Lillian Holt

Director, Centre for Indigenous Education, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Honouring the Holistic through Humour, Honesty, Humanity and Heresy!

Abstract

Honouring the holistic Aristotle said that the "equal treatment of unequals is the most unequal treatment of all".

In the rush to integrate and educate minorities such as Aboriginal people, access has been mistaken for equality.

Structural rigidity within institutions precludes spiritual flexibility and thus other worldviews. The need to honour and understand the depth and profundity of our common history, humanity and humour using the tool of honesty, has been diminished due to excessive use of acronyms and deficit terminology which inform the protocols, policies and procedures when dealing with the difficulties.

Performance indicators, outcomes and goals supersede the need to know one another beyond the superficial, technical and the clinical. When a problem arises so does a new policy!

This is not a scenario common just to blackfellas in Australia. It applies to women and other so-called minorities.

But beware! It's not all doom and gloom. We can have fun "fixing it".

Bionote

Lillian Holt is the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. She has a BA and an MA and is currently enrolled in a PhD. Lillian has worked formally in Indigenous Education for many years and sees its issues as common to the human condition.

Presentation Type
30 min. Paper

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Country
Australia