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

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellyrelationships with others and whether they work with people in equalcollaboration, or if they consciously or unconsciously delegate them to theposition of ‘Other’. In heath encounters involving people from a significantlydifferent culture (such as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) this can beparticularly challenging.Permeability and cultural exchangeMaori researcher Mataira (2003) explores the intricacies of knowledgeexchange across cultures by introducing the concept of permeability. He arguesthat it is difficult to understand another culture by merely observing it; rathertrust and respect need to be built over time. He proposed three layers ofinteraction and understanding that occur when people from two differentcultures interact, in particular, when the outsider is a non-Indigenous personworking with Indigenous peoples (Mataira 2003).The outer sphere or ‘outsiders view’ is where the outsider first encounters anew culture and experience unfamiliarity, a disconnectedness and lack ofunderstanding. The outsider formulates their own opinion and assumptionsbased on their subjective interpretation of food, language, housing, fashions,artwork and ceremonial activities. From an Indigenous point of view, this layeris what outsiders understand through ignorance, limited knowledge and limitedinsight. If there is genuineness in an outsiders attempt to learn, the Indigenousperson may permit them into the next layer (Mataira 2003, p. 12).The middle layer involves knowledge norms, moral beliefs, roles,responsibilities, expectations and values. Norms are the collectiveunderstanding people hold about what they see as right and wrong and valuesdetermine what constitutes good and bad. Social norms reflect the social valuespeople collectively hold and provide stability to communities. When this is notevident, conflict and tension arise. While norms generate a cognisance of howpeople should behave, values tell us how we indeed should aspire to behave.Values therefore serve as a basis for choices (Mataira 2003, p. 13).The inner layer involves learning about the values of another’s coreassumptions about how people construct their world. Interacting at this levelinvolves learning about what we and others value and how we construct our93