Re-presenting urban Aboriginal identities: Self-representation in Children of the Sun

Teaching Aboriginal studies to a diverse student cohort presents challenges in the pursuit of developing a critical pedagogy. In this paper, we present Children of the Sun (2006), a local film made by Indigenous youth in the Illawarra region south of Sydney, New South Wales. We outline the film’s genesis and its utilisation in our praxis. The film is a useful resource in the teaching of urban Aboriginal identity to primarily non-Indigenous students in the discipline of Aboriginal studies. It contributes to the development of critical thinking, and our own critical practice as educators and offers a starting point to address pre-conceived and stereotypical notions about race and colour. We situate this paper within a theoretical framework of identity and whiteness studies to explore the issue of light skin in relation to the constraints of identity surrounding urban Aboriginal youth, as represented in Children of the Sun. We discuss the usefulness of this film as a self-representational text that subverts and challenges pre-conceived notions of Aboriginal identity.