Ngoonjook · 1990 · 65 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesAnthropologyScience EducationCultural AnthropologyEthnographyIndigenous StudiesIndigenous EducationIndigenous KnowledgeIndigenous Knowledge In CurriculumIndigenous Knowledge SystemsIndigenous PeoplesTraditional KnowledgeCritical Knowledge ProductionElders As Knowledge HoldersIndigenous Biocultural KnowledgeIndigenous Knowledge TransmissionIndigenous Science CurriculumIndigenous Science Education
The author has worked in Northeast Arnhem Land since 1972, leading a Yolngu‑controlled school and collaborating with community elders and scholars. Yolngu teachers collaborate with community elders to guide science‑making. The collaboration preserves traditional Aboriginal principles of knowledge making.
I have been living and working in Northeast Arnhemland as a teacher/linguist since 1972; first at Milingimbi, and since 1985, at the Community school at Yirrkala. Our school, including the curricula, is under Yolngu (Aboriginal) control. The Yolngu teachers have enlisted the help of community elders to guide our science making. This they have done in such a way that the traditional Aboriginal principles of knowledge making still function. I am indebted to the Aboriginal elders of our community and to everyone else at the school including the children for the ideas expressed in this paper. Also to Dr Helen Watson from the History and Philosophy of Science department of Melbourne University who has been involved in this work. I would highly recommend her recent book which explores the contrast between Aboriginal and Western knowledge production through the examination of a wide range of graphic and written material.