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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellypeople, those working in communities and universities, health and educationservices.For example, we invited Ricky Menta, an Aboriginal man from CentralAustralia who was working with Aboriginal communities in and around AliceSprings, and the Australian Football League, to reduce alcohol consumptionand increase family involvement in sports, to share his knowledge. He waspaired with Ernie Stringer, an experienced non-Aboriginal action researcher.Together they had ‘a conversation’ where they introduced each other and askedabout each other’s work. Through this conversation, the conferenceparticipants could hear and see the links drawn between the practical on theground community based work Ricky was doing, and the theoretical conceptsof PAR that Ernie works with and writes about.Another pairing was Ngarrindjeri man George Trevorrow and University ofSouth Australia ecologist Joan Gibbs. Together they discussed thecollaborative program they have created that involves Joan bringingenvironmental students to the Coorong to assist with revegetation onNgarrindjeri lands. They discussed how students learn about deep listening andtwo-way learning (similar to Dadirri and Ganma but the Ngarrindjeri peoplehave their own terms). Students come back having learned much more thanhow to revegetate, they have learned how to work collaboratively andrespectfully with Aboriginal peoples.The programThe program reflected our intent of enabling a wide range of knowledgesharing and learning styles to be accommodated. There were shortpresentations and longer interactive sessions, workshops, a market place wherepeople could meet and talk leisurely in smaller groups, healing and bushmedicine, academic information, cultural tours, dance, music and art. When weoriginally wrote the program, we envisioned more time for networking andinformal conversations. However, providing space for the diverse range ofspeakers to talk, and ensuring that we had enough numbers ofpresenters/attendees to make the conference financially sound, meant that someof this time was lost. There was also pressure for academic peer reviewed306