Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:52:43.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contingent, Contested and Changing: De-Constructing Indigenous Knowledge in a Science Curriculum Resource from the South Coast of New South Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Daphne Nash
Daphne Nash*
Affiliation:
Research School of Humanities, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 0200, Australia
Get access

Abstract

The nature and status of Indigenous knowledge is often debated, but the idea that Indigenous people's knowledge is local knowledge seems widely accepted: knowledge is place-based and may reference a range of places, from traditional land to other places known from social and cultural connections. Through collaboration with Koori people from the south coast of New South Wales to develop a web-based science resource, other distinctive characteristics of their knowledge emerged. This paper explores some transformations in contemporary Indigenous knowledge, while acknowledging the history of colonisation in south eastern Australia. A focus on two examples of Koori art demonstrates that Indigenous knowledge is contingent, contested and changing in culturally denned ways. These aspects are often overlooked in educational practice that essentialises Indigeneity and Indigenous people's knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 38 , Issue S1: Indigenous Knowledges within the Education Revolution , 2009 , pp. 25 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, L., & Greeno, L. (2005). The south-east: the importance of “tradition” in Indigenous fibre work from south-eastern Australia. In Parkes, B. (Ed.), Woven forms: Contemporary basket making in Australia (pp. 16–21). Sydney, NSW: Australian Centre for Craft and Design.Google Scholar
Antweiler, C. (2002). Local knowledge and local knowing: An anthropological analysis of contexted “cultural products” in the context of development. Anthropos, 95(4–6): 469–494.Google Scholar
Atkinson, L. (1854, 4 February). Native arts No.2, The Illustrated Sydney News, p. 141.Google Scholar
Australian National University. (2008). Living knowledge: Indigenous knowledge in science education. Retrieved 30 September, 2008, from http://livingknowledge.anu.edu.au.Google Scholar
Carter, L. (2004). Thinking differently about cultural diversity: using postcolonial theory to (re)read science education. Retrieved 13 June, 2004, from http://www.interscience.wiley.com.Google Scholar
Castellano, M. B. (2000). Updating Aboriginal traditions of knowledge. In Dei, G. J. S., Hall, B. L. & Rosenberg, D. G. (Eds.), Indigenous knowledges in global contexts: multiple readings of our world (pp. 21–36). Toronto, ON: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Cooper, C. (1996). Traditional visual culture in south-east Australia. In Sayers, A. (Ed.), Aboriginal artists in the nineteenth century (pp. 91–109). Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Davison, C. (2008). Gulaga and her sons. Retrieved 30 August, 2008, from http://livingknowledge.anu.edu.au/learningsites/kooricoast/10_gulaga.htm.Google Scholar
Egloff, B., Peterson, N., & Wesson, S. (2005). Biamanga and Gulaga: Aboriginal cultural association with Biamanga and Gulaga National Parks. Canberra, ACT: Cultural Heritage Research Centre, University of Canberra.Google Scholar
Goulding, M., & Waters, K. (2005). Eurobodalla Aboriginal cultural heritage study: south coast New South Wales. Hurstville, NSW: NSW Department of Environment and Conservation.Google Scholar
Howitt, A. W. (1904). The native tribes of south-east Australia. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage. (1768–1771). Retrieved 7 March, 2007, from http://southseas.nla.gov.au.Google Scholar
Mauss, M. (1970). The gift: Forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies. London: Cohen & West.Google Scholar
Morgan, E. (1994). The calling of the spirits. Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar
Munn, N. D. (1966). Visual categories: And approach to the study of representational systems. American Anthropologist, 68(4): 936–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, A. J. (2005). Wrapped in a possum skin cloak: The Toolyn Koortakay collection in the National Museum of Australia, Collection Series. Canberra, ACT: National Museum of Australia.Google Scholar
Rose, D. B. (1990). Gulaga: A report on the cultural significance of Mt Dromedary to Aboriginal people. Sydney, NSW: Forestry Commission of New South Wales and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.Google Scholar
Sillitoe, P.(1998). The development of indigenous knowledge: a new applied anthropology. Current Anthropology, 39(2): 223–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tindale, N. B., & Jones, R. (1974). Aboriginal tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names. Canberra, ACT: Australian National University Press.Google Scholar
Wesson, S. C. (2000). An historical atlas of the Aborigines of eastern Victoria and far south eastern New South Wales, Geography and Science monograph No. 53. Melbourne, VIC: Monash University Press.Google Scholar