Acting Globally by Thinking Locally--A Postcolonial Partnership.

The success of the Minimbah Aboriginal Preschool in Armidale, New South Wales (Australia) is due largely to the leadership abilities of its Aboriginal director, Dianne Roberts. Much of her leadership success comes from knowing her communities and her place in them. From an Aboriginal perspective, there is much more to knowing a community than a non-Aboriginal person would suspect. Kin knowledge is far more complex than a family tree and contains many intricate details of human relationships. Knowledge of kin relationships is necessary for understanding how local social networks operate and is a source of authority. Roberts is related to many local Aboriginal people, and she insists that detailed local knowledge of the community is needed for successful leadership at the local level. However, she does not settle for being labeled an "insider" or an "outsider." Instead, she switches from one to the other depending on which community she is dealing with. She also is a member of the educational community and maintains connections with town councils, educational associations, and various government bodies. Her authority in the professional community derives from her formal education qualifications; her ability to code switch from Aboriginal English to standard English; and the fact that she is an "authentic" Aboriginal, meaning that she was not removed from her family as were may Aboriginal children of the 1950s "stolen generation." In an interview, Roberts reflects on the universality of Indigeneity and how she has been influenced by Indigenous people in New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. (Contains 25 references.) (TD)