SEMINAR: Anthropology and Sociology Seminar Series 2015: A tale of two songlines: Aboriginal production values in the twilight of self-determination

The current sea change in Aboriginal funding represented by the Indigenous Advancement Strategy cements the reorientation of national policies from self-determination toward "closing the gap." At the same time, Aboriginal media is in the midst of a golden era. As of February in Broome, for example, there are four free-to-air Indigenous channels, in addition to regular content on the ABC and SBS, providing viewers with an unprecedented diversity of representations from polished cinema to raw remote footage. My dissertation seeks to understand the changing stakes of broadcasting Aboriginality through an 18-month ethnography of two Indigenous media organizations located in the same building in Broome. In this talk, I ground discussions of the current paradoxical state of Aboriginal media by contrasting how these outlets have produced two radically different films through the same "Songlines on Screen" NITV/Screen Australia grant program.