Can you imagine 400 million people being forcibly dispossessed from their country? That's more than the population of most countries in the world, except China or India. This is the lived experience of the estimated 400 million Indigenous people around the world today.

In this course you will develop and apply new understandings about the protracted world history of colonisation and dispossession that has led to the current global situation where the majority of Indigenous peoples no longer live on their traditional homelands. You will learn about the dispossession of Indigenous peoples due to removal by missionaries, governments, wars, massacres and other atrocities, and you will examine the impacts and interrelationships of these dislocations. For example, you will learn how the massacre of over 150 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee by US government troops in 1890 is one of the largest massacres in US history. This resonates with many Indigenous Australians, who hold family knowledge of massacres and removals off traditional lands, which have occurred in living memory.

Through case studies you will develop insight into the ongoing impacts of colonisation on health and education outcomes for many Indigenous peoples in Australia. You will also examine the history and treatment of Indigenous peoples in other colonised nations such as Canada, North America and New Zealand. Through review and comparison of the experiences and political situations and social movements of dispossessed people, such as African Americans, Palestinians and Taiwanese Indigenous groups, you will apply your new understandings to consider the relevance of these movements to Indigenous rights in Australia today.