Laura (Kat) Burmeister

Laura Burmeister

U.S. Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

Media Profile

“Indigenous people residing in urban areas are reconfiguring sharing obligations in ways that allow for increased participation in formal education and the appearance of socioeconomic stability and social mobility. I will investigate how increased Indigenous participation in formal education is impacting aboriginal identities and also reflexively reshaping the Australian educational system as a whole.”

Kat Burmeister received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina in Criminology (Pre-law), a Masters degree in anthropology from the University of Connecticut and is currently completing her PhD. Through her Fulbright Award Laura will conduct an investigation through anthropological research methods of participant observation and interviews with Indigenous youth in the Darwin town of Palmerston.

Kat’s study will examine the ethnological binaries of the traditional and the modern. Through examining urban living amongst Indigenous people Kat aims to uncover the shifting modes and frequencies of egalitarian sharing practices.

Indigenous anthropologists have attempted to show that the accumulation of wealth is antithetical to indigenous values of sharing. Egalitarian ethics presiding over individualism has often been cited as one of the root causes of chronic poverty, implying that indigenous communities are poor by definition. Kat will examine the increased urbanisation of Indigenous Australians and the creation of an Aboriginal middle-class.

“The number of people self-identifying as Aboriginal Australians has been growing exponentially in recent years in urban areas, illustrating the continued strength of Indigenous values and identifications in urban settings. My research will trace the impact that increased access to education has had on social capital, egalitarian ethos and Indigenous identity.”

Most research in Australia has dealt with “traditional” Indigenous communities; however an ethnographic research of Indigenous Australians in an urban setting is almost non-existent. Through her award, Kat will work with Dr Gary Robinson, leader of the Families, Children & Youth project, School of Social Policy Research at Charles Darwin University. She will live with an Indigenous family residing in Palmerston and work as a volunteer and tutor at Moulden Park Primary.

“Moulden Park Primary has a 50% Indigenous student population and has been experimenting with a variety of family involvement and outreach initiatives. I will learn from Indigenous children and their relatives as well as teachers and outreach staff. I want to understand how educational experiences alter concepts of kinship and sharing in Indigenous youth.”