love #dat settler state

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for the next time a technocrat faffs on about how everything would be ok If People Just Respected Statistics And Data:

Through the state's statistical fetishism, a de-contextualised and dated
statistic derived from vague sources comes to represent reality. Zombie-like,
this statisic rises from the grave, consuming hunters, fishers and gatherers
and their bush foods along with entire outstations so that they can no longer
be seen by the state. Fetishised, it gains a magical power over other evidence
that either challenges or contextualises it. It also gains a power over
Indigenous communities, as this statistical abstraction becomes a means for
creting their reality rather than merely representing it. It is used as
justification for the removal of one of the few formal avenues of state support
for customary harvest and bush foods.

- from "Indigenous Rangers and the Customary Economy", in People on Country (2012)

In 2008 the Council of Australian Governments agreed to six targets for Closing the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health, education and employment statistics. These targets provide a culture-free approach to improving the outcomes for indigenous Australians. By culture-free we refer to the underlying assumption that Western science is rational, value-neutral and uncontaminated by culture. In reality, Western science and rationality are inseperable from Western culture and values.