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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives

This guide provides information and resources for supporting Indigenous knowledge in teaching and research practices.

Cultural safety and content warnings

Cultural safety

In the RMIT context, cultural safety means more than avoiding offence and hurt. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a culturally safe environment also includes access to education and research which embodies familiar cultural values and norms. For people from other diverse cultures, these norms may be different from their own.

Cultural sensitivity warnings

Below is a selection of general cultural sensitivity warnings:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website may contain images, voices and footage of deceased persons.
  • Users are warned that there may be words and descriptions that may be culturally sensitive, and which might not normally be used in certain public or community contexts.
  • Terms and annotations that reflect the attitude of the author or the period in which the item was written, may be considered inappropriate today.

The warnings are generic and can be modelled to include identification of the specific content that will be addressed.

Statement of self-care

It is essential to emphasise the importance of self-care when learning about the history of protection, integration and assimilation polices used by the Australian Government on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that form part of the content of this course and may be further explored as you seek to enhance your knowledge and understanding. This history may be new to some of the participants in the course, while others may have more experience with this content.

Your new understandings and further explorations may evoke for you unexpected emotions and give rise to unpredicted behaviours. It is important that you consider strategies to support yourself as you visit or revisit this history. The goal is to have plans to support yourself. Some suggestions include:

  • Take time to debrief and respond to emotions through talking with others, whether a counsellor, a peer, family member or friend who can provide support.
  • Determine health services that can provide support and are available in your community (RMIT counselling services).