‘Piddington's Indiscretion’:1 Ralph Piddington,The Australian National Research Council and Academic Freedom

The primary aim of this paper is to investigate the question why, particularly in the first half of this century, Australian academics were so supine when it came to public criticism of the treatment, conditions and welfare of Australian Aborigines. Its focus is Ralph Piddington and how he was treated by the Australian academic establishment for his public criticism of the treatment of Aborigines at La Grange Bay, North-west Australia. It shows how the Executive Committee of the Australian National Research Council (ANRC), A.P. Elkin, Professor of Anthropology at Sydney University from 1933 to 1956 and chairman, from 1933 to 1955, of the Australian National Research Council's Committee for Anthropological Research, and A.O. Neville, Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia, combined to silence and punish Piddington. The ANRC's criticisms of Piddington were fuelled, above all else, by their concern that his action would create a ‘very uncomfortable atmosphere regarding this Council and anthropological research generally.’ 5 2 Sir George Julius to Raymond Firth, 21 October 1932. 155/4/1/10.
In contrast the Rockefeller Foundation which provided the funding for the ANRC research grants and fellowships took a more lenient view of Piddington's action. It believed from the evidence presented by the ANRC that Piddington had made satisfactory progress toward carrying out the program for which he was given his fellowship and did not believe the charges made against him should impede his fellowship status.     

…?… evidence…?…

Questions of Evidence: Proof, Practice, and Persuasion across the Disciplines. Edited by James Chandler, Arnold I. Davidson, and Harry Harootunian (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) 518pp. $45.00 cloth $19.95 paper.

The Creation of Scientific Effects: Heinrich Hertz and Electric Waves. By Jed Z. Buchwald (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) 428pp. $32.95 paper $75.00 cloth.     

For Whom is the Rural Economy Resilient? Initial Effects of Drought in Western Sudan

This discussion piece addresses two recent debates: entitlement theory and the resilience of rural systems. The authors find that in western Sudan entitlement theory provides a specific and useful framework for understanding the nature of the crisis confronting the society. Arguments about the resilience of rural systems, however, need to be more closely examined and will depend on site-specific factors. The rural economy and society of western Sudan were not found to be resilient.     

CRITICAL THEORY AND PUBLIC POLICY

In the confines of the study of politics, public policy analysis involves a shift from pure to applied research, a shift which intensifies the problem of the fact-value split inherited from positivist behavioralism. While early public policy literature concentrated on empirical policy-making processes bypassing moral criteria, some recent writings have elaborated on policymaking and policy evaluation as a type of normative inquiry; significant steps in this direction have been undertaken by Duncan MacRae and especially by Jurgen Habermas in the context of “critical theory.” According to Habermas, policy evaluation requires a critically reflective “practical discourse” open not only to experts or policy analysts but to the public at large. The paper argues that such discourse is a valuable remedy against the technical-instrumental bent of applied science, but that recovery of a fully non-instrumental “practical” judgement presupposes an evaluation not only of concrete policies but of the status of “policy” itself.