Unfinished Business: Documentary filmmaking and the intersections of government policy, Aboriginal education and anthropology

This paper describes the lines of inquiry that higher degree research (HDR) provides for an opportunity to pursue, in a documentary project motivated by a long-running encounter with anthropological filmmaking and educational policy and practice. Focusing on research and development, and pointing forward to pre-production, it contributes to broader discussions about documentary uses of knowledge, protocols, ethics and the politics of representation. Using the concept of the diaspora illustrates how my film project has come about and describes the research journey from undertaking an Aboriginal cadetship at Film Australia in 1989 to commencing an HDR in creative practice in 2015.
The aim of this paper is to chart interconnections between personal and professional experiences of working in the field of education in relation to challenges faced by the Northern Territory regarding the education and social integration of Aboriginal people, particularly the Aboriginal children who featured in the film Walking in the Sunlight, Walking in the Shadow (Kingsbury 1971). Research enables me to consider the proximity of texts from film, anthropology and policy in relation to one another - and the wider historical projects they represent - and what relationship they may have with Walking in the Sunlight, Walking in the Shadow being made.