Knowledge and power: the tale of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data

Abstract

The phrase 'knowledge is power' is understood to mean that if individuals and groups in a society attain knowledge through transmission of knowledge (education), they attain wisdom. This wisdom is then used to assert power (Bacon and Montagu 1857). However, as Foucault (1990) argues, knowledge power recreates itself in a circular process. Therefore, who determines what knowledge is - and who has the right to speak to that knowledge - is important.