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Articles on Aboriginal knowledge

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Bart Pigram, Yawuru owner/operator of Narlijia Experiences Broome, WA, out on Country with visitors. Bart Pigram

‘More than a word’: practising reconciliation through Indigenous knowledge-sharing in tourism

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2021 is ‘More than a word: reconciliation takes action’. Engaging with Aboriginal knowledges is a way to pursue reconciliation as more than a buzzword.
Mukurtu is a Warumungu word meaning “dilly bag” or a safe keeping place for sacred materials. Nina Maile Gordon/The Conversation CC-NY-BD

Mukurtu: an online dilly bag for keeping Indigenous digital archives safe

Mukurtu: an online dilly bag for keeping Indigenous digital archives safe The Conversation71.5 MB (download)
Mukurtu - Warumungu word meaning 'dilly bag' or a safe keeping place for sacred materials - is an online system helping Indigenous people conserve photos, songs and other digital archives.
The evidence shows counting was beyond more than a handful of numbers for Australia’s Indigenous people. Shutterstock/Sam DCruz

Why old theories on Indigenous counting just won’t go away

There is plenty of evidence to show Australia’s Indigenous people had ways of counting big numbers, yet the myth persists they couldn’t count more than a handful of things. Why?
A traditional rainmaker in Kenya. How can indigenous knowledge become part of university curricula? Department For International Development/International Development Research Centre/Thomas Omondi/Flickr

Decolonisation involves more than simply turning back the clock

Decolonisation of the curriculum doesn’t have to mean the destruction of Western knowledge, but it’s decentring. Such knowledge should become one way of knowing rather than the only way.
Detail of Paddy Japaljarri Sims, Warlpiri, 2003, Yanjirlpiri Jukurrpa (Star Dreaming at Yarripirlangu). Image courtesy of the artist's estate, licensed by Warlukurlangu Artists, Yuendumu.

Friday Essay: land, kinship and ownership of ‘Dreamings’

Who owns a Dreamtime story? The Warlpiri, like all Indigenous groups, use a complex system of kinship that regulates which people can depict, sing, dance or talk about which Dreamings.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is calling for innovation to improve the lives of Indigenous people, but must beware of causing instability with new policies that dismiss everything before them. AAP/Mick Tsikas

How community-based innovation can help Australia close the Indigenous gap

Across Indigenous Australia, innovation is occurring locally, under the radar of government policies and support. We can look to this innovation and stop fixating on finding the elusive policy solution.
Aboriginal stories dating back many thousands of years talk of a fire from the sky in an area now home to the Henbury meteorite craters, in the Northern Territory. Flickr/Boobook

Finding meteorite impacts in Aboriginal oral tradition

We can learn much about meteor strikes in ancient Australia by examining the oral traditions of indigenous people.
We still have so much to learn about Aboriginal history and culture. Shutterstock/John Austin

Aboriginal people – how to misunderstand their science

Just one generation ago Australian schoolkids were taught that Aboriginal people couldn’t count beyond five, wandered the desert scavenging for food, had no civilisation, couldn’t navigate and peacefully…

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