Recognition and indigenizing official statistics: Reflections from Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia (original) (raw)
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In a review of Marxist feminist Shahrzad Mojab’s forthcoming book (2015), the always-incisive non-Indigenous sociologist Dorothy Smith (2015) writes: “I didn’t agree with all that I read, but that’s exactly what a book within this framework should do to awaken us.” I feel that way about this essential book by Maggie Walters and Chris Andersen. Even if I disagree with some of the arguments, as I understand them from an outsider, non-Indigenous perspective, Walter and Andersen “awaken” both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and policy makers. They raise critical concerns around quantitative methodologies, arguing for new approaches to producing statistical data “by and for” (p. 16) diverse Indigenous peoples. Writing from their “standpoints” as “colonized first world Indigenous” researchers in the academy (Walter and Andersen, p. 19; pp. 75-76), they critically analyze mainstream quantitative methodologies that participate in the social construction of Indigenous nations as “deficit” communities against an unexamined colonial standard (Chapter One). In their place, they argue for the development of varied Indigenous approaches to producing quantitative data, in ways useful to diverse Indigenous peoples. Along the way, they follow Maori scholar Brendan Hokowhitu (2009) in making a more general case for Indigenous social sciences, as distinct from what might be called Indigenous moral philosophy.
The Politics of the Data: How the Australian Statistical Indigene is Constructed
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The production, analysis and presentation of Indigenous data are not neutral interpretations of numerical counts. Institutionally positioned within a portrayal of Australian national social trends, the data‟s ubiquity belies their discursive power. By virtue of the racialised terrain in which they are conceived, collected, analysed and interpreted the data are politicised in ways mostly invisible to their producers and users. This racialised „politics of the data‟ is the focus of this article. Three examples of how Australia‟s racial terrain permeates the field of Indigenous statistical analysis are outlined to demonstrate this phenomenon. The theoretical frame for explaining the politically tilted underpinnings of how Indigenous data are „done‟ is Pierre Bourdieu‟s (1984) concept of habitus, extended to include race as a fourth dimension of social space. The final section challenges researchers to contemplate the possibility of the data conceptualised, analysed and interpreted from an Indigenous methodology.
Statistics on indigenous peoples: International effort needed
Statistical Journal of the IAOS, 2016
In 2007, the UN General Assembly endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In the following years, there has been a strong call from a range United Nations agencies and spokespersons for countries to act to improve their statistics relating to Indigenous peoples as part of their response to the Declaration. These calls have emphasised the need for a holistic approach, describing strengths and resilience of Indigenous peoples and not just a focus on gaps and disadvantage. National responses have been mixed and overall statistics remain inadequate. Significantly, there has been no international statistical effort through the United Nations statistical structures to respond to the Declaration and the increasing array of calls for improved statistics. The United Nations Statistical Commission in particular has an array of mechanisms to study statistical needs and develop solutions across a broad international statistical agenda. It is time for countries to make a concerted effort to improve their own statistics on Indigenous peoples, and to insist that the Statistical Commission work in partnership with the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and other stakeholders to lead a major international drive to improve statistics on and for Indigenous peoples.
Census 2018 and Implications for Māori
New Zealand Population Review, 2018
The population census is a universal tool of governance but has come under increasing pressure as governments look to reduce costs, gain efficiencies and counter declining response rates. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the census transformation strategy has a short-term focus on modernising the census and a long-term vision of a fully administrative census. The digital-first 2018 Census was an ambitious step towards modernisation but there are growing concerns that it may fail to deliver high-quality data, particularly for Māori and iwi. This research note considers the implications of lower response rates and reflects on the steps that might be taken to retain the trust and confidence of Māori in the census, including possibilities for Māori data governance across the official statistics system.