LEGACY RESEARCH
Indigenous cultural burning: Exploring the links between cultural revitalisation and wellbeing
Work Package 5 - Aboriginal Australians have a long history of caring for Country through the practice of cultural burning. We need to understand what engaging in culture really means for people and how it links to well-being and resilience. How can we better support wider recognition of cultural fire knowledge and create more equitable power relationships across fire an land management?
Key Outcome: Provide an evidence base to drive policy and practice for better support of Aboriginal cultural burning
This research aimed to understand the lived experiences of Aboriginal peoples engaged in cultural burning in New South Wales, exploring how it leads to cultural revitalisation and how this links with resilience and well-being.
What they did:
Explored cultural burning initiatives in NSW, who is involved and how they are supported
Considered the lived experiences and motivations of Aboriginal people engaged in cultural burning
Documented the opportunities and barriers to expanding cultural burning practices
Investigated how re-engagement in cultural burning leads to cultural renewal and how this links with well-being and resilience
Explored the development of participatory indicators to foster and monitor cultural renewal and well-being
KEY PUBLICATIONS (ALPHABETICALLY BY LEAD AUTHOR)
Cavanagh, V., Hammersley, L. & Adams, M. (2022). Igniting a conversation: Indigenous intercultural doctoral supervision. Geographical Research, 60, 46-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12481
Cavanagh, V. & Standley, P. (2020). Walking in the landscapes of our ancestors - indigenous perspectives critical in the teaching of geography. Interaction, 48, 14-16. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.039036093412381
Fountain, L., Tofa, M., Haynes, K., Taylor, M. R. & Ferguson, S. J. (2019). Older adults in disaster and emergency management: What are the priority research areas in Australia? International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 39, 101248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101248
Haynes, K., Bird, D. K. & Whittaker, J. (2020). Working outside ‘the rules’: Opportunities and challenges of community participation in risk reduction. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 44, 101396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101396