1 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF GEOGRAPHERS LOS ANGELES MEETING, MARCH 2002 PANEL SESSION ACCESSING GEOGRAPHY II: INCLUSIONARY GEOGRAPHIES Friday March 22, 10-11.40 (Los Feliz Room) Worlds Turned Upside Down: inclusionary research in Australia Richie Howitt Associate Professor, Dept of Human Geography, Macquarie University, 2109, Australia richard.howitt@mq.edu.au The ‘ Inclusionary Geographies’ panel was briefed to consider how proj ects we’ ve been involved with ‘welcome Difference’ into our discipline. I initially considered talking about efforts at my university to open new pathways for indigenous participation in tertiary studies. 1 On reflection, however, I would rather discuss how we might pursue inclusionary geographies through research. In fact, I want to turn the opening question on its head and consider how we might approach research differently to reconstruct our discipline and its relationship with ‘Difference’. In particular I want to explore the requirements for decolonising geography. Starting points One of my starting points as a young geographer was privileged to be exposed to the idea of ‘Geographical Expeditions’ not only in a remote literature but also more directly through the work of Ron Horvath (eg Horvath 1971), who came to Australia as something of a refugee from the institutional backlash against the Geographical Expeditions’ efforts to forge inclusionary geographies in the 1960s. When I came across David Harvey’ s plea for an ‘ applied peoples’ geography’ (Harvey 1984) I found a label for what I was doing. Similarly, I needed no persuading to accept Doreen Massey’ s argument that ‘ geography matters’ (Massey 1984). But the academy is a major element in the construction of power and privilege. Academic institutions harness well-intentioned efforts to their own purposes. Indeed, coopting dissent, allowing a small space for difference while reinforcing the st at us quo of privilege is a defining characteristic of the liberal academy. The task of harnessing the opportunities provided by this discursive space in pursuing the core values of social j ustice, economic equity, ecological sustainability and the acceptance of cultural diversity has been a central element in my projects for inclusionary geographies. For most of my professional life, I have ‘ studied up’ (Nader 1984), working with Aboriginal people in Australia towards an effective critique of the mechanisms of indigenous marginalisation. Most of my research is framed within the Aboriginal domain in Australia, although I have generally been involved in analysis of dominant Australian cultures and institutions for Aboriginal people, 1 In 1999 I received a national teaching award with a substantial cash prize (Howitt 2000). Most of the money was allocated to developing the ‘Indigenous Pathways Program’ at Macquarie University. I have also been involved in a wonderful inclusionary program for indigenous students, the Advanced Diploma in Community Management. This program is in its tenth year, and has provided access to University education for several hundred Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indeed, one of the program’s graduates is currently completing her Masters under my supervision at the moment, and several more are studying in our mainstream geography programs. Programs such as the ADCM help to make the considerable resources of the University more accessible to indigenous peoples. By themselves, however, they are not enough.