(2004). Sound-Field Amplification: Enhancing the Classroom Listening Environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v33 p47-53. Sound-field amplification is an educational tool that allows control of the acoustic environment in a classroom. Teachers wear small microphones that transmit sound to a receiver system attached to loudspeakers around the classroom. The goal of sound-field amplification is to amplify the teacher's voice by a few decibels, and to provide uniform amplification throughout the classroom without making speech too loud for normal hearing children. This report discusses the major findings of a study which investigated the effects of sound-field amplification intervention on the communication naturally occurring in the classrooms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The audiological findings of the sample population of children are presented, as well as details of the classroom acoustic environment. Sixty-seven percent of the children began the field trials with a slight hearing loss. The results confirmed the extremely noisy and reverberant conditions in which teachers and… [Direct]
(2005). Lahi and Attaldat: The Philosophy of the Gift and Sami Education. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p20-32. This article explores the Sami philosophy of the gift as a basis for a transformative pedagogical framework. Grounded on the Sami land-based worldview, this philosophy calls for the recognition and reciprocation of gifts, whether gifts of the land, interpersonal gifts or giftedness of an individual. In particular, the article considers two Sami concepts, that of "lahi" and "attaldat" and explains how they can serve as a framework for a Sami pedagogy that takes into account the central role of the Sami worldview in contemporary education while simultaneously critically analysing the colonial structures that continue to impact Sami society and education…. [Direct]
(2005). Nehithawak of Reindeer Lake, Canada: Worldview, Epistemology and Relationships with the Natural World. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p33-43. The purpose of this exploratory article is to illustrate the worldview, epistemology and relationship with the natural world from a Nehithawak (Woodlands Cree) perspective. The contents of the article represent a personal narrative of an educator of Woodlands Cree cultural heritage from the Reindeer Lake area of northern Canada. A brief history of the Woodlands Cree is shared in order to provide a context for my perspectives as "an insider" of this way of life. This is followed by an attempt to articulate fundamental key concepts in relation to traditional Woodlands Cree education, worldview, epistemology, language, values and practices as they are informed by relationships with the land, plants and animals. The text is highly subjective and culturally contextualised. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2005). The Tree of Life as a Research Methodology. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p44-52. This paper is grounded on the premise that research, as a colonising practice, needs constant reconceptualisation and rethinking. I propose a methodology based on some of the values, visions and stories from my own Maya Indigenous culture and knowledge in addition to other Indigenous cultures across the world. I argue that researchers need to constantly acknowledge and change the negative impacts of ignoring multiple ways of knowing by engaging in respectful methods of knowledge collection and production. This paper contributes to the work Indigenous scholars have done in the area of research methodologies and knowledge production. First, a general overview of the values and concepts embedded in the "Ceiba" or the "Tree of Life" is presented; then, a discussion of what respectful research practices entail follows; finally, it concludes with a reflection on how the "Ceiba" is a small example of how researchers can adapt their research methodology to the… [Direct]
(2005). The Seed Is the Law. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p53-60. Since humanities arise from a specific place and from the people of that place, this article will focus on Peacemaker's revolutionary teachings about the seed of law. Long before the people from across the ocean arrived here on Turtle Island (North America) there was much warfare happening. According to John Mohawk (2001, para. 1), an Iroquoian social historian, "[t]he people had been at war for so long that some were born knowing they had enemies [but] not knowing why they had enemies". Peacemaker planted the seeds of peace which resulted in the Kayenla'kowa, the Great Law of Peace (n. d.), which is the basis of the Hotinoshni Confederacy. With the burial of the weapons of war under the Great Tree of Peace the Hotinoshni were able to develop their rituals and ceremonies to reflect their relationship with creation. This peaceful confederacy was disrupted shortly after the Europeans arrived with their violent imperialistic ways of life. The 1996 Royal Commission on… [Direct]
(2005). Aboriginal Knowledge Traditions in Digital Environments. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p61-66. According to Manovich (2001), the database and the narrative are natural enemies, each competing for the same territory of human culture. Aboriginal knowledge traditions depend upon narrative through storytelling and other shared performances. The database objectifies and commodifies distillations of such performances and absorbs them into data structures according to a priori assumptions of metadata; that is the data which describes the data to aid a search. In a conventional library for example, the metadata which helps you find a book may be title, author or topic. It is misleading and dangerous to say that these databases contain knowledge, because we lose sight of the embedded, situated, collaborative and performative nature of knowledge. For the assemblages of digital artefacts we find in an archive or database to be useful in the intergenerational transmission of living knowledge traditions, we need to rethink knowledge as performance and data as artefacts of prior knowledge… [Direct]
(2005). Shieldwolf and the Shadow: Entering the Place of Transformation. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p79-85. This paper speaks from a poetic voice and briefly discusses the untamed nature of metaphor and narrative. Then the story is shared. The tale relates to how healing of identity, after eons of racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of social isolation and internalised sorrow, requires deep abiding patience. Situated in transpersonal or spiritual space, the story suggests how Indigenous narrative crosses thresholds between reality and fiction. These are united in an "ontopoetics" of soul, a uniquely postmodern Indigenous sensibility that is also nothing terribly new. The story of Shieldwolf and the Shadow is a contemporary Indigenous tale of the place where transformation is undertaken, without fear, and with every intention that life itself will change beyond our reckoning. It may be possible that past bloodlines can be cleansed and our future restored to justice and peace–at least in some personal and contingent way. What we see in contemporary story is a potential for… [Direct]
(2005). He apiti hono, he tatai hono: That Which Is Joined Remains an Unbroken Line–Using "Whakapapa" (Genealogy) as the Basis for an Indigenous Research Framework. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p86-95. This paper explores the notion of "whakapapa" as providing a legitimate research framework for engaging in research with Maori communities. By exploring the tradition and meaning of "whakapapa", the paper will legitimate how "whakapapa" and an understanding of "whakapapa" can be used by Maori researchers working among Maori communities. Therefore, emphasis is placed on a research methodology framed by "whakapapa" that not only authenticates Maori epistemology in comparison with Western traditions, but that also supports the notion of a "whakapapa" research methodology being transplanted across the Indigenous world; Indigenous peoples researching among their Indigenous communities. Consequently, Indigenous identity is strengthened as is the contribution of the concept of "whakapapa" to Indigenous research paradigms worldwide…. [Direct]
(2005). Bringing Knowledge to Truth: The Joke and Australian (In)Humanities. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p132-142. In the formulation of new humanities–knowledge, truth and social action brought together in the defence of what makes us human in this place and time–there is also the need to identify the obstacles to honouring our humanity. This paper continues the task of critically examining contemporary forms of inhumanity, in this instance as perpetuated by a liberal Australian government against its citizens and others. Liberalism, by nature, enables the co-existence of contradictory practices that both protect and deny human rights and dignities. In psychoanalytic terms, the defence of liberties and its repressed other, the denial of them, are both present in such states. Because of their links with both the conscious and the unconscious, an analysis of jokes provides insights into these contradictory processes. The paper explores how both the humanities and the inhumanities are manifest variously in the joking behaviours of social groups…. [Direct]
(2005). Insights on First Nations Humanities. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v34 p143-151. The question of what is humanity and how it is expressed has endless and dynamic answers. My paper is an attempt to construct and explain the answer based on the insights Indigenous humanity expressed in the continent called North America. The four fundamental insights are organised around the concept of creation as ecology, the insights of embodied spirits, the implicate order, and transformation. These complementary insights inform the depth of Indigenous worldview. These insights are replicated and revealed in structure and meaning of Indigenous languages, ceremonies and stories. These cognitive insights suggest a starting point for reflecting about whatever is most significant in Indigenous humanities in curriculum…. [Direct]
(2003). A Bibliography of Torres Strait Education. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v31 n1 p77-80. This non-selective bibliography is limited to published material and is part of the Bibliography of Torres Strait to be found on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit's website at [website omitted]. Torres Strait Islander authors are marked with an asterisk…. [Direct]
(2015). Exploring Diverse Educational Landscapes: A Relational and Responsive Lens. Online Submission, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Multicultural Education (New Orleans, LA, Oct 1-4, 2015). Our goal in this session is to open up new pathways for addressing the seemingly immutable educational disparities, often brought about by historical power imbalances and traditional transmission pedagogies in classrooms and schools that continue to value and perpetuate a view of knowledge and learning maintained by the dominant group. We share culturally response-able processes for coming to grips with what it is we do not know…. [PDF]
(2017). Quality Teaching Practices as Reported by Aboriginal Parents, Students and Their Teachers: Comparisons and Contrasts. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, v42 n12 Article 5 p80-97 Dec. This paper summarizes the findings from the first phase of a three-part project which, overall, investigates what Aboriginal students perceive as the qualities and actions of effective teachers and subsequently seeks to determine the impact of the enactment of these identified qualities on educational outcomes. This first phase of the research was centered on gathering accounts of quality teachers and teaching practice from students, parents and their teachers from phenomenologically aligned interviews. Similar and contrasting themes among these three groups are presented, with the intention of exposing potential mismatch in perception of the construct of "quality" teaching. Finally, we present implications of this research in light of the more recent development of professional standards for Australian teachers that seek to define and evaluate high quality teaching…. [PDF]
(2017). Supervising Research in Maori Cultural Contexts: A Decolonizing, Relational Response. Higher Education Research and Development, v36 n7 p1355-1368. We have collaborated for 25 years as indigenous Maori and non-Maori researchers undertaking research with Maori families, their schools and communities. We have endeavored to meet our responsibilities to the Maori people (indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand) and communities with whom we have researched, as well as meet the requirements and responsibilities of our academic institutions. In this paper, we reflect on the implications of these responsibilities for our work as supervisors of master's and doctoral students (Maori and non-Maori) who seek to draw on decolonizing methodologies as they undertake research in Maori cultural contexts. We draw on the experiences and interactions we have had with four different postgraduate students whose research on improving educational outcomes for Maori students has required them to engage and participate in Maori cultural contexts…. [Direct]
(2018). "Look It, This Is How You Know:" Family Forest Walks as a Context for Knowledge-Building about the Natural World. Cognition and Instruction, v36 n2 p89-118. This case study focuses on a Native American family's experience on a walk in an urban forest preserve. Drawing on interaction analysis traditions, we analyze video data and transcript data to characterize how learning unfolds in place, in this case an urban forest. We build on this analysis, as well as the work of Indigenous scholars, to theoretically develop "walking," "reading," and "storying land" as a methodology for making sense of physical and biological worlds…. [Direct] [Direct]