Agency, contingency and census process

Table of Contents

Preliminary Pages

Notes on the contributors

Abbreviations and acronyms

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Producing powerful numbers

The 2006 research project

The Indigenous Enumeration Strategy in 2006: structures and processes

2. Preparing for the 2006 enumeration

Introduction

The sociopolitical context of the census

The Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey and the census

The Discrete Indigenous Communities Database

The training of the Census Field Officers for the census

Conclusion

3. A vast improvement in Alice Springs

Introduction

2001 remembered and developments since

Collecting in 2006

Reasons for improvement

Remaining issues

Tangentyere’s list

Conclusion

4. Mobility and its consequences in Arnhem Land

Introduction

Localities

Funerals: a major cause of mobility

The count, phase one: 6 July to 3 August

The burdens of literacy

The count, phase two: 3–7 August

Problems of definition: ‘usual resident’ and ‘visitor’

The wider political context

The count, phase three: 8–14 August

A Darwin interlude

The count, phase four: 20 September

The role of local organisations: a missed opportunity

5. Institutional constraints at Wadeye

Census preparation: the relationship between the community and the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Census preparation: engaging a local census team

Persons temporarily absent

Conclusion

6. Logistical and boundary problems in Fitzroy Crossing

Getting started

Training, planning and preparation

The role of the Census Field Officer

The count

Issues specific to towns of the Fitzroy Crossing type

Conclusion

7. After the count and after the fact

The CFO debriefing

The post-count checking process at the Census Management Unit

Grooming the forms

The ‘persons temporarily absent’ problem

Conclusion

8. The transformation of input into output

Introduction

The Indigenous Processing Team: a brief appraisal

Some global problems

Family coding: what is being coded, and why?

Occupation: CDEP and the invisible economy

Conclusion: the representation of Indigenous Australians in the census

9. Accommodating agency and contingency

The Interviewer Household Form: from data collection to data coding

Common themes

Residents, visitors and ‘persons temporarily absent’

Suggestions for a new manner of engagement

Postscript: the census and the construction of Indigenous identity

Appendix A. The 2006 Interviewer Household Form

Appendix B. Commentary on the 2006 Interviewer Household Form

Structure

Content

References