The Anthropology of Indigenous Australia and Native Title Claims

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Burke
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Culture ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Legal Anthropology ◽  
Professional Discourse ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Indigenous Australia ◽  
Social Fields

While most anthropological analyses of native title remain in an applied mode of assisting anthropologists to better perform their role as expert witnesses in claims, recent research has sought to move beyond this professional discourse by drawing on Bordieuan concepts supplemented by ideas of individual agency in resolving key indeterminate requirements in the legal formulation of native title. In considering the interaction of law and anthropology in native title claims as the interaction of distinct social fields, each with its own habitus, submerged issues are brought to light concerning the differential reception of anthropological expertise and the willingness of some judges to overrule a disciplinary consensus. Anthropological analyses have also been broadened to include the effects of the native title process on the Indigenous participants, including tendencies towards a more rapid objectification and regimentation of traditional culture, intensification of disputes, and juridification of Indigenous lifeworlds. Some macro analyses attempt to situate native title claims as a particular statecraft of late liberalism. There remains plenty of scope for further research to link the analysis of native title to the perennial themes of legal anthropology.

Anthropologists, Lawyers and Issues for Expert Witnesses: Native Title Claims in Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
David Trigger ◽  
Robert Blowes
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Field Notes

Social scientists such as anthropologists, linguists and historians play an important role in researching and producing genealogies, reports and other claim materials which are submitted as evidence in native title claims. Being expert witnesses for Aboriginal claimants (or any other party) means that they may also be cross-examined on their evidence by opposing counsel. The recent Federal Court decision Daniel v State of Western Australia (the ‘Daniel case’2) highlights the need to carefully manage communications which occur in the course of researching, documenting and conducting native title claims; the case raises the issue of avoiding (or delaying) the loss of the protection of ‘client privilege’3 for confidential documents such as anthropological field notes and other primary research materials. The central issue is whether various documents can be kept confidential, and if so, for how long.

A Trial Consultant's View of the Medical Expert Witness

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-10
Author(s):  
Deborah Rutt ◽  
Kathyrn Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Expert Testimony ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Personal Injury ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Good Teacher ◽  
Medical Expert ◽  
Medical Terms ◽  
Medical Issues

Abstract Physicians who use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides) often serve as medical expert witnesses. In workers’ compensation cases, the expert may appear in front of a judge or hearing officer; in personal injury and other cases, the physician may testify by deposition or in court before a judge with or without a jury. This article discusses why medical expert witnesses are needed, what they do, and how they can help or hurt a case. Whether it is rendered by a judge or jury, the final opinions rely on laypersons’ understanding of medical issues. Medical expert testimony extracts from the intricacies of the medical literature those facts the trier of fact needs to understand; highlights the medical facts pertinent to decision making; and explains both these in terms that are understandable to a layperson, thereby enabling the judge or jury to render well-informed opinions. For expert witnesses, communication is everything, including nonverbal communication that critically determines if judges and, particularly, jurors believe a witness. To these ends, an expert medical witnesses should know the case; be objective; be a good teacher; state opinions clearly; testify with appropriate professional demeanor; communicate well, both verbally and nonverbally; in verbal communications, explain medical terms and procedures so listeners can understand the case; and avoid medical jargon, finding fault or blaming, becoming argumentative, or appearing arrogant.

Challenges in Forensics Practice and Ethics for Expert Witnesses

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Hornick ◽  
Hal W. Hendrick ◽  
Robert Kennedy ◽  
Kenneth Laughery ◽  
David Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Expert Witnesses

Searching for ‘success’: generation, gender and onward migration in the Iranian diaspora

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Young Age ◽  
Onward Migration ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
Transnational Social Fields ◽  
High Level ◽  
Iranian Diaspora

This article uses the concepts of ‘transnational social fields’ and ‘habitus’ to explore the multifaceted role families play in shaping the aspirations of onward migrating youth. The article draws on biographical life history interviews conducted with the children of Iranian migrants who were raised in Sweden but moved to London, UK as adults. The findings of the study suggest that from a young age, all the participants were pressured by their parents to perform well academically, and to achieve high level careers. These goals were easier to achieve in London than in Sweden for several reasons. Interestingly, however, participants’ understandings of what constituted success and their motivations for onward migration were nuanced and varied considerably by gender. The study contributes to an understanding of the role of multi-sited transnational social fields in shaping the aspirations of migrant youths, as well as the strategies taken up by these migrants to achieve their goals.

Power through Intersubjectivity: Representing the Resilient Child in Urban Survival Narratives

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Yvonne Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Social Discourse ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Liminal Spaces ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Problematic Relationship ◽  
Narrative Representations ◽  
Spark Gap ◽  
Urban Survival ◽  
Resilient Child

The problematic relationship between urban dislocation, the proscribed spaces of urban childhood, child marginnalisation and the societal invisibility of under-age citizens is widely thematised in contemporary children's literature. This article examines how childhood agency, as a form of power, becomes aligned with resilience through intersubjectivity in the narrative representations of marginalised child subjects in Virginia Hamilton's The Planet of Junior Brown (1987) and Julie Bertagna's The Spark Gap ( 1996 ). Depictions of child homelessness, which construct resilience in the determination to survive experiences of marginalisation, dislocation and loss, offer an opportunity to examine representations of child subjectivity. This discussion centres on the role of intersubjectivity as an alternative construction to some humanistic frames that privilege the notion of an individual agency divested of childhood's limitations. It identifies the experiential codes which more accurately reflect the choices available to young readers, where liminal spaces of homelessness that first establish social and cultural dependencies are re-interpreted through depictions of relational connection among displaced child subjects. The discussion suggests that these multifocal novels construct dialogic representations of social discourse that affirm intersubjectivity as a form of agency.

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