The Art of Masculinities: Creations and Transformations of Aboriginal Men in Australia
type: CreativeWork
description: What does it mean to be an Aboriginal man in Australia today? The number of projects that have attempted to respond to this question is limited. The gaps in knowledge and understanding about Aboriginal men in Australia today are many and significant. This project seeks to respond to these gaps by considering the story of Aboriginal men in Australia, from creating an image or images of pre-colonial Aboriginal societies, to examining the impacts of colonisation, and the ongoing disruptions and pressures from contemporary settler-colonialism. Doing so makes an original and valuable contribution to the emerging field of Indigenous men and masculinities globally, while establishing a foundational text from which new research on Aboriginal men can be built upon in Australia. Unlike previous investigations exploring contemporary issues of Aboriginal men and masculinities, this project deviates in its approach and methodology. This project applies a spatial analysis to Aboriginal men, identifying five core dimensions that influence and define conceptions of the self at the heart of Aboriginal men and masculinities. These five spatial dimensions are: -Country -Existential -Physical body -Social -Institutional These five spatial dimensions are contextualised by a person's experiences. Overlaying a spatial lens as an analytical tool deepens our understanding of Aboriginal men and provides an original and insightful perspective in the contestation, and progression, of Aboriginal men and masculinities through time. This project develops a new theory of masculinities, embedded in the creative practice of art making. This thesis describes a palette of masculinities operating in contemporary Aboriginal contexts. The palette of masculinities refers to the opportunities available to Aboriginal men in settler-colonial contexts and creates strategic openings for limited expressions of self-determination. Throughout a man's life he is engaged in a creative process of self-portrait makin…
abstract: What does it mean to be an Aboriginal man in Australia today? The number of projects that have attempted to respond to this question is limited. The gaps in knowledge and understanding about Aboriginal men in Australia today are many and significant. This project seeks to respond to these gaps by considering the story of Aboriginal men in Australia, from creating an image or images of pre-colonial Aboriginal societies, to examining the impacts of colonisation, and the ongoing disruptions and pressures from contemporary settler-colonialism. Doing so makes an original and valuable contribution to the emerging field of Indigenous men and masculinities globally, while establishing a foundational text from which new research on Aboriginal men can be built upon in Australia. Unlike previous investigations exploring contemporary issues of Aboriginal men and masculinities, this project deviates in its approach and methodology. This project applies a spatial analysis to Aboriginal men, identifying five core dimensions that influence and define conceptions of the self at the heart of Aboriginal men and masculinities. These five spatial dimensions are: -Country -Existential -Physical body -Social -Institutional These five spatial dimensions are contextualised by a person's experiences. Overlaying a spatial lens as an analytical tool deepens our understanding of Aboriginal men and provides an original and insightful perspective in the contestation, and progression, of Aboriginal men and masculinities through time. This project develops a new theory of masculinities, embedded in the creative practice of art making. This thesis describes a palette of masculinities operating in contemporary Aboriginal contexts. The palette of masculinities refers to the opportunities available to Aboriginal men in settler-colonial contexts and creates strategic openings for limited expressions of self-determination. Throughout a man's life he is engaged in a creative process of self-portrait makin…
author: Eckford-Williamson, Bhiamie
language: en_AU
date published: 2024
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:55:04Z
provider: Australian National University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian National University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733728062