Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellyRecognising the need for wider knowledge sharingI came to this research searching for spaces where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people can come together to discuss effective ways of movingforward together. As a non-Aboriginal nurse, I was never sure whether‘Aboriginal health’ conferences and workshops were intended as spaces forAboriginal colleagues to come together to discuss shared issues andexperiences, or whether they were spaces for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginalpeople working in the area of Aboriginal health to come together. While Iwished to be respectful of Aboriginal specific spaces in post-colonial Australia,I also felt the need to talk with a diverse group of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal colleagues sharing ideas, challenges and strategies. During thecommunity consultations and interviews I found that I was not the only personstruggling to find such opportunities; many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginalcolleagues and stakeholders also expressed a desire for knowledge sharingacross a broad sector of practitioners, researchers, community people, policymakers and academics. Within my Masters research there were discussionswith like minded groups, but less discussion between groups. I sought to findways to share knowledge more broadly, in culturally safe and respectful ways.The Elder Aboriginal women in the Aboriginal Women’s Reference Groupspoke specifically about the importance of creating a ‘level playing field’ inwhich all knowledges were acknowledged and respected. They said;It is about making that playing field level - the Western way of knowing isalways wanting to be up here, and all the Aboriginal people’s way ofknowing is put down there. We don’t want to be here or there, we justwant a level playing field. So how do we get from here, to here (holdingher two hands at different levels)? It is getting respect from up here, andmeeting us on our own grounds. Having respect; doing it two-ways(Aboriginal Women's Reference Group 2005).This viewpoint, combined with my own concerns about the dominance ofWestern knowledge in post-colonial health systems, led to this research andthesis being based on concepts of democratic knowledge sharing as describedin Ganma by the Yolngu people (Yunggirringa & Garnggulkpuy 2007), Freire298