National Taiwan Normal University Distinguished Lecture Series

Rejecting Business-As-Usual in Colonizing-Settler Societies: Why is it so Hard for Indigenous People to Exercise Their Rights to Self-Determination?

Prof. Richard Howitt

Yushan Scholar and Chair Professor of the Department of Geogeraphy, National Taiwan Normal University; Emeritus Professor, Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University

Date: 2025/04/24

Time:10:30 - 12:00

Venue:International Conference Room (Jiao 202), Education Building

Organized by National Taiwan Normal University
Department of Geography, College of Liberal Arts

Agenda

10:00 - 10:30

Registration
10:30 - 10:35

Opening Remarks
10:35 - 12:00

Distinguished Lecture & Interactive Q&A

Abstract

Following the first United Nations Decade of Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004), there has been much discussion of Indigenous rights – but limited progress in securing, advancing and implementing those rights. Reflecting on extended engagement with Indigenous experience in Australia and Taiwan, I ask a fundamental question - Why is it so hard for Indigenous people to exercise their rights to self-determination? In both Taiwan and Australia, governments have ostensibly championed Indigenous rights to varying degrees – and with varying levels of political bi-partisanship amongst major political parties. Similarly, major societal institutions have joined movement for Indigenous recognition with restricted conviction and success. Dominant approaches to ‘business-as-usual’ in many domains of education, planning, law and economy reinforce still-colonizing patterns that assume nothing changes with such rhetorical flourishes and that previous patterns of disadvantage, disenfranchising, erasure and marginalisation can be pursued without being held accountable for their consequences for future generations of Indigenous peoples. Failure to understand Indigenous expectations of truth-telling and healing amplifies and continues colonial trauma in current and future generations and must be acknowledged. I conclude that rhetorical ‘recognition’ of ‘rights’ that are neither enacted nor championed by democratic and societal institutions and is contradicted by societal attitudes and actions lays foundations for futures in which truth, justice, environmental quality and culture are all threatened. Further, scholars and educators are obliged to respond directly to overturn such approaches to ‘business-as-usual’ in our research and education programs.

About the speaker

Richard Howitt is the Yushan Fellow Distinguished Professor and Chair Professor of the Department of Geography at National Taiwan Normal University, and an Emeritus Professor at Macquarie School of Social Sciences. Specializing in human geography and indigenous geography, Professor Howitt has long been dedicated to indigenous-related issues, advocating for the protection of indigenous rights. In recognition of his efforts, Professor Howitt was honored with the 2023 Order of Australia.

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