Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:44:45.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Imagining the possibilities of a cross-cultural oral narrative portraiture method: stepping beyond binary discourses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2019

Sara Weuffen Open the ORCID record for Sara Weuffen [Opens in a new window]  and
Aunty Marjorie Pickford
Sara Weuffen*
Affiliation:
Federation University Australia, Po Box 633, Ballarat, Victoria 3353, Australia
Aunty Marjorie Pickford
Affiliation:
Department of Education and Training—Grampians Region, 109 Armstrong Street North, Ballarat, Victoria 3350, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Sara Weuffen, E-mail: sl.weuffen@federation.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

Contemporary scholarly critique in Indigenous research spaces has tended to focus on binary dualities, including the purpose of Indigenous-focused research, and the legitimacy of researcher identity, research knowledge and truth. Yet, perhaps unintentionally, such interrogation has led to the continued (re)construction and maintenance of false race-based dichotomies. In this paper, one way in which we seek to step beyond binary race-based discourses is by advocating for the advancement of cross-cultural research practices that interweave traditional and contemporary communication practices. We put forward the case that by knitting together Eurocentric and Indigenous research methodologies, Lawrence-Lightfoot's (2005, Qualitative Inquiry 11, 3–15) portraiture method, and Aboriginal practices of storytelling/yarning, the cross-cultural oral narrative portraiture method enables co-construction of more holistic, culturally nuanced and responsive stories, where meaning, context and reason resonate. In the 21st century research space, we open dialogue for thinking about data as stories, and advocate for contemporary intercultural research processes that are inclusive, engaging and promote co-construction of narratives for storying.

Keywords

Cross-cultural researchhistory educationnarrative methodologyportraiturereflexivity
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , August 2021 , pp. 71 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, M (2007) Exploring cross-cultural boundaries. In Clandinin, DJ (ed.), Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology, 1st Edn. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc., pp. 489–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apfelbaum, E (2001) The dread: an essay on communication across cultural boundaries. The International Journal of Critical Psychology 4, 19–35.Google Scholar
Australian Human Rights Commission (1997) Bringing them home: The ‘Stolen Children’ report. Available at https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/publications/bringing-them-home-stolenGoogle Scholar
Benham, MKP (2007) Mo'olelo: on culturally relevant story making from an indigenous perspective. In Clandinin, DJ (ed.), Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping A Methodology, 1st Edn. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc., pp. 512–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birt, L, Scott, S, Cavers, D, Campbell, C and Walter, F (2016) Member checking: a tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative Health Research 26, 1802–1811.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, CM and Erlandson, DA (2003) Three voices in portraiture: actor, artist, and audience. Qualitative Inquiry 6, 874–894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, T (2005) Expression of ‘voice’ in portraiture. Qualitative Inquiry 11, 27–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clandinin, DJ (2007) Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE publications, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crotty, M (1998) The Foundations of Social Research. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Dean, C (2010) A yarning place in narrative histories. History of Education Review 39, 6–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Lissovoy, N, Campos, E and Alarcon, J (2013) Challenging epistemological authority in qualitative research. In Malott, CS, Porfilio, BJ and Kress, TM (eds), Challenging Status Quo Retrenchment: New Directions in Critical Research, 1st Edn. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., pp. 29–52.Google Scholar
English, FW (2000) A critical appraisal of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot's portraiture as a method of educational research. Educational Researcher 29, 21–26.Google Scholar
Featherstone, J (1989) To make the wounded whole. Harvard Educational Review 59, 367–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, D (2003) Indigenous epistemology and indigenous standpoint theory. Social Alternatives 22, 44–52. Available at https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/39321607Google Scholar
Foley, A, Golding, B and Brown, M (2008) Let the men speak: Health, friendship, community and shed therapy. 11th Annual Conference, 3–4 April. Adelaide, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
Foucault, M (1970) The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. London: Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Geia, LK, Hayes, B and Kim, U (2013) Yarning/Aboriginal storytelling: towards an understanding of an Indigenous perspective and its implications for research practice. Contemporary Nurse 46, 13–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golding, B (2000) Wellbeing of Koorie Elders. In Falk, I, Golding, B and Balatti, J (eds), Building Communities: ACE, Lifelong Learning and Social Capital. An Anthology of Word Portraits Reporting Research Conducted for the Adult, Community and Further Education Board. Melbourne: ARIS Language Australia. pp. 39–46.Google Scholar
Gower, G (2012) Ethical research in Indigenous Australian contexts and its practical implementation. Available at https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2012/131/Google Scholar
Guba, EG and Lincoln, YS (1994) Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In Denzin, NK and Lincoln, YS (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, (pp. 105–117). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Hill, DA (2005) The poetry in portraiture: seeing subject, hearing voices, and feeling contexts. Qualitative Inquiry 11, 95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogarth, M (2017) Speaking back to the deficit discourse: a theoretical and methodological approach. Australian Educational Researcher 44, 21–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogarth, M (2018) Addressing the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Education: A Critical Analysis of Indigenous Education Policy (Doctoral Thesis). doi: 10.5204/thesis.eprints.118573CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinefuchi, E and Orbie, MP (2008). Situating oneself in a racialised world: understanding student reactions to crash through standpoint theory and context-positionality frames. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 1, 70–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lankshear, C and Knobel, M (2004) A Handbook for Teacher Research From Design to Implementation. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Lather, P (1986) Issues of validity in openly ideological research: Between a rock and a soft place. Interchange 17, 63–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S (1986) On goodness in schools: themes of empowerment. Peabody Journal of Education 63, 9–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S (2005) Reflections on portraiture: a dialogue between art and science. Qualitative Inquiry 11, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S and Davis, J (2002) The Art and Science of Portraiture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Minniecon, D, Franks, N and Heffernan, M (2007) Indigenous research: three researchers reflect on their experiences at the interface. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 36, 23–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A (2013) Towards an Australian Indigenous women's standpoint theory. Australian Feminist Studies 28, 331–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadasdy, P (2004) Hunters and Bureaucrats: Power, Knowledge, and Aboriginal-State Relations in Southwest Yukon. University of British Colombia: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Nakata, M (1997) The Cultural Interface: An Exploration of the Intersection of Western Knowledge Systems and Torres Strait Islander Positions and Experiences (Unpublished PhD). James Cook University, Townsville.Google Scholar
Nakata, M (2003) Some thoughts on literacy issues in Indigenous contexts. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 31, 7–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakata, M (2006) Australian indigenous studies: a question of discipline. The Australian Journal of Anthropology 17, 265–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakata, M (2007 a) The cultural interface. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 36, 7–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakata, M (2007 b) An Indigenous standpoint theory. In Nakata, M. Disciplining the Savages: Savaging the Disciplines. Canberra, A.C.T.: Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press, pp. 213–217.Google Scholar
Nakata, M, Nakata, V, Keech, S and Bolt, R (2012) Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, 120–140. Available at https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18628Google Scholar
Pappaluca, K (2018) Voices from the Margins: A Critical Ethnography of Conflict in Female Friendship in a Regional Australian School (Doctoral Thesis). Federation University Australia.Google Scholar
Richardson, L (1997) Fields of Play: Constructing an Academic Life. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Rigney, LI (1999) Internationalisation of an Indigenous anticolonial cultural critique of research methodologies: a guide to Indigenist research methodology and its principles. Emergent Ideas in Native American Studies 14, 109–121.Google Scholar
Sefa Dei, G (1999) Anti-racism, education, theory and practice? Aurora, Issue 1999. Available at http://aurora.icaap.org/index.php/aurora/article/view/22/33Google Scholar
Shay, M (2017) Counter Stories: Developing Indigenist Research Methodologies to Capture the Voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Staff in Flexi School Contexts (Doctoral Thesis). doi: 10.5204/thesis.eprints.107925CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, M and Major, J (2017) Conducting Indigenous research in Western knowledge spaces: Aligning theory and methodology. Australian Educational Researcher, 44, 5–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, TL (1999) Decolonising Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, 2nd Edn. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Smyth, J and McInerney, P (2011) Whose side are you on? Advocacy ethnography: some methodological aspects of narrative portraits of disadvantaged young people, in socially critical research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talja, S (1999) Analyzing qualitative interview data. Library & Information Science Research 21, 459–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulalka Tur, S, Blanch, FR and Wilson, C (2010) Developing a collaborative approach to standpoint in Indigenous Australian research. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 39(Suppl), 58–67.Google Scholar
Weiss, R (1994) Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative interview studies. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Weuffen, S (2017) Your stories, my stories, our stories: Power/knowledge relations and Koorie perspectives in discourses of Australian History education. (Unpublished Thesis). Federation University Australia: Ballarat.Google Scholar
Wilson, S (2008) Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methodologies. Black Point, Canada: Fernwood PublishingGoogle Scholar
Zeegers, M (2013) Grammar Matters. Docklands, Victoria: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zubzycki, J, Shipp, S and Jones, V (2017) Knowing, being, and doing: Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal collaboration in cancer services. Qualitative Health Research 27, 1316–1329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Weuffen and Pickford supplementary material

Weuffen and Pickford supplementary material

Download Weuffen and Pickford supplementary material(Audio)
Audio 6.3 MB