How knowledge from country endures

Aboriginal Australian knowledge evolves from tens of thousands of years of learning from natural patterns in nature, my grandchildren will identify me as their child (Yunkaporta 2019. p.43-44). I write this story as my future self, speaking to the present.

An Antarctic scientist (Andrew Constable) and an artist (me) who has worked alongside scientists in Antarctica and other places in the world, recognised when they met, in 2012, the urgent need to bring together, within themselves and their communities, the different ways of understanding and relating to nature, that are vital for the global community to recognise and adapt in time to effectively adapt to the impacts of unnaturally rapid change in climates worldwide, that are caused by exponential human population growth and massive burning of fossil fuel.

We are not alone in holding this knowledge.

People process information according to their training, experience and beliefs. Different perspectives reflect the different values and motivations that range between utilitarian and subjective.

In some Indigenous communities, Western perspectives are welcomed as opportunities for expanding understanding, for innovation and adaptation to changes in nature and communities (Ira Bashkow. 2020). Indigenous scholars recognise people as part of nature, and that all these ways of knowing are vital for sustaining human culture (Yunkaporta , Narakobi… more?).

In some Western communities, Indigenous perspectives are unwelcome threats.