Martin Nakata is an Australian academic, researcher and scholar in the field of

Indigenous education Indigenous education specifically focuses on teaching Indigenous knowledge, models, methods, and content within formal or non-formal educational systems. The growing recognition and use of Indigenous education methods can be a response to the er ...

Indigenous knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Org ...

, and

Indigenous Studies Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. He is the first Indigenous person from the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

to obtain a doctoral degree. He is also a proponent of indigenous standpoint theory. As of 2021, he is Deputy Vice-Chancellor of

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

. In 2020 he was conferred with

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian ...

for "significant service to tertiary education, and to learning outcomes for Indigenous students". An asteroid in the

Koronis family ] The Koronis or Koronian family (), also known as the Lacrimosa family, is a very large asteroid family of stony asteroids, located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. They are thought to have been formed at least two billion years ago in a ...

has been named in his honour as 7547 Martinnakata for his contribution to Aboriginal Australian astronomy, Indigenous astronomy.

Early life and education

Nakata is of

Torres Strait islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grou ...

and Japanese descent. His mother is a

traditional owner Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have righ ...

of islands in the Torres Strait, a remote region of Australia. His dad was born in Kushimoto-cho, Wakayama-Ken, Japan. Prof Nakata grew up in the islands where he did all his schooling years and has a thorough and intimate understanding of the languages and customs of the Torres Strait Islander people. He was trained as a teacher and in 1991 graduated with a Bachelor of Education with first class honours, and in 1998 he graduated with a PhD degree in education from

, and thereafter specialised in the field of Indigenous education.

Professional career

Nakata is recognised nationally and internationally as one of the leading Indigenous academics in Australia. He has had an extensive academic research career in the fields of Indigenous education, Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Knowledge. His current research work includes two longitudinal projects on the academic preparation of Indigenous students for university studies, and the academic performance of Indigenous school students in the Math and Science curriculum. He is a Chief Investigator on the

ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage __NOTOC__ The ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) is a research centre which focuses on the natural, historic and Indigenous heritage of Australia. Its aim is to increase understanding of the past in order to ...

, and leading the Indigenous STEM project to examine under-explored aspects of learning which can improve educational performance of indigenous students in Australia. He has presented over seventy plenary and keynote addresses at professional conferences in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, Greece, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Canada, United States, Peru, Aotearoa (NZ) and Australia, and has published extensively on Australian Indigenous education issues in national and international academic journals, anthologies and books. He has been the co-editor of the ''Australian Journal of Indigenous Education'' for the past ten years, and he continues to serve on editorial boards of academic journals in several countries.

List of selected works

Books

* Nakata, Martin (2007). ''Disciplining the Savages and Savaging the Disciplines''. Sydney: Aboriginal Studies Press. . * Nakata, Martin (2001). ''Indigenous People, Racism and the United Nations''. Sydney: South Pacific Books. . * Nakata, Martin; Day, Andrew (2008). ''Anger and Indigenous Men''. Alexandria, NSW: Federation Press. . * Nakata, Martin; Harris, Michelle (2013). ''The Politics of Identity - Emerging Indigeneity.'' Sydney: Sydney University Press. .

Journal articles

* Nakata, M.; Nakata, V. (2019). "Indigenous Undergraduates' Use of Supplementary Tutors". Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 48 (2): 119–128. . * Nakata, M. (2018). "Difficult Dialogues in the South : Questions about Practice". Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 47 (1): 1–7. . * Nakata, M.; Nakata, V.; Martin, G. (2015). "Promoting Persistence of Indigenous Students through Cultural Interface". Studies in Higher Education. 42 (7): 1–16. * Nakata, M. (2013). "The Rights and Blights of Politics in Indigenous Higher Education". Anthropological Forum. 23 (3): 289–313. . * Nakata, M.; Nakata, V. (2004). "Approaches to Academic Preparation and Support for Indigenous Studies". Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 37 (1): 137–145. . * Nakata, M. (2006). "Australian Indigenous Studies: A Question of Discipline". ''The Australian Journal of Anthropology''. 17 (3) * Nakata, M. (2002). "Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Interface". IFLA Journal. 28 (5–6): 281–291. . * Nakata, M. (1995). Culture in education: A political strategy for us or for them? Ngoonjook, (11), 40–61. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.032591622745468

Edited works

* Nakata, Martin; Langton, Marcia, eds. (2005), Australian Indigenous Knowledge and Libraries, 1 (1st ed.), Sydney: UTS Press, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakata, Martin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academic staff of James Cook University James Cook University alumni Members of the Order of Australia Torres Strait Islanders