Contemporary Indigenous Australia, Indigenous Justice Issues, Aboriginal Arts.

Non-material cultural appropriation and the colonisation of cultures. Aboriginal autobiography and life-stories.

Articles:

Rolls, M.
2000a 'Black Spice for White Lives-A Review Essay'. Balayi: Culture, Law and Colonialism, Vol.1 No.1, February, pp.149-61.

Rolls, M.
2000b 'Robert Lawlor Tells a "White" Lie'. Journal of Australian Studies, No.63, (forthcoming).

Rolls, M. 1999a 'A Reply to David Tacey's "What Are We Afraid Of?: Intellectualism, Aboriginality, and the Sacred" '. Melbourne Journal of Politics, Vol.26, (forthcoming).

Rolls, M. 1999b 'The Making of "Our Place": Settler Australians, Cultural Appropriation, and the Quest for Home'. Antithesis, Vol.10, pp.117-33.

Rolls, M. 1998a 'The Black Path to Jesus: The Christian Appropriation of Aboriginal Culture'. Australian Studies, Vol.13, No.2, pp.23-40.

Rolls, M. 1998b 'The Jungian Quest for the Aborigine Within: A Close Reading of David Tacey's Edge of the Sacred: Transformation in Australia'. Melbourne Journal of Politics, Vol.25, pp.171-87.

Rolls, M. 1998c 'Monica Furlong and the Quest for Fulfilment'. Australian Feminist Law Journal, Vol.11, pp.46-64.

Aboriginal Arts:

This is a new unit that will provide a comprehensive exploration of Aboriginal art forms. Students will develop an understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal creative expression, and learn of the significance of both visual and aural expression to 'traditional' and contemporary Aboriginal cultures and identity. This will include learning about the 'traditional' and contemporary roles and functions of this expression.

Examined also will be the apparent changes in Aboriginal arts, including those brought about by the influence of market forces. This will be considered in the context of how any such changes have affected the meaning, purpose and significance of artistic forms to Aboriginal peoples and their cultures.

The unit will examine closely key issues relating to the production and marketing of Aboriginal art forms, including the issues of copyright, reproduction, appropriation, and the postmodern and Post Conceptualist's practice of 'quotation' and 'translation'.