Decoloyarns

Indigenous scholars across the globe such as Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Terri Janke, and Robin Wall Kimmerer have shared ways for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to participate in decolonising research and scientific traditions with respect and wonderment. This Decoloyarn tells the story of local efforts to decolonise research practice at The Fenner School, and shares an extraordinary document and outcome.

During her PhD studies Renée Hartley spent three years alongside PhD Scholar Kate Bellchambers and wiradyuri scholar kate harriden, crafting a tailor-made set of seven key protocols for working on Country, for all students, academics and professional staff at the ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society (FSES) and beyond. Developed in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the circle, The Fenner Circle is excited and proud to launch protocols for working on Country.

Working on Country Protocol

In this Decoloyarn, Hartley, the driving force behind this project, yarns with kate about the backstory of this amazing project. Her work shows that producing protocols for everyone is a journey that can be initiated by any researcher with curiosity, honesty, and respect for cultural authority. Ultimately, it is Traditional Custodians, and especially Elders, who decide what respectful protocols are, and whether a researcher has been successful.

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Renée: My name is Renée, I received my doctorate from the Fenner School of Environment and Society, am of northern and western European heritage, living on Djiringanj Country. My role was to coordinate drafting the protocol document. I was very lucky to work with Kate Bellchambers and kate harriden who contributed substantially to the development of the protocol.

kate: I’m kate, a yinaa wiradyuri/wiradyuri woman, PhD scholar at Fenner and co-founder and co-convenor of the Fenner Decolonial Research and Teaching Circle (aka the Fenner Circle). In terms of the protocol’s development, I mainly kept in touch with the Indigenous members of the Fenner Circle and edited late stage drafts to reflect their revision requests.

Developing the protocol

Renée: When the Fenner Circle would discuss researchers who study landscapes and ecosystems without engaging with Traditional Custodians, I could relate. I had often participated in research projects—mostly in national parks and reserves—that the Traditional Custodians had not been consulted on. I would think about the times that I’ve heard respected ecologists respond with ‘we need to do better’ or ‘we didn’t have the resources’ when asked about the lack of Traditional Custodian engagement in their work. Yet, I was rarely hearing discussions or seeing changes that would lead us to ‘doing better’. I was never the most senior or experienced person in the room. So what could I do?

The Fenner Circle discussed the need to have guidance for researchers that don’t know how to go about meaningful engagement. Because I was part of the target audience, and I would benefit from reading the protocol, I asked the Fenner Circle conveners whether I could start the process. I thought that if it is my ignorance preventing me from achieving a higher standard in my research practices, then it is up to me to do the work to address it.

kate: As a circle co-convenor, part of my role is to support circle participants’ suggested activities where possible. Convenors are always thrilled when people volunteer to do things…on this occasion, I appreciated the self-reflection and consideration that Renee’s motivation demonstrated. It is an established practice that any suggested activity is first put to the full circle for a collective decision. Developing this protocol was a well-received idea. Given the nature of this activity, the Custodian Circle was asked if it was appropriate to proceed. Their response is obvious 😊

Cultural authority and the Custodians Circle

All: We spoke to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the Custodians Circle (the Fenner Circle’s oversight/governance body, consisting of all the Indigenous peoples part of the Circle), early in the process to seek permission to produce the protocol, invite their participation and establish any priorities and preferred approaches held. We wanted to minimise the burden on the Custodians Circle by presenting the content in a draft format that allowed for substantial changes, while also not requiring too much work for overstretched Indigenous colleagues to bring the document to standard.

Custodians Circle members Dave Johnston, Lisa Conway and Sam Provost were actively involved at all stages of the protocol’s development. As peers and cultural authorities for the protocols, they also reviewed this decoloyarn. Supporting the protocol’s development was material produced by Custodians Circle members Dr Virginia Marshall and Brad Moggridge. When a solid draft was crafted, all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the Custodian Circle were asked to review it. Once their feedback was incorporated, the protocol was returned to the Custodian’s asking for permission to publish and distribute it. Given the protocol is a living document, Custodians Circle involvement in this activity will continue into the future. The leading role of First Nations experiences, voices and expectations throughout the process and document offers this protocol the rigour, validity and legitimacy lacking in similar documents.

Lessons from developing the protocol

Renée: Developing the guidance has made me a more considered and thorough researcher. It has helped me think through aspects of working on Country that I may not have considered in the past or that I may otherwise overlook in hectic stages of proposing and commencing a project. Being a member of the Fenner Circle, I had already become more aware of Indigenous communities’ experiences of researchers, and how important it is for researchers to be aware of and open about our positionality, which helped in putting together the protocol. It was valuable to become familiar with the many publications and processes already in place to assist researchers and First Nations Peoples and I have since directed several people to these resources. It’s actually affected the way I approach collaboration with everyone I work with, because after all, the protocol is about respectfully and genuinely working together.

kate: My involvement in the protocol’s development triggered self-reflection on some of my own less-than ‘best practice’ research conducted in the dying days of the 20th century, while offering the redemptive reminder that there is always more to learn.

Getting the Fenner School community engaged

Renée: I hope this protocol for working on Country is warmly and eagerly received and read, because it applies to each of us, given we are all working on Country, even if we work entirely from our offices on campus. It’s also intended to be useful for people who feel fairly experienced but may want to reflect on their approach. It is important to remember that the protocol doesn’t take the place of formal ethics or fieldwork approval processes, but rather signals collective intent to undertake research with integrity in the settler colonial context of Australia.

Over the last few years, I’ve received a lot of questions from researchers asking about much of the content that is covered in the protocol. I hope that, as a written document, the protocol will catch anyone who hasn’t felt comfortable to ask someone for guidance, or who hasn’t yet made the connection about how a working on Country protocol applies to them. Everyone’s circumstances will be different, but I hope that people will read it and reflect on how their research practices may be perceived by Traditional Custodians, and how they can improve their approach.

The protocol is an incredible resource for those who want to do better. I would like to see the Fenner community support the Fenner Circle, and improve the protocol over time as we build on experiences and share knowledge. I would love to see the Fenner School lead the way at ANU in respectfully working on Country and with Traditional Custodians across the board, and I hope the protocol contributes to that achievement.

kate: Ultimately I want to see all in the Fenner School grab the opportunity the protocol presents to position the School as a leader in promoting and practicing what will eventually be standard research expectations, alongside the raft of research and fieldwork approvals currently required.

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What next?

The Fenner Circle have two key hopes for the Working on Country Protocols. With your help they are possible:

i) That these protocols become a compulsory part of the fieldwork/project administration, alongside ethics, travel approval, OH&S assessment and first aid training and similar required for all Fenner School of Environment & Society (FSES) research. This includes compulsory in-class training provided during under- and postgraduate programs so that referencing/using the protocol is commonplace in FSES.  The field manual version of the protocol should be continuously available in all FSES fleet vehicles.

We aspire for the protocols to be openly celebrated as a tenant of Fenner culture, among students, academic, and professional staff alike.

ii) We would be thrilled to see other schools within ANU, and other universities, adopt or modify these Protocols to suit their needs and have them become similarly celebrated. Protocols for working on Country are foundational to all of field research, as we are all always on Country. To that end, we would love to hear from you if you are working on such protocols, or if you/your school/your community have developed protocols. It would be incredible to build a shared library that speaks to specific Country, specific Nations, and weaves together our respective efforts to decolonize research.

What you can do

This is the opportunity start fulfilling your responsibility to continuously improve your research practices. You can start by:

^ reading the Working on Country Protocols

^ incorporating the protocols into your practice

^ referencing them in your work

^ sharing the document with your colleagues and

^ encourage your peers, students, supervisors and colleagues to do these things.

And if you can help make hard copies of the protocol available in your workplace, get to it!