Section 1: Historical and Systemic Harms—Objectification, Exploitation, and Deficit Discourse Australian research on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is marked by a persistent legacy of objectification, exploitation, and deficit framing. From colonization onward, non-Aboriginal anthropologists, ethnographers, and scientists cast Aboriginal people as “specimens,” reducing them to objects of scientific curiosity. This objectification facilitated the … Continue reading When ‘Research’ Causes Harm, in Australia, 2025