Graduate Certificate of Indigenous Studies

Enhance your career opportunities by developing your capacity to work more effectively with Indigenous communities in Northern Australia and globally with the Graduate Certificate of Indigenous Studies. This certificate is ideal for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous professionals and community members wanting to broaden their skillset with an increased understanding of the complexity of factors that impact Indigenous people today. Professionals looking to return to the workforce after a period away or planning to enter a new field can retrain and reskill to enhance their intercultural competency. This one-year part-time degree prepares graduates to work more effectively with Indigenous individuals and communities, with a view to contributing to Indigenous political and cultural self-determination agendas.

JCU’s Graduate Certificate of Indigenous Studies is the first postgraduate coursework degree in Australia to explicitly focus on the intersection of Indigenous and Western ideas, priorities and knowledge positions. This degree delves into the cultural interface by exploring both the continuities of Indigenous knowledges and traditions and the impacts of colonisation. Students are encouraged to explore the various responses given by Indigenous communities globally and to delve into the complexity that exists in this space. Your study will guide you to develop the language and dispositions to work more effectively with Indigenous communities and people through lecture, discussion and practical based learning activities.

This graduate certificate consists of four subjects: Indigenous Australians; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People as Colonial Subjects; Comparative Indigenous Studies; and Navigating the Cultural Interface. These subjects will deepen your understanding of the complexity of Indigenous experiences today. You will build a foundational basis in traditional knowledges and practices and analyse the impact of colonisation. Next, you will analyse case studies of Indigenous people throughout the world, drawing on the knowledge you have developed in your previous two subjects. Finally, you will put this learning into practice, working with a local Indigenous community to develop a project at the interface of Indigenous and Western ideas.