Ethics of Trust and Resistance: Participation in Indigenous Research Ruth Melanie Nicholls Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Western Sydney 2009 Dedication I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the places in which I live and work, the Darug and Gundungurra nations. This thesis is dedicated to the community development workers involved in this research. Mentors, like good friends, are people to be cherished. Dr Graham Henderson continues to inspire me with his humanitarian work for Oxfam and his commitment to helping others showing the greatest level of humility I have ever witnessed. Dr Maggie Brady never ceases to amaze me with her astute observations on politics and personalities. And Jilpia Nappalj ari Jones, the quiet activist, always reminds me to ‘ keep it real’ . My family and my friends, I cannot thank you enough for being so good to me while I have travelled the ups and downs of this j ourney. Acknowledgments First acknowledgments must be made to my supervisors: A/ Prof Moira Carmody, for her steady and calm advice during challenging intellectual and emotional times, and A/ Prof Michael Darcy for always reminding me of ‘ the bigger picture’ of power and knowledge. Dr Murray Lee and Dr Mary Hawkins were generous with their time and thoughts at the formative stages of this research. The Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney generously provided my stipend and funding for travel costs associated with speaking as a research collaboration (community participants and myself) in Melbourne. The National Health and Medical Research Council also provided a conference subsidy for us to attend this event. Other funding that supported work associated with this thesis was provided by the Foundation for Young Australians Indigenous Grants Program; the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies conference subsidy; and a post-graduate student bursary from The Australian Sociological Association. Declaration This is to certify that i) this thesis comprises only my original work towards the Ph.D. ii) due acknowledgment has been made in the text toward all other material used iii) I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution Ruth Melanie Nicholls B.A. (Australian Studies) Hons Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 DECOLONISATION & PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH....................... 4 COUNTER–COLONIAL LOGIC: PARTICIPATION & REMEDIATION.................................6 POWER RELATIONS & PARTICIPATORY DISCOURSE .......................................... 10 A MAP OF THE THESIS ....................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2 PEOPLES, PLACES & SPACES.................................................18 CONSTRUCTING RESEARCH INQUIRY & NEGOTIATING RELATIONSHIPS....................... 20 WHITE PICKET FENCES & A RIVER CALLED DEERUBBIN ...................................... 25 INSTITUTIONS & REGULATIONS .............................................................. 34 TEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF FIELDWORK ..................................................... 39 A FIRST INVITED SPACE ................................................................ 42 A SECOND INVITED SPACE .............................................................. 44 A THIRD INVITED SPACE ................................................................ 55 RETURNING TO THE SECOND INVITED SPACE............................................ 58 PARTICIPATION? ............................................................................. 65 CHAPTER 3 DEVELOPING AN ETHICAL SUBJECTIVITY..................................69 CLOSING THE GAP ........................................................................... 71 ETHICS ARE DISCOURSE ...................................................................... 76 FROM THE ANCIENTS TO ONESELF........................................................... 81 RAPPORT À SOI: ONESELF & OTHERS........................................................ 84 SOME TENETS OF PARTICIPATORY ETHICS ................................................... 87 CHAPTER 4 REGULATING INDIGENOUS RESEARCH......................................91 ETHICS AND RESEARCH REGULATION ........................................................ 92 INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, HUMAN RIGHTS........................................................ 98 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES & SELF–DETERMINATION ...................................... 104 HEALTH IS A HUMAN RIGHT................................................................ 107 INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION & REMEDIATION.............................................. 111 CHAPTER 5 DISCURSIVE ETHICS .......................................................... 114 DISCOURSE OF APOLOGY: A MORAL DOMAIN .............................................. 118 i CLOSING THE GAP: RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACTION.......................................... 123 PRAGMATISM & DIFFERENCE............................................................... 127 INTERTEXTUALITY ......................................................................... 132 EMERGENT SUBJECTIVITIES ................................................................ 140 CHAPTER 6 LIVING THE TALK............................................................. 142 RELATIONALITY............................................................................ 149 ALTERITY .................................................................................. 152 POSITIONALITY ............................................................................ 156 MULTI–LAYERED REFLEXIVITY ............................................................. 158 FIRST PERSON: TRANSPARENT, SELF–REFLEXIVITY ..................................... 159 SECOND PERSON: INTERPERSONAL REFLEXIVITY ....................................... 160 THIRD PERSON: COLLECTIVE REFLEXIVITY & CATALYTIC VALIDITY ..................... 162 RE–PRESENTING COLLABORATIVELY ....................................................... 165 CHAPTER 7 EVERYTHING’S BY WORD OF MOUTH .................................... 172 A VISION OF HARMONY: PLACE, SPACE & CULTURE ....................................... 175 DISCURSIVE RULES FOR COMMUNITY APPROVAL ........................................... 182 RESPONDING TO RESISTANCE .............................................................. 185 URBAN COMMUNITY........................................................................ 190 IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSENT .............................................................. 192 CHAPTER 8 EXAMINE YOUR MOTIVES ................................................... 197 WORKING TWO WAYS...................................................................... 199 VALUES & SUBJECTIVITY .................................................................. 202 OWNERSHIP OF KNOWLEDGE IN PARTICIPATORY SPACES .................................. 205 GOOD INTENTIONS AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES .................................... 210 CHAPTER 9 TRUST AND RESISTANCE.................................................... 217 DEVELOPING AN ETHICAL SUBJECTIVITY................................................... 218 HOW I TRIED TO BE ETHICAL .............................................................. 220 PARTICIPATION AS A SPACE BETWEEN ..................................................... 224 ECHO: ‘HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT? WITH YOUR WORK?’.................................. 228 ii List of Tables Table 1 Temporal dimensions of the case study in relation to ‘ invited spaces’ of participatory research ....................................... 40 Table 2 Youth evaluation of the ‘ Mittigar Gurrume Burruk’ draft report ... 62 Table 3 Orders of discourse for Indigenous rights............................... 99 Table 4 AIATSIS Guidelines for Ethical Research in Indigenous Studies..... 135 Table 5 The Indigenous Research Reform Agenda..............................136 iii List of Figures Figure 1 Map of Aboriginal nations of Sydney .................................... 27 Figure 2 Map of Aboriginal clans of Sydney....................................... 28 Figure 3 Nature reserves in the local area reflect the heritage of Boorooberongal ancestors such as Yarramundi........................ 29 Figure 4 Variations in spelling show the complexity and contestation in renaming 'place' ............................................................ 29 Figure 5 Contrasting signs of neighbouring LGAs: The Blue Mountains acknowledges Aboriginal custodianship ................................ 33 Figure 6 The white picket fence reinscribes colonial claims to the land and waters of the Hawkesbury ................................................ 33 Figure 7 An example of a mind map used to design the hip–hop proj ect.... 46 Figure 8 ‘ Hip–hop in the Hawkesbury’ rap lyrics ................................ 52 Figure 9 An example of group idea–building for the ‘ Mittigar Gurrume Burruk’ data analysis and report writing ............................... 60 Figure 10 Examples of qualitative group data analysis collages .............. 61 Figure 11 A bus stop in Yarramundi................................................ 64 Figure 12 The ‘ Mittigar Gurrume Burruk’ postcard ............................. 65 Figure 13 Close the Gap: Outcomes from the National Indigenous Health Equality Summit ............................................................ 72 Figure 14 Diagram of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values for research