Trading Places : integrating Indigenous Australian knowledge into the modern economy

- Newkirk, Karen

Title
Trading Places : integrating Indigenous Australian knowledge into the modern economy
Creator
Newkirk, Karen
Date
2020
Type
Text; Thesis; PhD
Identifier
http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/176385
Identifier
vital:15124
Abstract
Australia has a 30-billion-dollar knowledge industry, yet this industry barely recognises Indigenous Australian knowledge developed for over 50,000 years. This knowledge is important to understanding life on this planet. A 2012 regional Aboriginal education report noted “These ways of thinking and planning are our great gift to a world that desperately needs solutions...Unfortunately, this gift has not been accepted yet, or even noticed” (NSW Department of Education and Communities). Through continued denial of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experience, their knowledge is largely hidden from mainstream Australia and to the rest of the world. This study examines what inhibits appreciation of Indigenous Australian knowledge through two sequential interviews with 26 non-Indigenous senior managers in business, finance and economics. The constructivism research paradigm frames the use of Causal Layered Analysis as a research method to investigate the interview data. A paradox arises between the aspirational discourse for an integrated nation with recognition of Indigenous knowledge as valuable, and ingrained images that erroneously position Indigenous knowledge as only representative of early human development on a linear trajectory toward 21st Century Western thought. From the findings, a spectrum of mainstream Australian society emerges with clear gradation from strong ignorance of Indigenous knowledge to reasonably high awareness. Evident from this spectrum is that for Australian society to embrace Indigenous knowledge, a transition is required to move non-Indigenous individuals significantly to higher awareness. This thesis argues that this transition could be progressed by supportive non-Indigenous individuals taking the next step to improve their understanding of Indigenous knowledge through learning. Thus, Australian society could establish that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge is managed by its custodians, valued and in demand more broadly, is not compromised in the market, and is able to contribute to the management of Homo sapiens on Mother Earth.; Doctor of Philosophy
Publisher
Federation University Australia
Rights
All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
Rights
Copyright Karen Newkirk
Rights
Open Access
Rights
Culturally sensitive
Subject
Integral Theory; Causal Layered Analysis; Human futures; Critical Race and Whiteness Studies
Full Text
Thesis Supervisor
Courvisanos, Jerry
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