Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Bridging The Gap Between Theory And Practice In Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments For Remote Indigenous Communities In Northern Australia, Donna Green, Stephanie Niall, Joe Morrison

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This paper considers the Australian federal government’s approach to climate adaptation policy for remote northern Indigenous communities through the close examination of a seminal Scoping Study. This approach is taken to illustrate the lag between adaptation theory and practice, and to highlight important considerations to enable the development of a just and effective policy. The analysis suggests that policy in this area would benefit from the further consideration of three factors, namely the role of uncertainty in climate policy, the need for meaningful consultation with communities, and the benefit of integrating contextual and bottom-up assessment of vulnerability with decision-making in …

Natural And Unnatural Disasters: Responding With Respect For Indigenous Rights And Knowledges, Richard Howitt, Olga Havnen, Siri Veland

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

A key challenge for contemporary democratic societies is how to respond to disasters in ways that foster just and sustainable outcomes that build resilience, respect human rights, and foster economic, social, and cultural well-being in reasonable timeframes and at reasonable costs. In many places experiencing rapid environmental change, indigenous people continue to exercise some level of self-governance and autonomy, but they also face the burden of rapid social change and hostile or ambiguous policy settings. Drawing largely on experience in northern Australia, this paper argues that state policies can compound and contribute to vulnerability of indigenous groups to both natural …

Evaluation Of A Culturally Adapted Training In Indigenous Mental Health And Wellbeing For The Alcohol And Other Drug Workforce, Racheal Hinton, Tricia Nagel

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Indigenous Australians have high rates of mental illness comorbid with substance misuse. The complex needs of this client group create challenges for the alcohol and other drug (AOD) workforce. This paper describes the outcomes of an Indigenous-specific “Yarning about Mental Health” training for the AOD workforce to strengthen knowledge and skills in mental health approaches and in their engagement with Indigenous clients. The training provides culturally adapted strategies and tools for understanding mental health, promoting wellbeing, and delivering brief interventions in the substance misuse setting. A nonexperimental evaluation which incorporated pre-post questionnaires was conducted with workshop participants attending one of …

Growing Up Our Way : The First Year Of Life In Remote Aboriginal Australia, Sue Kruske, Suzanne Belton, Molly Wardaguga, Conceptual Narjic

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

In this study, we attempted to explore the experiences and beliefs of Aboriginal families as they cared for their children in the first year of life. We collected family stories concerning child rearing, development, behavior, health, and wellbeing between each infant’s birth and first birthday. We found significant differences in parenting behaviors and childrearing practices between Aboriginal groups and mainstream Australians. Aboriginal parents perceived their children to be autonomous individuals with responsibilities toward a large family group. The children were active agents in determining their own needs, highly prized, and included in all aspects of community life. Concurrent with poverty, …

Do Indigenous Australians Age Prematurely? The Implications Of Life Expectancy And Health Conditions Of Older Indigenous People For Health And Aged Care Policy, Philippa R. Cotter, John R. Condon, Tony Barnes, Ian P.S. Anderson, Leonard R. Smith, Teresa Cunningham

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective. To assess whether Indigenous Australians age prematurely compared with other Australians, as implied by Australian Government aged care policy, which uses age 50 years and over for population-based planning for Indigenous people compared with 70 years for non-indigenous people.

Methods. Cross-sectional analysis of aged care assessment, hospital and health survey data comparing Indigenous and non-indigenous age-specific prevalence of health conditions. Analysis of life tables for Indigenous and non-indigenous populations comparing life expectancy at different ages.

Results. At age 63 for women and age 65 for men, Indigenous people had the same life expectancy as non-indigenous people at age 70. …

Aboriginal Youth, Hip Hop And The Politics Of Identification, George Morgan, Andrew Warren

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This paper explores the identity work taking place around contemporary subcultural hip hop amongst Australian indigenous youth in two disadvantaged urban locations. Previous work on Aboriginal hip hop has been attentive to the interface between tradition and modernity. However, existing scholarship has lacked a deeper ethnographic understanding of the dynamics between youth and parent cultures, and the tensions between the two generations. This article is based on research with young hip hop enthusiasts, community activists and educators. It deals with the cultural politics of identification and sees hip hop practice as associated with a process in which Aboriginality is crystallized …

Football Barriers – Aboriginal Under‐Representation And Disconnection From The ‘World Game’, John Maynard

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Indigenous Australians have had some great successes in Australian football and rugby. However, this success has not been mirrored in the ‘world game’, soccer. This study examines the reasons for such under-representation in Australia. The barriers to access to soccer were a combination of racist government policy which restricted the movement of Aboriginal people, and thus their opportunities to engage with a game that was not located near the isolated reserves in which they were held. The most successful Aboriginal players were fortunate that their circumstances placed them in close proximity to locales that were soccer strongholds. Moreover, the multicultural …

Aboriginal Interpretation In Australian Wildlife Tourism, Heather Zeppel, Sue Muloin

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This paper evaluates Aboriginal cultural interpretation at wildlife attractions and on wildlife tours in Australia. The sites included 14 wildlife parks or zoos; three Aboriginal owned emu or crocodile farms; and 16 wildlife tours, river cruises or resorts with Indigenous interpretation of wildlife. Telephone interviews were conducted with 35 manage (nine Indigenous) and 26 Indigenous staff at wildlife attractions that included verbal or written Aboriginal wildlife interpretation. The Indigenous guides verbally presented both traditional uses and personal stories about Australian wildlife followed by Aboriginal 'Dreaming' or creation stories about totemic animal species. Non-Indigenous staff explained traditional Aboriginal uses of wildlife …

Aboriginal Well-Being In Four Countries: An Application Of The Undp’S Human Development Index To Aboriginal People In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, And The United States, Martin Cooke, Francis Mitrou, David Lawrence, Eric Guimond, Dan Beavon

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Research: Whose Priority? Journeys And Possibilities Of Cross-Cultural Research In Geography, Paul Hodge, John Lester

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Decolonising research in geography is part of a broader ‘reflexive’ process which continues to question the positivist status of ‘researcher as observer’. This paper contributes to this reflexive turn, drawing on the particular experiences of a cross- cultural Honours thesis. The paper is pursued through a parallel journey involving a non-Indigenous researcher (and author of the cross-cultural Honours thesis) engaging Indigenous research1 with interpretative insight from an Indigenous adviser or ‘on-looker’. The methodological difficulties revealed by the parallel journey are emphasised to highlight both the complexities and reflexive possi- bilities of cross-cultural research but also to consider potential institutional and …

Country: Being And Belonging On Aboriginal Lands, Melissa Lucashenko

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Wildlife And World Views: Australian Attitudes Toward Wildlife, Heather J. Aslin, David H. Bennett

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Research in a number of western and non-western cultures suggests there are only a limited number of basic orientations toward other species. In the broadest sense, these can be related to fundamental cultural assumptions about what the world is like - world views, world metaphors or cosmologies —and how other species are represented as a result of these assumptions.

In this paper we explore our topic in relation to two cultural traditions - those of Aboriginal Australians and Anglo-Australians. We discuss how the differing world views represented in these cultures relate to wildlife attitudes. Aboriginal society before British setdement of …