Indigenous Science Network Bulletin
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Indigenous Science Network Bulletin http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mmichie/network.html April 2011 (Volume 14, Number 2) ISSN 1449-2091 Editor: Michael Michie Tiwi designs by Jennifer Coombs, Melville Island, NT NEWS and VIEWS Giving voice to science from two perspectives: a case study Nikki Wright, Earl Claxton, Jr., Lewis Williams, and Ta m m y Paul This chapter reports on a very successful First Nations internship involving experiences with a community- based traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom (TEKW) environmental project and a university-based science water quality project. Snitcel (pronounced sneakwith) is Senćoten for the place of the blue grouse, a special place to Wsáneć [Saanich] First Nations communities. This traditional territory was utilized for hunting, fishing, shellfish gathering, and sacred ceremony and was historically considered a safe settlement during winter months. The project reported in this chapter grew out of an authentic ecological restoration effort led by a not-for-profit agency that attempted to restore native aquatic plants in a small bay in the Salish Sea. The restoration extended into native terrestrial plants in the surrounding park lands of the bay, which borders a world-renown botanical tourist attraction. This authentic science, technology, society, and environment setting served as the context for a community-based, ethnobotanical program that involved internships for first nations people; it also provided opportunities to border-cross between TEKW and western science and to build leadership capacity. The program increased the capacity of first nations youth to enter science-related careers—both traditional indigenous and western science—and increased understanding of how traditional knowledge has been and is presently used in the place of the blue grouse. This chapter describes the evolution of the program, some of its challenges, and its significance in the larger community. (This is a summary of chapter 4 in Yore, L.D., Van der Flier-Keller, E., Blades, D., Pelton, T. & Zandvliet, D. B. (Eds.). (2011). Pacific CRYSTAL Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Literacy: Lesson Learned. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: SensePublishers (https://www.sensepublishers.com/), ISBN: 978-94- 6091-504-8 (paperback), ISBN: 978-94-6091-505-5 (hardback), ISBN: 978-94-6091-506-2 (e-book).) Advancing Indigenous Australia through knowledge engagement Far more needs to be demanded of service deliverers and people responsible for interacting with Indigenous communities to facilitate cultural understanding, according to a Northern Territory academic. Charles Darwin University Professor of Governance, Don Fuller has co-authored a paper illustrating the need for two-way knowledge engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. 1 Published in the Journal of Social and Economic Policy, “Aboriginal Economic and Human Development in the Northern Territory of Australia: A Clash of Non-Indigenous Beliefs”, has been co-authored with Scott Holmes, Jeremy Buultjens and CDU’s Susan Bandias. Professor Fuller said raising the living standards of Indigenous Australians, especially in Northern Territory remote communities, was one of the major challenges facing Australia today. “There are a large number of people living in communities typified by conditions of poverty, poor health, high crime, alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse,” he said. “Research suggests that welfare payments have placed many Indigenous Australians in a poverty trap undermining culturally acceptable norms of behaviour and traditional values and relationships within Indigenous communities.” Professor Fuller said it was necessary that Indigenous people be seen as more than just “clients” by public and private deliverers of goods and services. “Those who deal with Indigenous communities should be chosen because they are interested in Indigenous people and have empathy and a willingness to learn and understand Indigenous values, cultural practices and understandings,” he said. “There needs to be a heightened preparedness to be involved in ‘two –way’ cultural understandings, shared knowledge and communication,- across the range of employment, sporting, social and cultural activities regarded as important by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.” Professor Fuller said he believed the task required far more organisational and individual intellectual commitment, interest, involvement and understanding than was occurring presently. (http://ext.cdu.edu.au/newsroom/a/2010/Pages/110214-AdvancingIndigenousAust.aspx) BIITE, CDU agree on Indigenous education hub Higher education opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will take a major step forward this week when the Northern Territory's leaders in Indigenous education sign a landmark agreement. Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) and Charles Darwin University (CDU) will sign the Australian Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Education (ACIKE) Establishment and Governance Agreement at a ceremony on BIITE's Batchelor campus. The Centre, which is being built on CDU's Casuarina campus, will be co-managed and run by CDU and BIITE staff and will house state-of-the-art instructional, research, teaching and computer facilities. The Centre is scheduled for completion in mid 2012. CDU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Barney Glover said the Centre would significantly expand Indigenous education in the NT. "The Centre will increase the capacity of CDU and BIITE to deliver positive outcomes to Indigenous communities and the Higher Education sector in areas relating to Indigenous knowledge and education," Professor Glover said. The Centre will be responsible for teaching and research in the multi-disciplinary fields of Indigenous knowledges and other general disciplines including nursing, education and arts at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 2 BIITE Director, Adrian Mitchell said the new ACIKE facility will be a valuable additional resource for Batchelor Institute staff and students. “We look forward to working closely with Charles Darwin University and building on the existing strengths of both organisations,” he said. “The new facility will enable us to jointly put in place a wider range of delivery options and services to support the successful participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in higher education, particularly in the areas of health, education and Indigenous Knowledges.” (http://ext.cdu.edu.au/newsroom/a/2010/Pages/110322-BIITE,CDU.aspx) INDIGENOUS ASTRONOMY Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project The Australian Aboriginal Astronomy Project, centred within the Department of Indigenous Studies (Warawara) at Macquarie University, is a collaboration of academics and Indigenous Elders that are researching the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Indigenous Australians. I have started a blog on Aboriginal Astronomy, which I will update about once a week, covering our latest research, educational material, information about upcoming talks, meetings and events, and general knowledge on the subject. Our work is rigorous and we are in close collaboration with Indigenous Elders and communities. Blog: http://aboriginalastronomy.blogspot.com/ Astronomy is a great way to educate the general public about Indigenous culture, as it is a topic everyone finds fascinating! Cheers, Duane Hamacher Some recent papers from the Aboriginal Astronomy Project A few papers of ours were recently published on Aboriginal Astronomy (since November 2010). Meteoritics and cosmology among the Aboriginal cultures of Central Australia http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011arXiv1103.0595H "Bridging the Gap" through Australian Cultural Astronomy http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011arXiv1103.1928H Astronomical Symbolism in Australian Aboriginal Rock Art http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011RArtR..28...99N Comets in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010arXiv1010.0801H Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: Eyewitness Accounts of Cosmic Impacts? http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010arXiv1009.4251H 3 An Aboriginal Australian Record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010JAHH...13..220H STARLORE website (http://sa.apana.org.au/~paulc/index.html) Welcome back to the STARLORE website. It has been sometime since I have been able to update my site due to work and other commitments. As a New Year's resolution I vowed to finally get back to work maintaining this website. This site is dedicated to the many indigenous cultures of our world. This site has a focus on 'ethnoastronomy', which concerns itself with the cultural aspects of astronomy and how the world's various groups perceive the night sky. The major aim of this website is to share with you some of the diverse stellar lore from around the world with a particular focus on the night sky of Indigenous Australians. Many of us live in cities or countries that now have excessive light pollution and pollution in general, so the skies are not as clear as say 5,000 years ago. However, many us still watch the nightly ballet of stars above and ponder about the celestial majesty displayed before us. The STARLORE website is maintained by Paul Curnow. The Boorong Night Sky and Stellarium Alex Cherney and John Morieson Stellarium is a free planetarium program for a computer. It shows a relatively realistic sky as seen with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It has multiple sky cultures - the constellations from the traditions of Polynesian, Inuit,