In the interview that follows Sarah Wright (the University of Newcastle), Kate Lloyd (Macquarie University),
and Sandie Suchet-Pearson (Macquarie University) answer my questions and share their insights into the wonderful collaboration that has led to the creation of this special book.
The Interview
1. How did this special collaboration with the Yolŋu people come about?
1. How did this special collaboration with the Yolŋu people come about?
Our research collaboration at Bawaka began
in 2006 when we (Sarah Wright, Kate Lloyd, and Sandie Suchet-Pearson who are
geographers at Newcastle and Macquarie Universities) formed a partnership with
Laklak and her extended family who own and manage the successful tourism
business Bawaka Cultural Experiences (BCE). BCE is centered on Bawaka homeland
two hours south of Yirrkala in north east Arnhem Land. We were introduced by a
mutual friend who asked us whether we would be interested in working
collaboratively with some amazing women from Northeast Arnhem Land. Of course,
we said yes.
From that initial visit, our relationship
has grown. It has been a long-term endeavor where we have learnt to trust and
respect each other. All of us are teachers in some way, either at the
University, at schools in Arnhem Land or as educators working with visitors who
come to learn at Bawaka. As teachers, we share a desire to create and
distribute knowledge. For Laklak
and the other Yolŋu women in our team, it is really important to teach other
people about Yolŋu culture and the complexity of Yolŋu knowledge. This is part
of their mission in life and part of Laklak’s responsibilities as Elder and
Eldest sister. She sees books and other outputs as a
way of communicating Yolŋu knowledge to diverse audiences that include tourists, university
students, and the general public. It is also a way of reclaiming knowledge that
has been provided to academic researchers but is no longer easily accessible to
Yolngu people, and of creating a rich resource for cultural transmission for
their children.
We have told other stories with Laklak and
her family. In 2008, we published a book on weaving and culture (published by
the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Newcastle). The
sharing of these stories was made possible by our being women, since in Yolŋu culture basket
weaving is women’s business. From the start, our shared womanhood, including
our families and children, was an important part of our connection.
This most recent book aims to encourage readers to understand and respect
different cultures and is part of the family’s strong
desire for non-Indigenous and Indigenous people to learn from each other. As
Laklak says in the book:
“I see a boy standing with a spear learning in the bush university, the real life the land and nature. I also see the boy sitting on a rock at Bawaka playing with a computer. This kid can see a wider world, learning through a computer. That is the new generation, mixing the knowledges together. The boys can change over, the boy with the spear can play with the computer and vice versa.”
2. How did your own research team’s collaboration come about?
Our research team is broad. There are the
academic researchers Kate, Sarah and Sandie. We were all starting our careers
at a similar time and wanted to create a research team that would work
collaboratively in a different way from the lone endeavour that you often find
in academia. We started working together in 2004. Then we developed our
research relationship with Laklak and family in 2006 so our research team
became an intercultural team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, and
of people working within universities as well as beyond them. Our research team
grew to include the four sisters, elders and caretakers for Bawaka country
Laklak Burrawanga, Ritjilili Ganambarr, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Banbapuy
Ganambarr - and their daughter, Djawundil Maymuru.
Now we are trying to include Bawaka Country
as part of our research team too. For Indigenous people, it is important to
take the knowledge and agency of animals, plants, winds and other aspects of
Country seriously. It is a world-view that is not human-centric. So we are
expanding our thinking to see the ways animals and other aspects of Country are
important in our collaboration.
3. Is there a next step to the project and the desire to tell
the story of Laklak and the Yolŋu people?
This book is just one part of a
collaborative journey we have been on since 2006 when Laklak asked us to work
with them to assist them telling stories to tourists as part of their cultural
tourism business. We are all committed to long term collaboration and it has
taken us on a lot of twists and turns along the way. We have written, and will
continue to write, academic articles together as well as writing books aimed at
university students and children. The book has been a long term project and so
the next step is for all the authors and their families to go up to Bawaka and
celebrate the book and spend time with each other. Laklak says that that this
is her last book but who knows…
4. Are there other stories to be told from Bawaka country?
There are layers and layers of stories,
some too sacred to be shared and so much that still can be told. There are
many, many other stories that Laklak and her family are keen and willing to
share. You don’t have to just read it from our book, Laklak and her family
invite you to come to Bawaka, sit on the beach, have a cup of tea and listen to
the stories (for more information see - http://www.lirrwitourism.com.au/.)
The stories will take us where they do. We
are constantly surprised! There is a connection between us that endures. In
reflecting on our collaboration during our first book we wrote:
“We feel that writing this book has been
like creating a basket. We have tried to make sure that the colors go together
and that we have woven something big and beautiful that’s full of meaning and
knowledge. We’ve made a connection with each other that’s like a thread linking
us together. In the same way the baskets are connected we are all connected
now. We all have a desire to work together to build understanding between
cultures and to help others learn about, and learn from, Yolŋu culture
(Burarrwanga et al. 2008, p. 36).
5. How do you hope to see this book used? What has been its
impact so far?
We would like to see it used in a range of
contexts and we can see it reaching people of all ages. There are stories and
messages suitable for young people and we have recently written teaching notes
which can be accessed via (http://www.allenandunwin.com)
so that the book can be used in primary and secondary schools in all sections
of the curriculum including maths, science, English, geography and history. It
is also accessible to a broader audience including people working in cutting
edge science, to help communicate Indigenous world views, including an
Indigenous understanding of mathematics and science. We have had wonderful
feedback from a range of people from kids to people working in public health at
the University and from those in Indigenous policy setting.
Laklak and her family also recognize the
book as important knowledge. At the book launch up in Arnhem Land, Elders and
representative from different clans came to pay respect to the book and
acknowledge the importance of this written form. That was really important to
us all and we hope there will be ongoing positive impacts for the community in
Arnhem Land - not least because all of the royalties for the book are going up
there!
6. Is there some part of the story of the Yolŋu people that has
personally touched each of you? How has hearing the story of this people
changed you?
Writing this book has been a journey for
all of us. We have learnt so much about and from each other. For example, in
working on the text for this book and discussing the tone we wanted to use,
Laklak asked us, ‘‘Do you understand? Do you feel it? Because you need to feel
it and have emotions about it to write it in the book and for the readers to
start understanding it.’’
For us to be able to engage meaningfully
with Laklak, her family, and Bawaka, requires a deep emotional investment. The
emotional entanglements are fundamental to our work and need to be explicitly
acknowledged and foregrounded. Exploring the terrain beyond the words of our
research invigorates our reflections and findings, adding other registers for
meaning and understanding to be conveyed and developed. To borrow de Carteret’s
(2008) metaphor, words from our storytelling encounters become like the thread
for patterns in lace: the spaces in between make the patterns visible and more
meaningful.
Working with Laklak and her family has
fundamentally changed the way we think about ourselves. We have been challenged
to see ourselves as deeply connected with each other and with our environment.
There is no individual that stands separate from anyone else or from Country.
It has taken our initial desire for collaboration to a depth we would never
have envisioned when we began.
7. Can you see ways that the stories of the Yolŋu connect with
European stories?
Yes, the stories in some ways connect
strongly with European stories, though in other ways they teach us quite
different messages. One of the main messages of the book is about sustainability
and connection. Laklak introduces the reader to some of the Bawaka/Yolŋu relationships
that weave everything together and ensure we remain in balance. Through the
stories, songs and actions, she shows how these relationships are kept alive. As
non-Indigenous people listen to the stories, hopefully they will think about
what they mean for them and how they can live in a connected way in any place.
The importance of connection and sustainability doesn’t seem to be stressed as
strongly in non-Indigenous stories, or certainly not in the same way, though
they are themes that have been increasingly important within contemporary
Australian children’s literature. In a way, sustainability is a new story for
non-Indigenous people, but for Yolŋu,
it is fundamental.
There are other similarities and
connections between Yolŋu and European stories. For example, the story of Djet tells about a
boy who doesn’t share. This concept of sharing and greed is common in European
stories too. It is in everything from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' to
episodes on Peppa Pig.
Yolŋu stories, whether about sustainability, sharing or any of the other
major themes in the book, emphasize the messages as fundamentally important.
They are understood in very deep ways, and are not provided just as
entertainment. These are also stories that are animate in the land unlike
European stories that are often understood as fiction. Djet, the sea-eagle, is
always there with his cries reminding Yolŋu about sharing. It is a real thing, and
very alive.
Thank you to Sarah Wright, Kate Lloyd, and Sandie Suchet-Pearson for taking to time to answer my questions.
