Construction of the Indigenous Incarcerated Body: Symposium

This 2 day symposium brings international connections together to critically discuss the global impact of the School to Prison pipeline. A key focus of this project is to establish strong collaborative relationships across Indigenous communities to engage with a common mission that is of deep concern for Indigenous nations, the ‘school to prison pipeline’.

The School to Prison Pipeline (SPP) refers to an institutional system that disproportionately targets some groups of students through removal from school using methods such as detention, suspension, or expulsion. There is emerging literature illustrating critical issues about the impact of school policies that relate to discipline, zero tolerance, suspension, and expulsion. These punishment methods further relate to the outcomes of underachievement and the high rates of incarceration for Indigenous and Black children.

DAY 1 - JULY 9TH School to Prison Pipeline Project

8.30 am	Tea and coffee
9.00 am	Welcome: Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor  Opening: Larissa Behrendt
9.30 am	International Project Keynote: Linda Tuhiwai Smith Introduction: Margie Kahukura Hohepa
10.30 am	BREAK Tea & Coffee + Break out room adjacent to  Lecture Room
11.00 am	Panel 1: Aotearoa Margie Kahukura Hohepa (Chair). Panel: Tracey MacIntosh, Khylee Quince, Jenny Lee-Morgan
12.30 pm	LUNCH
1.30 pm	Panel 2: Hawaii Māhealani Miller (Chair). Panel: Brytni Kaleionaia K-aloha, Dr. Toni Bissen, Venus Kauʻiokawēkiu Rosete-Medeiros
3.00 pm	Panel 3: Australia  Alison Whittaker (Chair). Panel: Gemma Sentance, Raymond Weatherall, Matthew Walsh, Latoya Aroha Rule
4.30pm	Closing  Juanita Sherwood (Jumbunna)

DAY 2 - JULY 10TH Reformations of Colonisation and state violence

8.30  am	Tea and coffee
9.00 am	Acknowledgement  Aunty Glendra Stubbs (Elder in Residence, Jumbunna)
9.15 am	Opening: Healing on Country  Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor
9.30 am	International Project Keynote:  Graham Hingangaroa Smith   Introduction: Margie Kahukura Hohepa
10.30 am	BREAK Tea & Coffee
11.00 am	International Project Panel 1: He Waka Eke Noa: Māori & Pasifika Approaches to Violence Reduction in Aotearoa Leonie Pihama (Chair), Betty Sio, Billie-Jean Cassidy, Ngāropi Raumati
12.30 pm	LUNCH
1.30 pm	International Project Panel 2: He Waka Eke Noa: Māori Experiences and Approaches to State Violence in Aotearoa,  Leonie Pihama (Chair), Rihi Te Nana, Shirley Simmonds
3.30 pm	Reformations of Colonisation Keynote panel: Latoya Aroha Rule (Chair), Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Elisa Loncon, Mahealani Miller, Larissa Behrendt.
5 pm	Closing  Latoya Aroha Rule (Jumbunna)

OPENING SPEAKERS and KEYNOTE PANEL Bios 

Distinguished Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith 

Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou

Linda is a Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She is a researcher, mentor, supervisor, writer and educator. She is renowned for her work in Indigenous Māori education, decolonising methodologies and kaupapa Māori. Her book Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples has been an international best seller in the indigenous world since its publication in 1998.

Distinguished Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith 

Ngāti Apa, NgātiKahungunu, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou

Graham is a prominent Māori educationalist, has been at the forefront of Māori initiatives in theeducation field and beyond. His recent academic work has centered on developing theoretically informed transformative strategies related to intervening in Māori cultural, political, social, educational and economic crises.

Dr Māhealani Jamee Miller 

Dr Miller is the co-founder and President of ʻEkolu Mea Nui a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming Hawaiʻiʻs criminal justice system through Native Hawaiian values and practices. Dr. Miller oversees development and operational leadership for the organization with a focus on advocacy. She leads the Hui Hoʻiwai initiative that includes other service providers, partnering agencies and governmental departments with a collective vision to end inter-generational incarceration for Native Hawaiian youth and adults.

Professor Elisa Loncon

Elisa Loncon Antileo was born in the Mapuche community of Lefweluan, Wallmapu, Southern Chile. She is a linguist and an Indigenous rights and languages activist. She holds a PhD in humanities from the University of Leiden and a second PhD in literature from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She is a Professor in Intercultural Education, Department of Education, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), where she undertakes research on Indigenous methodologies and philosophies and the teaching of Mapuzugun. In 2021, Elisa Loncon was elected as one of the representatives of the Mapuche people for the Chilean Constitutional Convention, of which she served as elected President during the first period of the Constitutional Convention. In 2021, she was awarded the René Cassin Human Rights Award from the Basque Government in recognition of her substantial contributions to the defense of human rights. In 2021 she was named in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and one of The Financial Times’ 25 most influential women in the world. Her most recent book is Azmapu Aportes de la filosofía Mapuche para el cuidado del lof y la madre tierra, Editorial Planeta, 2023 - [Azmapu: contributions of Mapuche philosophy to the care of community and mother earth].  

Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt

Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO is Euahleyai / Gamillaroi woman and the Laureate Fellow at Jumbunna. Larissa has a legal background with a strong track record in the areas of Indigenous law, policy, creative arts, education and research. She has held numerous judicial positions and sat on various community and arts organisation boards. Larissa is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia and a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. She was a member of the University Accord Panel in 2023.  Larissa is also an award-winning author, filmmaker and host of Speaking Out on ABC Radio. 

Professor Juanita Sherwood 

Professor Sherwood is a proud First Nations Australian who has had enriched working opportunities over 40 years within the health, education and research sectors. She has built an impressive work span from hands on clinical and community grass root work to further advocacy via engaging with government and building evidence through Indigenous standpoint research. A founding member of CATSIN (Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait and Islander Nurses),and the National Partnership for Justice Health instigator of evidence building and action regarding Otitis Media in both the education and health sectorsand working with our First Nations Women in and leaving prison.

Juanita continues to be working in First Nations health research, and social justice operations and is one of the top five most productive researchers globally on the topic of decolonisation. Her work has popularised the use of decolonising frameworks and praxes in teaching, research and health care across Australia.

Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor

Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor is a Gadigal/Bidgigal/Darug/Yuin Elder and Traditional Custodian from the Warrane (Sydney) saltwater basin and the South Coast of NSW. Rhonda is a compassionate advocate in the fields of social and environmental justice and human rights, self-determination, decolonisation, self-governance, community strengthening and cultural revitalisation for future generations. She is a performer, teacher and academic and has recently completed her Design Masters (Research) at the School of Design UTS titled ‘Studying and Working Respectfully on Country: Designing a First Nations Educational Module’. In 2023 Rhonda established Nawi Gadoo (Elders and knowledge keepers) and has launched ‘Blak Harbour’ with the Stingray Collective, offering cultural tours of Sydney harbour. Rhonda is currently working with PVC Indigenous Leadership and Engagement team at UTS in the inaugural Honouring Country project. 

Aunty Glendra Stubbs

Aunty Glendra Stubbs is a Wiradjuri Woman and Elder Aunty-in-Residence at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. A founding member of Link-Up - an organisation established to reunite families separated through past welfare policies, Aunty Glendra has spent more than 40 years providing advice and practical assistance to survivors of trauma. Her leadership and efforts have seen her awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her services to the Indigenous community.

DAY 1: PANEL Bios 

PANEL – Aotearoa

Prof Tracey McIntosh - Ngāi Tūhoe

She is a Professor of Indigenous Studies in Te Wānanga o Waipapa at the University of Auckland. She is the Chief Science Advisor for the Ministry of Social Development and a Commissioner of Te Kāhui Tātari Ture: Criminal Cases Review Commission. She was the former Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. She previously taught in the sociology and criminology programme at the University of Auckland. She was a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and lectured at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. She has sat on a number of assessment panels including PBRF panels ( Māori Knowledge and Development and Social Sciences) Marsden Social Science Panel, Rutherford Discovery, James Cook Fellowship and Health Research Council Panels. Her recent research focused on incarceration (particularly of Māori and Indigenous peoples) and issues pertaining to poverty, inequality and social justice. She recognises the significance of working with those that have lived experience and expertise of incarceration and marginalisation and acknowledges them as experts of their own condition. She has a strong interest in the interface between research and policy. Tracey has a commitment to addressing issues that concern Māori and draws on a critical Indigenous studies framework.

Prof. Khylee Quince - Ngapuhi, Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungungu.

Khylee teaches and researches in the fields of criminal justice, youth justice and Māori legal issues. She is the Dean of Law at AUT, with 26 years’ experience in academia. Khylee is frequently engaged to provide expert advice across the public and private sectors, including working with Police, Corrections, the Ministry of Justice and Law Commission. She has extensive governance experience in schools, non-government organisations and private charities and has served as a member of the New Zealand Parole Board.

Professor Jenny Lee-Morgan - Waikato, Te Ahiwaru, Ngāti Mahuta

Jenny is a senior kaupapa Māori researcher and is Director of Pūrangakua, an independent Kaupapa  Māori research centre in Tāmaki Makaurau. Formerly the inaugural Director of Ngā Wai a te Tūī Māori and Indigenous Research Centre, Unitec, Jenny has led several large community centred research projects. Currently she is also a Trustee of Te Ahiwaru Trust and Te Motu o Hiaroa Charitable Trust.

Professor Margie Kahukura Hohepa  - Ngā Puhi, Te Ātiawa (Chair)

Margie is an independent Kaupapa Māori researcher who has worked in the area of Māori Education and Māori language regeneration for over 30 years. She has extensive educational research expertise and has been actively involved in Te Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori over many years. She was previously a Professor at the University of Waikato and a leading Māori education scholar at the University of Auckland. She is currently a lead researcher on a five year project “Kaupapa Māori: Creating an Indigenous systems change model in Aotearoa’. 

PANEL – Hawaiʻi

Dr. Toni Bissen

Dr. Toni Bissen has a background in law, and community based nonprofit management. She is the Executive Director of the Pūʻā Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that drives ‘Trauma to Transformation’ programs for justice-involved women, girls & their families, especially Hawaiians, and also are proud stewards of the Punahoa Heritage Forest initiative putting into action caring for the land and caring for the people efforts - mālama ʻāina, mālama kanaka. As a cultural practitioner, Toni engages in the practice of oli, and hula (chant and dance). She is also a wife and mother of two daughters.

Brytni Kaleionaia K-aloha “Kalei”

Kalei is the President and Owner of Kahikolu Enterprises, a kanaka owned business specializing in snacks with the mission to support all efforts of ʻEkolu Mea Nui, the ʻohana operated non- profit organization. ʻEkolu Mea Nui envisions a pono justice system in Hawaiʻi that heals and empowers individuals, ‘ohana, and communities through Native Hawaiian values and practices. As a cultural practitioner of mahiʻai and kilo (farming, gathering, observing) Kalei continues to perpetuate the practices of her Kupuna. Her greatest love is being a mother of five keiki ʻōiwi, they range in ages 15 to 5 months. Kalei is a nurturer, shown in her ability to balance motherhood, aunty-hood, daughter-hood, wife-hood, niece-hood, cousin-hood and all the other “hoods” that come with being the eldest wahine of her generation. Kaleiʻs background is in public health, nutrition and land-based education with a focus on Hawaii world-being.

Venus Kauʻiokawēkiu Rosete-Medeiros 

Venus is the President & CEO of Hale Kipa, Inc - a multi- service, fully accredited 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that specializes in working with youth who have been historically oppressed and marginalized. Her background extends from working with community-based organizations, private and public-school systems, state prison system, public housing, and community grassroots initiatives. She has developed several culturally relevant curriculum and programs for youth and families statewide and coordinated several community-building projects on Maui. Venus was born and raised on Maui and is a proud graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama on O’ahu. She earned her Masters in Public Administration from Madison University.  She is married and has 6 children ages 24 to 34. In her free time, she enjoys ʻohana time, volunteering for community events and watching true crime.

Dr Māhealani Jamee Miller (Chair)

Dr Miller is the co-founder and President of ʻEkolu Mea Nui a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming Hawaiʻiʻs criminal justice system through Native Hawaiian values and practices. Dr. Miller oversees development and operational leadership for the organization with a focus on advocacy. She leads the Hui Hoʻiwai initiative that includes other service providers, partnering agencies and governmental departments with a collective vision to end inter-generational incarceration for Native Hawaiian youth and adults.

PANEL – Australia

Gemma Sentence

Gemma Sentance is a Wiradjuri woman from NSW and currently works as a research associate with Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. She is in her final stages of completing her PhD project investigating the experiences of First Nations law graduates in colonial legal institutions and has previously worked as a research assistant on an Australian Research Council project exploring the experiences of criminalised First Nations women engaging with the legal system in NSW. She also has experience working as a graduate solicitor for the NSW government and has a Bachelor of Laws from UTS, Masters of Criminal Justice and Criminology from UNSW, and a graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage from CSU.

Raymond Weatherall

Raymond “Bubbly” Weatherall is a Gomeroi activist who has fought for land and social justice for many years. His work is grounded in strong cultural practice, connection to Country and a commitment to healing the trauma suffered by Aboriginal people. He has worked as an advocate in the criminal justice and child protection systems and is currently a Cultural Peer Support Officer at the Rainbow Lodge, a transition house for men exiting prison.

Matthew Walsh

Matthew Walsh is an Anēwan man and academic at the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney. Matthew has led programs in Indigenous policy engagement and implementation across government, higher education, corporate and not-for-profit sectors

Latoya Aroha Rule

Latoya descends from Wiradjuri and Te Ātiawa peoples, and grew up on Kaurna Yarta/ Adelaide, South Australia. They are a takatāpui/ queer, non-binary person and they use all pronouns. Latoya is a research associate within the UTS Jumbunna Legal Strategies Hub, a final year PhD candidate, and a Powerhouse Museum Research Scholar. Their work involves strategising justice reforms, especially responding to deaths in custody and coronial inquests, and advocating for families and those with lived carceral experience. Latoya also leads the National Ban Spit hoods Coalition, is an associate of the UNSW Centre for Criminology, Law and Justice, and is a board director for YungProdigy, an NGO focused on supporting young people impacted by parental incarceration.

Alison Whittaker (Chair)

Alison Whittaker is a Gomeroi poet and legal researcher from the floodplains of Gunnedah in NSW. Between 2017-2018, she was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard Law School, where she was named the Dean's Scholar in Race, Gender and Criminal Law. Her second book, BLAKWORK, was released with Magabala Books in September 2018.  Prior to this, Alison worked at UTS: CAIK, UTS: Law, the Gendered Violence Research Network, and received a blackandwrite! fellowship from the State Library of Queensland.

DAY 2: Panel Bios

International Project Panels – He Waka Eke Noa Research Team

Professor Leonie Pihama

Te Ātiawa, Ngā Māhanga a Tairi, Ngāti Māhanga

Leonie is a mother of six and a grandmother of six. She is the Director of Māori and Indigenous Analysis Ltd, a kaupapa Māori research company and a Senior Researcher for Tū Tama Wāhine o Taranaki. Leonie is a leading kaupapa Māori educator and researcher. Leonie is co-Principal Investigator with Professor Linda Smith on He Waka Eke Noa.

Distinguished Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou

Linda is a Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She is a researcher, mentor, supervisor, writer, and educator. Linda is renowned for her work in Indigenous Māori education, decolonising methodologies and kaupapa Māori. Her book Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples has been an international best seller in the indigenous world since its publication in 1998.

Rihi Te Nana

Ngāpuhi, Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi, Tūwharetoa, Raukawa, Maniapoto

Rihi has been working in the kaupapa Māori research space for over a decade committing her research ideas and knowledge to developing and empowering whānau and Māori communities to grow and maintain their agency by facilitating and building capability skills through kaupapa Māori research informed initiatives. 

Ngaropi Raumati

Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa

Ngaropi is the foundation member, Director and Senior Domestic Violence Programme Facilitator and Educator of Tu Tama Wahine o Taranaki.  Ngaropi has worked in the social service area in a variety of environs for over 30 years.  She is an active iwi member who has worked in the health and social justice for over 40yrs.

Shirley Simmonds

Ngāti Raukawa

Shirley is a kaupapa Māori health researcher, an adult educator and a mother of two young sons, Tamihana and Raukawa. She has a passion for Māori health, and a focus on research and teaching that serves our aspirations of a healthy Māori population and contributes to a health system and research environment that meets the needs of whānau Māori. 

Billie -Jean Cassidy 

Ngāpuhi, Ngāitakoto, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Whakaki me Nūhaka

Billy-Jean has been across both Government Agencies and NGO’s in Waikato, Taranaki and predominantly in Ōtautahi. Her current role is Kaiwhakahaere of Te Puna Oranga in Ōtautahi, a kaupapa Māori organisation which focuses on mahi tūkino/sexual violence and the healing of whānau using kaupapa Māori tools. 

Peseta Betty Sio

Samoan

Betty has worked in Auckland's Pacific community for more than 20 years advocating against family violence and sexual abuse. In 1995 she established the Pacific Islands Safety and Violence Prevention Project, which works with Pacific families that have experienced violence. 

Herearoha Skipper 

Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Tara Tokanui Tawhaki, Ngāpuhi

Herearoha manages major research projects in the fields of Taiao, Hauora, Mātauranga, and te Reo Māori.  She provides leadership in kaupapa Māori research that promote the vision, values, and aspirations of whānau, hapū, iwi.  She brings with her a suite of skills and experience to lead an exciting era of transformation.

First Nations Land Justice hub research partners

Gadrian Hoosan

Gadrian is a Garrwa and Yanyuwa man born and raised in Borroloola and Gulf country homelands of the Northern Territory (NT). He is widely respected as a cultural leader who powerfully advocates for the rights of his people around issues of environmental and cultural heritage protection, water/land rights, protection of sacred sites and Aboriginal representation and community governance. Gadrian is currently an elected councillor in Rope Gulf Regional Council and an advisor to the First Nations Land Justice hub in Jumbunna.   

Scott McDinny

Scott McDinny is a Garrwa / Yanyuwa man from Borroloola in the NT’s Gulf of Carpentaria. He is a founding Director of Ngardara Cooperative, a community controlled organisation established to drive design and development of the Ngardara Microgrid Project, the Territory’s first Indigenous owned utility-scale solar microgrid.

We are deeply honoured to be hosting this gathering and conversation on Gadigal lands, here in Sydney city.

Prof Jason De Santolo

Jason is Garrwa and Barunggam and is Professor in the First Nations Land Justice hub in Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research and Assoc Dean (Indigenous Research) in PVC Indigenous Office at UTS. As a research scholar and filmmaker, he has worked in higher education for over two decades, combining legal training with creative methodologies to further Indigenous rights and environmental justice.

Host Organisation: Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), First Nations Land Justice hub, Legal Strategies hub, Cultural Resilience hub. 

Project Partner Organisations: Tu Tama Wahine o Taranaki, Purangakura, Ekolu Mea Nui, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.  

Community partners: Nawi Gadoo, Original Power

Funders: This project is funded by the Royal Society Te Aparangi as part of the Catalyst Fund Seeding grant. 

Symposium Supporters: UTS Office of Pro Vice Chancellor (PVC) Indigenous Leadership and Engagement, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, First Nations Land Justice hub, Legal Strategies hub, Cultural Resilience hub, University of Technology Sydney. 

MAPS info

Link to map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VJU7QLXBMkQhdvqb6

Best venue entrance for accessibility, access point for Elders with lifts to level 3. Address for taxis and drop offs:

84 Mary Ann St. Haymarket / Ultimo

For further event info contact Jumbunna: Jason De Santolo jason.desantolo@uts.edu.au, Latoya Aroha Rule Latoya.rule@uts.edu.au 

For project info or media contact project lead: leonie.pihama@tutamawahine.org.nz