Agency, contingency and census process: Observations of the 2006 Indigenous Enumeration Strategy in remote Aboriginal Australia

Abstract

Title from PDF title page (viewed July 17, 2008). "This study of the [Indigenous Enumeration Strategy] involved four very different locations: a group of small outstation communities (Arnhem Land), a large Aboriginal township (Wadeye), an 'open' town with a majority Aboriginal population (Fitzroy Crossing), and the minority Aboriginal population of a major regional centre (Alice Springs). A comparison between these contexts reveals differences that reflect the diversity of remote Aboriginal Australia, but also commonalities that exert a powerful influence on the effectiveness of the IES, in particular very high levels of short-term mobility"--Provided by publisher Producing powerful numbers -- Preparing for the 2006 enumeration at the Darwin Census Management Unit -- A vast improvement: the 2006 enumeration in the Alice Springs town camps -- Mobility and its consequences: the 2006 enumeration in the north-east Arnhem Land region -- Whose census? Institutional constraints on the Indigenous Enumeration Strategy at Wadeye -- What sort of town is Fitzroy Crossing? Logistical and boundary problems of the 2006 enumeration in the southern Kimberley -- After the count and after the fact: at the Darwin Census Management Unit -- The transformation of input into output: at the Melbourne Data Processing Centre -- Accommodating agency and contingency: towards an extended strategy for engagement -- Appendix A. The 2006 Interviewer Household Form -- Appendix B. Commentary on the 2006 Interviewer Household Form.