AustLit

'Despite the emergence of decolonizing methods for the conduct of research involving Indigenous peoples since the 1990s, the field of Australian Indigenous studies remains characterized by the "spatial distance' that exists between professional academic researchers and the Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders over whom they claim knowledge, understanding, and "expertise." This paper, written primarily as an opinion piece, describes what transpired when I decided to seek a deeper engagement with the Aboriginal community that is the focus of my research activity. Moving from southeastern Australia to the regional center of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, this paper documents my efforts to close the spatial distance between researcher and researched through of series of vignettes. As the material outlined in the vignettes suggests, efforts to address the spatial distance proved only partially effective. Yet what emerged from this attempt was on ongoing engagement with inland remote Australia and a greatly enhanced understanding of the complex race relations between the Anangu (Aboriginal) peoples of the region and the non-Aboriginal population, as well as of the legacy of colonialism and the lingering impact the past continues to exert on the present.'

Source: Abstract.

'This article describes the author's journey through the collaborative process of making six award-winning books, all of which begin with the principle of "Learning from Country," which the author encountered while working in the Aboriginal community of Papunya (Northern Territory, Australia) and later used with culturally diverse urban students in Sydney. This experience confirms that Indigenous principles of education ore best-practice pedagogical principles, no matter where the learning takes place. Whatever "country" (whether city or bush) students live on, and whatever ''country" (geopolitical nation) their families originally come from, a way of learning that puts the Aboriginal sense of Counuy (encompassing home, homeland, environment, and habitat) at the center is the holistic way of learning that young people need in the twenty-first century if they are to sustain the very planet they live on. This model of learning, collaborative and co-operative, also confirms students both in their individual identity and in their sense of belonging to their neighborhood community.'

Source: Abstract.