Why isn’t my professor Aboriginal?

Abstract

This article focuses on the lived experience of a Karajarri Yawuru, First Peoples Doctoral candidate and his interactions with the Academy. This article draws on three vignettes and highlights first, racism that questions First Peoples’ academic expertise and knowledge, second, racism that dismisses and demeans First Peoples’ lived experience and third, racism that instrumentalises First Peoples’ academics. We argue that despite the aspirational strategies and good intentions of Australian universities, the deeply embedded and pervasive nature of colonisation and institutional whiteness has to be identified and challenged in order for First Peoples to take their rightful place in the Academy. JEL Classification: J15, J71, M14, Z13.