Abstract
Australian Aboriginal Knowings are fundamentally different to Western Knowledges. Different, not inferior and not superior. This chapter will Story these differences. It will Story these differences using metaphor; a Brick wall for Western Knowledge and a Waterlily for Australian Aboriginal Knowings. It will explore the contested space between these two worlds; the space that Aboriginal educators exist and operate within. It will explore the domain of Aboriginal expressions of Knowing through performative mediums. It is in this space that we see the most powerfully communicated understandings and expressions of Aboriginal Knowings. This chapter is not about content. It is about process. It is about philosophically understanding the depth of the most ancient cultures and peoples and our Storys. It is about finding, accepting and strategizing the discomfort: the zone of colliding trajectories, the contested zone—the zone between Aboriginal Knowings and Western Knowledges.
In this chapter I story the differences between Australian Aboriginal Knowings and Western Knowledges. The story is also about a mutual space for co-existence.
I, as a Wakka Wakka woman living in Darkinjung country and working on Cammeraygal Change, acknowledge Countrys, the spirits of the ancestors, traditional owners, elders and contemporary custodians; that is all who connect with these Countrys and have a responsibility to nourish and look after me; and all of you who connect through your engagement with this chapter, this book. This acknowledgement connects us all through hundreds of thousands of years of stories told, stories shared; growing our nation’s spirit.
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Notes
- 1.
Watson uses ‘muldarbi’ meaning demon spirit; in the context of her article this also refers to the colonizer.
- 2.
Waterlily/Waterlilys are spelt this way to embody a re-imaged concept
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Blair, N. (2016). Australian Aboriginal Knowledges and Service Learning. In: Bartleet, BL., Bennett, D., Power, A., Sunderland, N. (eds) Engaging First Peoples in Arts-Based Service Learning. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22153-3_7
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