Filling gaps in native mortality
Bernard Lane; 23/7/08
Jim Franklin, being a philosopher, is careful with words. The ambiguous title of his latest project, the Australian Database of Indigenous Violence, is quite calculated. “I mean violence to indigenous people but, as everybody can see, nearly all of it is by other indigenous people,” he says. Franklin, a professor at the University of NSW, is well aware of the kind of welcome that may await his project, an attempt to document all serious violence against indigenous people over age 10. “It’s going to be named as racist by some people in the Aboriginal industry,” he says. “I agree it’s problematic to say in some sense that one community is worse than another, but that’s too bad. They are.” The trial version of the database offers brief accounts of crimes, such as murderous beatings and rapes, drawn from court records and newspapers. Most have taken place in remote Aboriginal communities.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24062561-5013172,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Domestic Violence