Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

‘Caring For Country’: A Review Of Aboriginal Engagement In Environmental Management In New South Wales, J. Hunt

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This article discusses some emerging models of Indigenous engagement in environmental management in New South Wales and urges expansion of such engagement. NSW Aboriginal people own only around one per cent of the state’s land, which suggests that land ownership and rights-based approaches to Aboriginal participation in environmental management are insufficient in NSW. Alternative approaches that recognise Aboriginal responsibilities to ‘care for country’ are needed. This article reviews opportunities for Aboriginal people to be involved in environmental and natural resource management activities, noting some of the constraints. It suggests some ways to extend such Aboriginal engagement, emphasising both employment creation …

Empowering Indigenous Peoples’ Biocultural Diversity Through World Heritage Cultural Landscapes: A Case Study From The Australian Humid Tropical Forests, Rosemary Hill, Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth, Leah D. Talbot, Susan Mcintyre-Tamwoy

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Australian humid tropical forests have been recognised as globally significant natural landscapes through world heritage listing since 1988. Aboriginal people have occupied these forests and shaped the biodiversity for at least 8000 years. The Wet Tropics Regional Agreement in 2005 committed governments and the region’s Rainforest Aboriginal peoples to work together for recognition of the Aboriginal cultural heritage associated with these forests. The resultant heritage nomination process empowered community efforts to reverse the loss of biocultural diversity. The conditions that enabled this empowerment included: Rainforest Aboriginal peoples’ governance of the process; their shaping of the heritage discourse to incorporate biocultural …

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 …

Rethinking The “Best Interests” Of The Child: Voices From Aboriginal Child And Family Welfare Practitioners, Maureen Long, Rene Sephton

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

n Victoria, recent reforms to the child and family welfare system, through the introduction of the Children Youth and Families Act (2005), have significantly strengthened the principle of the ‘‘best interests’’ of the child. Giving substance to the principle, this legislation defines a set of standards and a practice framework to guide its application. How this is to be applied is of particular interest to the Aboriginal child and family welfare sector, given that the principle of best interests has historically underpinned the removal of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families on the basis of …

Aboriginal Practitioners Speak Out: Contextualising Child Protection Interventions, Dawn Bessarab, Frances Crawford

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

One month before the June 2007 Federal Government Emergency Intervention in the Northern Territory some 55 West Australian Aboriginal child protection workers attended a 3-day summit in Fremantle. Their purpose as front-line practitioners from across the State was to identify how more nurturing and healing communities could be developed and supported in a climate of despair. This paper reports on how the summit was designed and on some of the ideas and concerns that emerged within this dialogical space of cooperative inquiry. The project was a partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal representatives of university, government, and community-service bodies. Aboriginal practitioners …

Promoting System-Wide Cultural Competence For Serving Aboriginal Families And Children In A Midsized Canadian City, Ruby Ambtman, Suzanne Hudson, Reid Hartry, Dawne Mackay-Chiddenton

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This article describes the work of the Circle of Courage, a cross– cultural group committed to improving the cultural competence of organizations providing services to Aboriginal populations in a midsized city in Canada. Rather than concentrating on indi- viduals’ cultural competence, the Circle targets mainstream orga- nizations. Many of its activities, therefore, require organizations to examine themselves and make systemic changes. Providing support to Aboriginal staff of mainstream organizations is a significant element of the Circle’s initiatives. After an analysis of cultural proficiency—particularly at the organizational and systemic levels—the history of the Circle, its internal functioning, and its specific activities …

Community-Based Suicide Prevention Research In Remote On-Reserve First Nations Communities, Corinne A. Isaak, Mike Campeau, Laurence Y. Katz, Murray W. Enns, Brenda Elias, Jitender Sareen

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Suicide is a complex problem linked to genetic, environmental, psychological and community factors. For the Aboriginal population more specifically, loss of culture, history of traumatic events, individual, family and community factors may also play a role in suicidal behaviour. Of particular concern is the high rate of suicide among Canadian Aboriginal youth. While the need to develop interventions to reduce suicidal behaviour for First Nations on-reserve populations is evident, there may be an element of distrust of researchers by Aboriginal communities. Furthermore, research in mental health and specifically suicide is much more sensitive than studying medical illnesses like diabetes. Clearly, …

Gender And Place Influences On Health Risk Perspectives In Northern Canadian Aboriginal Communities, Cynthia G. Jardine, Amanda D. Boyd, Christopher M. Furgal

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Developing a better understanding of the factors underlying health and environmental risk perspectives has been the focus of significant research in recent years. Although many previous studies have shown that perspectives of risk are often associated with gender, sociocultural variables and place, our understanding of the relationship between these factors and risk remains equivocal. A research study was undertaken to develop better insights into the understanding and perspectives of various types of health risks in two sets of northern Canadian Aboriginal communities – the Yellowknives Dene First Nation communities of N’Dilo and Dettah in the Northwest Territories and the Inuit …

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 …

Security And Belonging: Reconceptualising Aboriginal Spatial Mobilities In Yamatji Country, Western Australia, Sarah Prout

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Since British colonisation of Australia began, Aboriginal mobility practices have been poorly understood within the Anglo-Australian consciousnesses. This paper examines current discourses and conceptualisations of Aboriginal mobilities in Yamatji country, Western Australia. Finding none of these explanations and interpretations singularly sufficient to encompass the diverse spatial practices of Aboriginal people in the region, the paper proposes an alternative framework for interpreting and understanding these population dynamics. The central tenet of this reconceptualisation is that contemporary Aboriginal spati- alities – including spatial distribution, movements, and immobility – are iteratively shaped by the processes of procuring, contesting, and cultivating security and belonging. …

Aboriginal Fisheries In British Columbia, N.A.

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Reserves, N.A.

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Finding Nina, Inge Meyer

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This paper provides an account of the unique cultural experience of observing an Aboriginal infant within her extended family system while overcoming the challenges of separation from the seminar group through geographical distance. Underpinning the entire process were multiple layers of transgenerational and personal loss. There were many poignant moments in this rich observational experience.

Rethinking Devolution: Challenges For Aboriginal Resource Management In The Yukon Territory, David C. Natcher, Susan Davis

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

After decades of state administration, indigenous peoples throughout the world are now succeeding, to varying degrees, in the reimplementation of self-governing institutions and administrative processes. This reorientation has been most observable in the context of natural resource management, where a major policy trend has been to devolve state authority and administrative responsibility directly to local levels. While the language of devolution and local control now permeates local–state interaction, in many cases the new institutions that have been created following devolution have little resemblance to indigenous forms of management. In this article, we present some of the institutional and ideological factors …

Rec Needs A New Rhythm Cuz Rap Is Where We're Livin', Brett Lashua, Karen Fox

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This research presents an autoethnographic strategy for self-reflection by sharing stories consistent with Indigenous methodologies and establishing a frame for re-mixing leisure theory. As an autoethnographic study, we reflect on how we have been engaged, changed, and challenged to rethink understandings of leisure and ourselves as leisure scholar-practitioners as a result of listening to rap music, especially composed by Aboriginal young people. We pause on questions related to how Aboriginal young people challenge leisure theory and its relevance to their lives through their rap and hip hop performances.

‘We Are Not Just Participants—We Are In Charge’: The Naccho Ear Trial And The Process For Aboriginal Community- Controlled Health Research, Traven Lea, Richard Murray, Margaret Culbong

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective. Methodological criteria that characterise ethically sound community-based studies are often described in overviews but are rarely documented in clinical studies. Research investigating the health of Aboriginal Australians is often small-scale, descriptive and largely driven by non-Indigenous people. The ‘community-controlled’ model of research relating to Aboriginal peoples health is a form of ‘participatory’ research that shifts the balance of control towards those being researched. This paper describes the methodological issues and principles that underpin community-controlled health research; their practical application; and encourages their adoption in research involving Indigenous populations.

Design. Descriptive report of the methods used to conduct the landmark …

Aboriginal Housing Assessment, Lisa Hardess, Rodney C. Mcdonald, Darren Thomas

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Aboriginal Alternative Dispute Resolution In Canada - A Case Study, Jonathan Rudin

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Adapting Violence Rehabilitation Programs For The Australian Aboriginal Offender, Peter Mals, Kevin Howells, Andrew Day, Guy Hall

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

In this paper the authors address the question of how treatment and rehabilitation programs for violent offenders might be modified to more appropriately meet the needs of different cultural groups and improve treatment responsivity. The focus of the paper is on the needs of Aboriginal violent offenders in an Australian context, although the themes have relevance to treatment programs internationally. Two broad sources of information are used: the published literature relating to violent offending in Aboriginal people in Australia, and a small-scale interview-based qualitative survey of service providers with particular experience in this area. The evidence suggests there may be …

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 …