Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T12:03:28.517Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Embedding Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies whilst interacting with academic norms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2019

Stephanie Gilbert
Stephanie Gilbert*
Affiliation:
The Callaghan Campus, University Drive, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Stephanie Gilbert, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Working in an Institute that centres Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies provides a challenge for the ongoing development of our understandings of Indigeneity and how we embed and embody these understandings. It also creates the opportunity for reflection and development both of pedagogical principles, as well as construction. Trends within the Institute to move to a new degree offering, led the University of Newcastle and the Wollotuka Institute to revisit questions of how to have these conversations together, how to create shared ideas about appropriate approaches and how to translate these shared understandings into real-time outcomes for students studying our courses. These processes are observed here with some examples provided to illuminate the challenging processes taken by experts involved with embodying Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies in this area through all processes of an indigenous centred unit in an Australian university.

Keywords

Cultural standardsIndigeneityIndigenouspedagogy
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , August 2021 , pp. 55 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019

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

Bailey, J, Fyffe, J and Van Acker, E (2012) Capstone Subjects in Undergraduate Business Degrees: A Good Practice Guide. Brisbane: Griffith University.Google Scholar
Barnes, A (2000) Learning preferences of some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the veterinary program. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 28, 8–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudgeon, P and Fielder, J (2006) Third spaces within tertiary places: Indigenous Australian studies. Journal of Community and Applied Psychology 16, 396–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, G, Gruppetta, M, Gilbert, S, Conlan, D, Kelly, R, Chambers, B and Griffith, J (2014) Speaking from our CORE: reviving Indigenous community as pedagogical practice. International Conference of Engaged Scholarship: Engage & Innovate for Sustainability. Wagga Wagga. 21 July 2014–23 July 2014. Engagement Australia.Google Scholar
Fraser, A and Hewitt, K (2004) Aina is the textbook: Good Indigenous pedagogy speaks of country as that which sustains and establishes the foundation of knowledge. PASE Conference, 7 May 2004. New York.Google Scholar
Gedeon, R (1997) Enhancing a large lecture with active learning’. Research Strategies 15, 301–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, H (2006) Distance education and the issue of equity online: exploring the perspectives of rural Aboriginal students. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 35, 21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruppetta, M and Fletcher, G (2014) The floating CORE: Indigenous community as pedagogical practice. International Conference of Engaged Scholarship: Engage & Innovate for Sustainability. Wagga Wagga, 21 July 2014–23 July 2014. Engagement Australia.Google Scholar
Gruppetta, M and Mason, T (2013) The universal appeal of Facebook©: providing access to students from Australian Aboriginal Communities. In Patrut, B, Patrut, M and Cmeciu, C (eds), Social Media and the New Academic Environment: Academic Challenges. Romania: IGI Global, pp. 262–284.Google Scholar
Herrington, J and Oliver, R (1997) Multimedia, magic and the way students respond to a situated learning environment. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 13, 127–143.Google Scholar
Hokowhitu, B (2016) Monster: Post-Indigenous Studies. In Moreton-Robinson, A (ed.), Critical Indigenous Studies: Engagements in First World Locations. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, pp. 83–101.Google Scholar
Hughes, P and More, A (1997) Aboriginal ways of learning and learning styles. Paper presented at AARE Annual Conference, Brisbane, 4 December. Available at https://www.aare.edu.au/data/publications/1997/hughp518.pdf (Accessed 28 March 2019).Google Scholar
Land, L, Meyer, J and Flanagan, M (eds) (2014) Threshold Concepts in Practice. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Lester, J (2016) Why Do Aboriginal Kids Switch Off School? (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Newcastle, Newcastle.Google Scholar
McGowan, S (2016) Threshold concepts in practice. Available at https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/1133-2/ (Accessed 6 August 2018).Google Scholar
Milton, M, Gruppetta, M, Vozzo, L and Mason, T (2009) Ideals and retention: perspectives of students in a BEd (AREP) course. Paper presented at the AIATSIS Conference, Canberra.Google Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A (ed.) (2016) Critical Indigenous Studies: Engagements in First World Locations. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A (2017) Senses of belonging: how Indigenous sovereignty unsettles White Australia. ABC Religion and Ethics. 21 February. Available at http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/02/21/4623659.htm. (Accessed 9 October 2017).Google Scholar
Newcastle Information and Analytics Report August (2017) NINA University of Newcastle. Available at https://nina.newcastle.edu.au/SASLogon/login?service=https://%3A%2F%2Fnina.newcastle.edu.au%2FSASVisualAnalyticsHub%2Fj_spring_cas_security_check.Google Scholar
Ryan, J (2009) Aboriginal learning styles: a critical review. Language, Culture and Curriculum 5, 1992, 161–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smart, KL and Csapo, N (2007) Learning by doing: engaging students through learner-centred activities. Business Communication Quarterly 70, 451–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Wollotuka Institute (2017) Bachelor of Global Indigenous Studies Programme Documentation. Prepared under the stewardship of Associate Professor Stephanie Gilbert.Google Scholar
Todd, Z (2016) An Indigenous feminist's take on the ontological turn: ‘Ontology’ is just another word for colonialism. Journal of Historical Sociology 29, 4–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victoria University of Wellington (2018) Developing Graduate Attributes. Available at https://www.victoria.ac.nz/learning-teaching/support/course-design/attributes (Accessed 7 August 2018).Google Scholar
World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (2016) Accreditation. Available at http://winhec.org/accreditation/ (Accessed 3 October 2016).Google Scholar