ABSTRACT
My aim in this chapter is to set the methodological tenor for my book. I will first seek to ground a methodological defence of Human Rights and to return again, contra Hayek, to the necessity for a politics of social justice. To defend the centrality of Human Rights in Aboriginal Affairs, I will draw upon the Bhaskarian concepts of explanatory critique and the concrete universal (Bhaskar, 2008). Then, I will turn to the radical priest, the late Ted Kennedy of Redfern (Campion, 2009; T. Kennedy, 2000). Through this engagement with the life and thought of Fr Kennedy will in effect constitute a moral critique of Hayek. Following this I will follow MacLennan (2010), and Chris Sarra (2011) in their differentiation of the concept of the ‘Other’ to lay the basis for a radical politics of recognition.
Central to my methodology will be the choice of a qualitative approach based on a series of narratives, that will radiate out from my own story to that of my family and also my people. I will anchor this book with a personal narrative, that will endeavour to show and tell how I came to this time and this place, and how my outlook on life has been influenced by my activism and my life experience. The choice of a qualitative approach is due to an acknowledgment that it is particularly suited to my purpose of description, explanation and argument rather than quantitative confirmation; though I have begun with an empirically based attempt to document the extent of First Australians’ non-well-being.
