Wik pedagogies: adapting oral culture processes for print-based learning contexts

Abstract

This paper explores the possibilities of designing a Wik pedagogy, drawing on the language and culture of the remote community of Aurukun on Cape York. The research was inspired by the emergence of Aboriginal pedagogy theory in recent decades, along with a resurgence of interest in cognitive linguistics indicating an undeniable link between language, culture and cognition. We are Aboriginal researchers, relatives with strong family ties in the Aurukun community and beyond. We are bound by community obligations and cultural protocol and so the methodology privileged the local cultural and language orientations that inform Indigenous knowledge production. It involved participating in knowledge transmission in cultural contexts and undertaking a relationally responsive analysis of local language. The methodology enfolded Indigenous standpoint theory, yarning methods and auto-ethnography, a rigorous process that informed the development of a Wik pedagogy. We found that Wik knowledge transmission is embedded across multiple disciplines and modalities, such as weaving, fishing, carving, stories and images in both male and female cultural activities. The observed patterns of these activities revealed an example of a structured learning cycle. Some elements of this proposed Wik pedagogy may be generalisable to other language groups, such as the tendency for listening to be equated with understanding and cognition. This is a feature of many Aboriginal languages and cultures along with narrative, place-based and group-oriented approaches to knowledge transmission. In terms of implications for Indigenous research, the use of Indigenised methods such as umpan and relationally responsive analysis represent potential ways forward in Indigenous standpoint theory and methodologies.

RETRACTED: Reconceptualising a Quandamooka Storyweave of language reclamation

“…Several aspects of the Quandamooka gatherings may be similar to other Indigenous groups, for example the practice of listening to be associated with awareness and understanding. Along with narrative, place-based and group-oriented methodologies to knowledge transmission, this is an aspect of numerous Aboriginal languages and cultures (Frazer and Yunkaporta, 2019). The profound loss of identity and sense of belonging, of displacement and dispossession, was echoed in the words of many of the participants in a range of studies.…”

The nutritional composition of Australian native grains used by First Nations people and their re-emergence for human health and sustainable food systems

“…Furthermore, the author was immersed in the culture of his ancestors, spending time on Country (Gamilaraay homelands) identifying native grains, harvesting them, processing them, eating them, and sharing them with community. Throughout this process, the lead author became an active participant through the research, and his own personal journey of cultural immersion and transformation provided many opportunities for reflection and analysis (Frazer and Yunkaporta, 2019). With this in mind, an autoethnographic approach augmented the research journey (Houston, 2007), recognising the transformational capacity of research for empowering previously silenced voices (Wright, 2011).…”