Justice in Indigenous Land Claims: A Typology of Problems

Different understandings of indigeneity have been used to justify who receives reparations or acknowledgment of historic injustices in white settler nations. This article seeks to interrogate definitions of indigeneity used in contemporary Australian land claims, with the aim of challenging the state’s legislative and judicial responses to indigenous Australians. Drawing on key legislative and judicial responses to indigenous Australians since the 1970s, I identify and analyze five problems generated by these responses: the problem of evidence, the problem of articulation, the problem of authenticity, the problem of character and the problem of legitimacy. Naming and characterizing these problems indicates the extent to which injustices against indigenous Australians are perpetuated through discourses based on poorly constructed legal definitions. It also generates certain ethical responses, such as the necessity for a more critical assessment of the role of the state in shaping discourses around indigeneity. I argue that identifying and addressing these five problems might result in recognizing indigenous alterities in ways that will engender new practices of justice. To the Australian courts … the Yorta Yorta peoples were not sufficiently Aboriginal to get one square meter of what was left over after the whites had taken all that they wanted. (Pearson 2003, 2)</p

Women in the Academy: Key studies on gender in political science

Despite significant advances in women's status in political science departments in New Zealand and internationally, women remain underrepresented in the profession. This review article discusses five factors that are identified in the literature as problems for women's progression in political science: the double bind, gender devaluation, the 'chilly climate', the culture of research and the chronological crunch. The specific causes of these factors and the extent of their impact on women's status and performance in the discipline have not yet been fully established. A review of the international political science literature, however, reveals a growing dedication both to identifying the key variables impacting on women's success in political science and to advancing strategies that might improve the status of women in the profession. I suggest that New Zealand's political science community should make similar commitments in order to more effectively reduce gender gaps in the presence, status and outcomes of female scholars across the discipline. © 2013 The Author(s)

The Subversive Potential of Wikipedia: A Resource for Diversifying Political Science Content Online

Copyright © American Political Science Association 2020. Wikipedia is a powerful tool that reinforces dominant knowledge paradigms, especially those emanating from the Global North. Simultaneously, it has subversive potential to challenge these paradigms, offering a far-reaching platform to voices that have been traditionally marginalized and underserved. Despite this potential, instructors often employ an "abstinence approach" to Wikipedia, telling students to avoid using it in their academic work. This article advocates for active engagement with Wikipedia with the aim of challenging bias resulting from omission or underrepresentation of particular material to develop more diverse, publicly accessible political science content. First, I explain the theoretical objectives of the assignment and describe its structure. Then I reflect on its successes, challenges, and possible modifications

Constellations of Indigeneity: The Power of Definition

Lack of attention to definitions of indigeneity is a problem in both political theory and practice. Defining indigeneity has at least two important consequences: (a) it affects who has access to resources or rights reserved for Indigenous peoples; and (b) it shapes the kinds of privileges and resources available to Indigenous peoples. In this article, I draw on Theodor Adorno’s concept of ‘nonidentity’ as a resource for exploring the power and limits of conceptions of indigeneity. I argue that recognizing the non-identical aspects of indigeneity enables critical engagement with constellations of concepts that attend to the distinctive aspects of indigeneity in particular moments and locations. To illustrate my argument, I draw on one conception of indigeneity that could be characterized as non-identity thinking – a research approach called Kaupapa Māori. I suggest that non-identity is a promising resource for conceptualizing indigeneity as it has potential to respond to some of the key problems with current responses to indigeneity; notably, that universal definitions may not best represent what it means to be Indigenous, and that unreflective acceptance of current definitions fails to produce just outcomes

Hiding in Plain Sight: Pedagogy and Power

Pedagogy is fundamental to scholarship of global politics but too often remains unseen. Moreover, when it is seen, it is largely regarded as a narrow epistemological engagement concerned with the transmission of knowledge. We argue that pedagogies should be recognized as an ontological undertaking, shaping how we know, relate, and act. We draw attention to the subversive and generative potential of critical and creative pedagogies to critically interrogate dominant power structures and hegemonic narratives. The purpose of this article is not so much to point International Relations educators toward particular pedagogical practices, but to provoke reflection on what the pedagogies we habitually employ bring into being and what they foreclose. Revealing pedagogies as a source of power encourages intentional pedagogical practices to critique, diversify, and re-story global politics. In the final section of the article, we outline some of the ways we have transformed our pedagogical practices in recent years, paying particular attention to relationality and awareness of place and context

Publishing as Pedagogy: Creating a Peer Reviewed Class Journal

Undergraduate students are often assumed to be consumers of the material instructors bring to their attention. Rarely are they seen as producers of original research, other than in elite honors programmes or opt-in research opportunities such as university-based undergraduate research journals. Yet students new to a subject often have highly original responses to what they encounter. Though they may not yet be fully attuned to the contours of the scholarship, they are not limited by preexisting notions of what the defining questions of the field might be, nor are they as committed to the disciplinary boundaries that sometimes—intentionally or not—obscure or prevent promising lines of inquiry. We argue that recognizing students as emerging scholars capable of original, high quality work, and offering a structured assessment in the form of a peer reviewed class journal has the potential to transform how students they see themselves in relation to the discipline, supports the development of advanced research and writing skills, and encourages them to understand academic work as a collective rather than individual endeavor. This assessment also allows a wider range of students to access the benefits of participating in a comprehensive research activity that simulates the academic research process, rather than reserving such opportunities for those participating in elite programmes or opt-in research activities

He moana pukepuke: navigating gender and ethnic inequality in early career academics’ conference attendance

Drawing on data collected in a cross-disciplinary survey of early-career academics (ECAs) in New Zealand, this article explores the factors influencing ECA conference attendance. Our conceptual framework uses conference attendance as the dependent variable and measures gender, ethnicity, family responsibilities and workload. Three key features affect conference attendance: demographic characteristics (background features and prior experiences that affect an academic’s willingness and ability to attend), accessibility (constraints to attending, such as financing, family responsibilities, institutional support or teaching commitments) and purpose (the value placed on attending conferences by the individual, the institution, or the discipline). In particular, we identify differences for women, Indigenous people, and those born overseas with respect to their ability to navigate and their inclination to attend national and international conferences