Biographical note

Janine’s cultural heritage is drawn from her North Queensland connections to both the Gugu Badhun in the Upper Burdekin region and the Ngadjon-ji on the Atherton Tablelands. Janine’s research interests are grounded in her community development and nation-building work with the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Nation and through her representation of Gugu Badhun issues at:

• the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (New York) in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012
• the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Geneva) in 2010 and 2012
• the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ seminar on "Strengthening Partnerships between Indigenous Peoples and States: treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements", (Geneva), in 2012.

Research topic

Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local level – Gugu Badhun self-determination

Research outline

This research project will use the example of the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Nation to examine the practical application of self-determination as a right articulated within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The participatory action research project will follow the implementation of the strategies outlined within the Gugu Badhun People’s Community Plan (2014-2020) as the manifestation of the Declaration, and more specifically, self-determination at the local level. This approach will facilitate the examination of Gugu Badhun ways of expressing and exercising self-determination and the extent to which Australian state frameworks help or hinder Gugu Badhun sovereignty.

Research questions

• How does an Aboriginal Nation enact, as well as describe self-determination, sovereignty and nationhood at the local level?
• How do Gugu Badhun perspectives on self-determination, sovereignty and nationhood differ from those expressed by Australian governments?
• In what ways does the Australian Government (a UN Member State) help and/or hinder the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Nation’s right to self-determination, as per Article 3 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local level?

Supervisory Team

Dr Theresa Petray

Professor Stewart Lockie

Research Grants

Australian Postgraduate Award: 2016-2018

Conference papers

Petray, T., & Gertz, J. (2011, July). Indigenous, Aboriginal, Gugu Badhun: Negotiating layers of identity in local, national and global activism. Paper presented at the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES), the Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa / New Zealand (ASAANZ) Conference, Perth.

Gertz, J. (2012, July). Study on the role of languages and culture in the promotion and protection of the rights and identity of indigenous peoples. Paper presented at the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP): Agenda Item 5, Statement by Gugu Badhun Limited on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples Organisations Network of Australia, Geneva.

Petray, T., & Gertz, J. (2015). Business the Wuriba way: Native bee hives as a model for Aboriginal economic development. Paper presented at the The Australian Sociological Association Neoliberalism and Contemporary Challenges for the Asia-Pacific, Cairns. 

Gertz, J. (2015). Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local level: Gugu Badhun self-determination. In T. Petray & A. Stephens (Eds.), Refereed proceedings of TASA 2015 conference: Neoliberalism and contemporary challenges for the Asia-Pacific, 23-26 November 2015. Cairns: James Cook University.

Hardy, D., Forest, E., McIntosh, Z., Myers, T., & Gertz, J. (2016). Moving beyond "just tell me what to code": Inducting tertiary ICT students into research methods with aboriginal participants via games design. OzCHI '16 Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (pp. 557-561 ). Launceston, Tasmania, Australia: ACM.

Gertz J.  (2018).  Gugu Badhun Research, Gugu Badhun Researcher and the Gugu Badhun Researched:  Zones of convergence between cultural identity, community and insider participatory action research.  College of Arts, Society and Education Higher Degree by Research Conference 2018, Research Insights and Zones of Convergence, Cairns,  27th and 28th September 2018

Publications

Gertz, J. (2015). Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local level: Gugu Badhun self-determination. In T. Petray & A. Stephens (Eds.), Refereed proceedings of TASA 2015 conference: Neoliberalism and contemporary challenges for the Asia-Pacific.

 Hardy, D., Forest, E., McIntosh, Z., Myers, T., & Gertz, J.( 2016) Moving beyond "just tell me what to code": Inducting tertiary ICT students into research methods with aboriginal participants via games design, OzCHI '16 Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (pp. 557-561).

 Petray, T., & Gertz, J. (2018). Building an economy and building a nation: Gugu Badhun self-determination as prefigurative resistance. Global Media Journal: Australian Edition, 2018, vol. 12, Issue 1.

Gertz, J. (2019). Breaking Down the Colonial Structures: A Gugu Badhun Manifesto, In W. Bradshaw (Ed.), Blood Sweat and Tears, Sūdō Journal, vol.1, January 2019, pp.20-33.

Teaching Experience

• SS1010 – Introduction to Sociology – “Country, Culture and Connection” 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• EV3200 – Terrestrial Resource Management – “Negotiation of Layers and Players in Natural Resource Management Governance”
• Rehabilitation Sciences – Cultural Safety Day – “Intergenerational impacts of government policy – Aboriginal women’s perspective” March 2011
• Post-Graduate Research Masterclass Social Sciences 2015 – Community Engagement / Indigenous Research Protocols
• Anthropology Seminar 2015 – “Implementing the Declaration at the Local Level – Is it Relevant?”
• Co-facilitated Indigenous Research Protocols – Community Workshops (2014-2015) aimed at building capacity of traditional owner groups in engaging with research for community development purposes.