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Contingent, Contested and Changing: De-Constructing Indigenous Knowledge in a Science Curriculum Resource from the South Coast of New South Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Daphne Nash
Daphne Nash*
Affiliation:
Research School of Humanities, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 0200, Australia
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Abstract

The nature and status of Indigenous knowledge is often debated, but the idea that Indigenous people's knowledge is local knowledge seems widely accepted: knowledge is place-based and may reference a range of places, from traditional land to other places known from social and cultural connections. Through collaboration with Koori people from the south coast of New South Wales to develop a web-based science resource, other distinctive characteristics of their knowledge emerged. This paper explores some transformations in contemporary Indigenous knowledge, while acknowledging the history of colonisation in south eastern Australia. A focus on two examples of Koori art demonstrates that Indigenous knowledge is contingent, contested and changing in culturally denned ways. These aspects are often overlooked in educational practice that essentialises Indigeneity and Indigenous people's knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 38 , Issue S1: Indigenous Knowledges within the Education Revolution , 2009 , pp. 25 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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