27/12/23 - Knowedges and Research

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had the time and headspace to process and disentangle some thoughts around what I’m doing, and how I’m doing it. Certain conversations and things I’ve read lately have also contributed to clarifying and bringing me back to thoughts that I hadn’t thought for a while. Working out your own thoughts by looking at others’ thoughts, and having your thoughts bounce around with someone else’s, is crucial. 

There seem to be several different brains that I need to switch between and it can get kind of difficult. Sometimes I want to be completely present and open to whatever is going on around me, as well as creative ideas that spring up. It’s important to jump on an impulse, to be childlike in my attitude, not get bogged down in judgement, follow the idea. Other times, like when I was writing my literature review draft, I am wrestling with words and other people’s ideas, kind of like making a recipe of all the things that are being bundled together to show where I am going and how. Other times I’m absorbing words from pages or recordings or people’s mouths and grabbing onto the bits that link up to other bits or which spark a new idea or give me excitement. And then there’s the rest of my life…

I didn’t go very deeply into my methods in my literature review draft; it’s on the agenda though, alongside writing some new pieces of music (which I have ideas for, and I’ve made a start on one, but I’ll talk about that another time when it’s front-of-mind). It’s interesting to me that, generally speaking, not a whole lot has changed about my PhD plans since I sent in my application 14 months ago. One of the things that was important was built-in openness in my research methods. I’d learnt, from a few places, that knowledge is treated differently in Aboriginal culture to how it is in Western culture. Knowledge, to us non-Indigenous folks, is something we want to go out and chow down on. The internet is a knowledge buffet (and like the typical buffet, some of the food is questionable). We’re used to being able to find all the answers, and asking lots of questions is encouraged. Gobble it up, fit as much as you can in that brain! Whether or not you comprehend it entirely, or can analyse it critically, is another thing.

In the Indigenous way of doing things, there are checks and balances. As a non-Indigenous person, there are actually many things that it’s ok for me to know about Aboriginal culture and law and spirituality (which incidentally all have a lot of overlap in their worldview - compartmentalisation is a pretty Western thing). I’ve learnt about a lot of plants and their uses, I’ve learnt some stories, I’ve learnt the basics of a type of weaving, I know some Dharug words, I’ve even tried stone knapping and string-making. From here, there are two important things to note (probably more but these are the two that I am thinking of now). 

The first is what you do with this knowledge. When I went to a weaving workshop led by Virginia Keft, a Murriwarri woman, I asked her if it was ok to teach someone I knew how to weave in the way she had taught us. She said yes, as long as I told them who I’d learnt if from, and as long as I, and whoever I taught it to, didn’t turn it into a money-making enterprise. So, that is, respect the knowledge you’re given by acknowledging where it came from, and don’t exploit it for your own gains. This also extends to telling stories others have told you - don’t do so unless you have explicit permission, and if you do, acknowledge whose it is, say you have permission, and if you make a profit from it in some way, share that with the owner of the story. Knowledge is very valuable and powerful, and must be handled with care and respect.

The second important thing is that what we non-Indigenous folks are allowed to know is “entry-level.” Indigenous stories, arts (visual and performance), laws and knowledges are rich with multi-layered meaning, and what you are able to know depends on things like your level of initiation, your moiety, your gender, your clan group, your totems, things like that. Also, there is no one person who holds all the knowledge. Therefore there is no single central, powerful person. Elders obviously have a lot of authority, knowledge and wisdom, but the idea is that the knowledge is spread out amongst people - this fits with the importance of relationships and connections in Indigenous culture, and knowledge is safe because it can’t all be lost with one person. Often knowledge will only be given when a person is deemed ready for it. You take what you’re given, and someone with more knowledge and seniority decides whether you have properly understood, and if you need to know more.

So, all the things I have learnt this year from Indigenous people are precious, and I don’t take them for granted. Many times, the same or similar pieces of knowledge have been shared by different people. What someone says in a seminar may echo something that I read a few weeks ago. They also don’t all agree with each other all the time but several Aboriginal folks have told me to expect this, and the acceptance of this is another way I’m trying to let go of notions of how things “should be.” I’ve also purposefully put myself in situations where an Indigenous person has decided what they will talk about, what they will impart. Initially I thought I wanted specifically to seek out environmental knowledge from an Indigenous person, but really, there’s so much overlap in how things relate in Indigenous knowledges that it’s all informative and relevant to what I’m doing, sometimes in ways that become clear over time.

A recurring theme in writings by several Indigenous authors I’ve read recently is the way they are researched by non-Indigenous folks. It is an outside-looking-in perspective, making them the objects to be studied, not involved in the conversation, not consulted on what is helpful or not, with the narrative often that there is something wrong with them that needs fixing. There have been recent shifts away from this way of doing things, but there’s a growing movement for self-determination, doing research their way, for their benefit. In my first meeting with Chris Sainsbury, Dharug man, new music composer and my primary supervisor, I asked whether I’d need to get ethics clearance for what I was doing. He said no. I was surprised at this and it took me a while to wrap my head around it, especially since everyone else was thinking the same thing - obviously I’d need ethics clearance if I was going to be speaking to Aboriginal people and potentially quoting them in my research. But what he was getting at was that there’s plenty out there for me without me needing to go and “investigate.” I’m not going out seeking any “new” information; this isn’t some sort of scientific experiment where I use data or ethically sensitive information. And, if I do learn anything personal, it’s not appropriate, not relevant, for me to communicate that in my PhD. And being Aboriginal, Chris can pull me up on anything inappropriate, plus my other two supervisors are pretty on top of this stuff too. The workshops and walks and talks I’ve been going to all year are all sources; I can cite them because they’re public. 

So, I was thinking the other day, I’m not doing the type of research where I’m going in, say, to an Aboriginal community seeking to ask specific questions to get a certain type of quantitative or qualitative data, to a specific end. I’m not sure if this term will stick, and I might find a better one, but I’m thinking of what I’m doing as passive research. It’s got very broad boundaries - What can I learn from Aboriginal folks that they are happy to share with me? If this is shared in a public forum all the better, because I know it’s not restricted knowledge; everyone else there knows it too. And, of course, academic systems are about giving credit where it’s due, so I’m going to state where I got the information from. Also, I do ask questions, but usually the questions are to do with something that has been shared. And sometimes, at these things, I or someone else asks a question and the answer is “I can’t tell you that” and that is fine, and as it should be. I think the key point is that I am actively going out and listening to what Indigenous folks are choosing to say. It is so generous of them to share their knowledge, and so I really want to hear and understand, and act upon what I learn if that’s appropriate. There are lots of things many of them want us to know because amongst other things it will mean better understanding and caring for Country, which is, traditionally, what everything in their culture is centred around. That’s what I am ultimately aiming for with this PhD - caring better for Country through a forging deeper, Indigenous-informed relationship with it, and through this, showing how others can deepen their understanding too. I hope that my work will contribute to decolonisation through challenging Western ideas of what kinds of information are valuable, and instead put forward Indigenous ways of being and doing as the alternative we need to help us live well on this planet. 

Lastly, to help explain the big picture a little more, I’m going to state my questions as they stand right now (without the academic finessing they’ll get later).

What information and teaching are Indigenous people choosing to share with non-Aboriginal people, that I can access?

Once learnt, how do these things affect me as a person (including how I see myself, my interactions with others, and most importantly how to they change the way I perceive and interact with familiar places i.e. my local area and chosen places in Dharug and Dabee Countries)?

How do the things learnt through the above questions manifest in my musical creations? 

Next post I will (probably) get into that last question a bit more. Over and out.

(Here’s a short reading list of stuff I’ve read lately, relating to the above - all Indigenous authors)

Sand Talk - Tyson Yunkaporta

The White Possesive - Aileen Moreton Robinson

Research is Ceremony - Shawn Wilson

Another Day in the Colony - Chelsea Watego

Songspirals - Gay’Wu Group of Women

Indigeneity and Decolonial Resistance - Dei and Jaimungal

Us Women, Our Ways, Our World - ed. Dudgeon, Herbert, Milroy, Oxenham