Written by Julia Day
#UNELaw’s Associate Professor Guy Charlton has always been passionate about seeing Indigenous communities thrive. This passion was piqued when Guy was a young law student. During this time he visited several American Indian reservations where he was exposed to a myriad of social problems. He witnessed acute poverty, domestic violence and extreme drug abuse. He recalls going into the Community Centre on one of the reservations where the only working electric light for the whole community was in the Tribal Centre. As you can imagine, this exposure piqued Guy’s interest in helping out these communities as much as he could. Upon graduation Guy became a legal practitioner specialising in Tribal Law.
Fast forward several decades to March 2020. Guy was starting to prepare for a research conference which was to be help in Taipai later on in the year. Like everything else in 2020 this was cancelled due to Covid 19. Upon discussing alternatives with fellow academics Professor Michael Adams, Stephen Acabado from UCLA and Daya (Da-Wei) Kuan from National Cheng Chi University, the webinar series was born. 
The webinar series incorporates speakers from a number of different disciplines such as anthropologists, social scientists and community activists. Most importantly there are also representatives from the Indigenous communities which are being examined. Guy notes the webinar series is ‘useful as it allows academics to talk to people who are living in the communities they are studying. One thing which has been surprising is- in some instances what academics think are the key concerns of the community do not marry up with those of the community members. For example academics may think climate change is a central community issue, but in actual fact it is land tenure that is the key concern.’
When I asked Guy what the main issues are for people living in Indigenous communities he noted: ‘there is a commonality of concerns that are relevant to Indigenous cultures across the world. These include appropriation and the preservation of the unique community culture and maintaining self-determination.’
The finale presentation for the webinar series will feature #UNELaw’s Marcelle Burns. Marcelle will discuss the Indigenous Cultural Competency for Legal Academics Program. As Guy notes ‘it is important to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum. There is a lot to be learnt from Indigenous culture!’ If you would like to register for this panel which is being help on the 19th November at 1pm, please click on this link <<https://dal.ucla.edu/engagedresearch>>
Congratulations on the success of the Engaged Scholarship in the Asia Pacific Webinar Series!
