PVC- Indigenous Strategy UNSWIS_Final_SIGN OFF_18 October 2018 low res for | Page 11

Give Back
Give Back is a characteristic of both UNSW and
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and the
Indigenous Strategy makes “giving back” to Indigenous
communities a primary value of UNSW. Responsibility
is the ability to respond and this is what an education
enables us to do.
Giving back does not always mean giving back to your
own community. There are many ways to give back.
UNSW recognises that each of us are members of
multiple communities. Scholars such as Amartya Sen
and Kuku Yalanji lawyer Noel Pearson have written
about the complexity of layered identities. Pearson
has promoted a concept of “orbiting”, whereby young
people leave country to study, work and “orbit” back
to community when one is able to contribute and give
back. However we choose to frame this, Giving Back is
an integral part of the strategy.
A connected land…
We know from consulting the wider UNSW community
that non-indigenous people want to “give back” also.
One of the most effective ways non-indigenous
people can do this is to learn the history of Aboriginal
ownership and occupation of the country. This strategy
will work towards providing opportunities to give back,
in a respectful way aligned with the principles of self-
determination.
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