current interests or understandings – provide a link to the article as your heading (some articles will be provided in the subject site as examples). No other sources are required for Part B.

The media is an example of a powerful institution which shapes our knowledge. Incorporate these prompt questions into a synthesised reflection:

• Thinking about your knowledge of Australian history, does the author provide all the information required to understand the issue being discussed? What information is missing?

• Is there a presumption that readers already hold views about Indigenous peoples? What are the taken-for-granted assumptions?

• What would a reader infer about the relationship between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples based on the text of the article? How are Indigenous and non- Indigenous people positioned in the article? (e.g., is there a social or cultural norm evident? Are Indigenous peoples constructed as different to or divergent from the norm?)

• Is there an Indigenous viewpoint included in the article? If yes, how does the author use Indigenous perspectives to support or contradict the main message? If no, how could this influence a readers' perception of Indigenous people and of the main message in the article?

Russell G. (2020). Reflecting on a Way of Being: Anchor Principles of Cultural Competence. In J. Frawley, G. Russell & J. Sherwood (Eds.), Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Sector (pp. 31-42). Singapore: Springer.