The Relationship between Wellbeing and Indigenous Land, Language and Culture in Australia

Abstract

A consistent finding in the literature on Indigenous peoples is the importance of the sustainability of land, language and culture. All three are related, with the maintenance of one helping to protect the others. This paper uses a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of the Indigenous Australian population to look at the factors associated with individual measures of sustainability. Geography matters for those in remote areas who are much more likely to have participated in hunting, fishing and gathering than those in non-remote areas and somewhat more likely to be learning an Indigenous language. However, those in remote areas are somewhat less likely to have participated in Indigenous cultural production. Participation in the mainstream economy is not necessarily a barrier to these aspects of wellbeing as those with high levels of formal education were more likely to speak, understand or be learning an Indigenous language. While important in their own right, such aspects of sustainability also have the potential to directly contribute to narrower measures of social and emotional wellbeing. A positive relationship was found between the sustainability of Indigenous land, language and culture and an Indigenous person's subjective emotional wellbeing.

What are the enablers of economic participation in remote and very remote Australia, and how can we identify them?

“…However, as with social and identity capital, the notion of cultural capital can easily move to one which allows for recognition of local cultural assets and their value in terms of economic development and participation. Biddle and Swee (2012) suggest remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing includes use of first language, participation in cultural activity and access to homelands. Woodhead and Acker (2015) have detailed analysis of the value chain association of cultural production with economic, social and cultural capital.…”

The persistence of subsistence: qualitative social-ecological modeling of indigenous aquatic hunting and gathering in tropical Australia

“…Healthy country Perceptions of the state of indigenous estates, or "country", which are directly affected by the state of natural habitats (Pusey 2011a,b), the general well-being of indigenous communities , Garnett et al 2009, Biddle and Swee 2012, the appropriate conduct of those present on the country (Biernoff 1978, Baker 1999, Putnis et al 2007, and assessments of metaphysical (spiritual and ancestral) health (Rose 1996, Strang 1997, Bradley 2001. 9…”

“…Community well-being Compound term encompassing mental, physical, social, and cultural health (Zubrick et al 2004, Carson et al 2007, Dockery 2010, Biddle and Swee 2012. 5 Effort Motivation, time, energy, and resources expended by the residential population to obtain food resources (McCarthy and McArthur 1960, Meehan 1982, Altman 1987, Walsh 2008, Codding et al 2011.…”

An Exploration of the Effects of Mentor-Apprentice Programs on Mentors' and Apprentices' Wellbeing

“…High rates of diabetes in Indigenous people have been linked in the past with residential school trauma and its intergenerational transmission (Guo, 2016). The connection between cultural participation, language, and wellbeing in Indigenous communities in Australia was also reported by Dockery (2011) and Biddle and Swee (2012). Healey and Meadows (2008) interviewed Inuit women in Nunavut who stressed the link between speaking Inuktitut and connecting with their cultural traditions.…”