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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellyGanma knowledge sharingThe Yolgnu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australiahave described genuine two-way sharing of knowledge between Aboriginaland non-Aboriginal peoples as Ganma. They have chosen to prepare and sharethis cultural knowledge with non-Aboriginal people in Australia and overseasin the belief that it could help improve relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people(Hughes 2000; Pyrch & Castillo 2001; Yunggirringa &Garnggulkpuy 2007). Therefore, Ganma was readily accessible in the literaturein a form already approved and accepted by the Yolngu community 14 .The Yolgnu people describe what happens when two different kinds of wateror knowledge meet and mix together.A river of water from the sea (Western knowledge),and a river of water from the land (Aboriginal knowledge)mutually engulf each other upon flowing into a common lagoon andbecoming one.In coming together, the streams of water mix across the interfaceof the two currents and foam is created.This foam represents a new kind of knowledge.Essentially, Ganma is a place where knowledge is (re) created(Hughes 2000; Pyrch & Castillo 2001; Yunggirringa & Garnggulkpuy 2007)They explained how people from differing cultures and backgrounds can sharedeeply without losing their integrity. They explain that water, like knowledge,has memory. When two different waters meet to create Ganma, they diffuseinto each other, but they do not forget who they are, or where they came from(Pyrch & Castillo 2001, p. 380). To give up or ignore one’s history is to risklosing one’s integrity; strength comes from understanding where we have been(Pyrch & Castillo 2001; Yunggirringa & Garnggulkpuy 2007). Ganma thusprovides a conceptual framework for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to14 It is very important that this Traditional intellectual cultural knowledge has been voluntarilyand purposefully shared by the Aboriginal community concerned, rather than taken in colonisingpractices. I was able to personally seek permission to use Ganma in this thesis when two Yolnguwomen attended the Action research conference in the fourth Collaboration Area, and observedmy research approach in action. I also sought permission from local Kaurna Elders to useAboriginal knowledge from another region to guide this research. We identified that Kaurnapeople had similar concepts of knowledge sharing, but that the cultural processes necessary forlocal Aboriginal knowledge sharing concepts to be respectfully utilised in this project were notyet finalised.89