Indigenous Community Research
What you will learn
Gain contemporary skills and knowledge for your job now.
Engaging respectfully with Indigenous communities requires culturally literate research skills that are supported by an understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems.
Centred around learning and creating, this micro-credential offers an informed framework for developing protocols that progress community relations, and explores creative practices that contextualise Indigenous culture.
It's valuable to anyone seeking to work with Indigenous communities, and understand how creative arts support the protection and reclamation of Indigenous cultural heritage.
Gain a deeper understanding of culturally literate research techniques
Develop research protocols that identify culturally safe strategies for contacting and working with Indigenous peoples. Apply what you learn to a community-focused research proposal that explores the principles of respect, Country, and reciprocal action.
Explore ways to safely preserve Indigenous artefacts
Learn about different approaches for preserving and returning Indigenous knowledge and objects, including digital archiving. Investigate ways of working with Indigenous communities to identify culturally relevant objects. Understand protocols connected to access, shared responsibilities, and archive management.
Engage with Indigenous creative and cultural practices
Drawing on your understanding of community, Country, and relationships, engage in the practice of weaving and dyeing plant material. Learn how to identify materials, and follow cultural protocols toward working respectfully with Indigenous technologies.
Who you will learn from
Learn from skilled academics and professional experts who will share invaluable knowledge you can use in your job.
Tiriki Onus
Yorta Yorta man, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) and Head of Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development
Tiriki is a successful visual artist, curator, performance artist, opera singer and lecturer in Indigenous Arts and Culture at the Victorian College of the Arts. At the Wilin Centre, he fosters innovation in research, development, advocacy and presentation of Indigenous arts and cultural practice. In 2015 he was the inaugural Hutchinson Indigenous Fellow, and is Associate Dean, Indigenous in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music and co-Director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures.
Dr Megan McPherson
Senior Lecturer in Art and Intercultural Research
Megan is a settler artist, intercultural researcher and educator, and has taught at university level since 1996. Her focus is in printmaking, textiles and installations, and publishes in the areas of identity, social media use, Indigenous knowledges and pedagogies, and learning and teaching experiences in the creative arts. Megan is based at the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Art and Cultural Development, and the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music.
Sally Treloyn
Associate Professor in Ethnomusicology, Non-Indigenous
Sally (they/them) is a specialist in participatory ethnomusicological research with Indigenous musicians and music. Treloyn was taught to sing and research the public dance-song genre Junba by senior Ngarinyin, Worrorra and Wunambal Elders in the Kimberley in the early 2000s. In the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at The University of Melbourne, Treloyn teaches through Wilin, co-directs the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures and is Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion.
More from this series
The Wilin Online Cultural Literacies series centres Indigenous approaches to learning and creating. Each course in the series features an act of material making designed to spark conversation
The Wilin Online Cultural Literacies series
The Wilin Online Cultural Literacies series centres Indigenous approaches to learning and creating. Each micro-credential in the series features an act of material making designed to spark conversation, develop cultural literacies and foster respectful engagement with Indigenous knowledges.
Explore more from the Wilin Online Cultural Literacies series:
- Acknowledgement of Country (Micro-credential)
- Sharing of Indigenous Knowledges (Micro-credential)
- Indigenous Cultural and Creative IP (Micro-credential)
Course details
Want to know more about micro-credentials? See our Frequently Asked Questions
This course is valuable for anyone seeking to deepen their cultural awareness and engage respectfully with Indigenous cultures and communities.
It's particularly beneficial for teachers and education professionals, arts workers and practitioners, community and cultural development workers, and corporate, business or government leaders.
There are no eligibility requirements.
By the end of this micro-credential, you will be able to:
- Respond to the significance of Country to the continuation, reclamation and revitalisation of Indigenous cultural and creative practices in Australia
- Apply principles of cultural safety in complex relational, intercultural experiences to develop creative works and reflection on practice
- Critically analyse your own relationship to knowledges, technologies, place, creative and cultural practices shared while enacting principles of cultural safety.
This micro-credential runs over six weeks.
Your total time commitment is 42 hours, which includes approximately:
- 9 hours guided learning
- 20 hours self study
- 13 hours assessment activities
Assessment:
- Digital Portfolio: a six minute video presentation that provides a creative outcome and reflects on the materials used, and cultural protocols followed, for dyeing and weaving plant material (50%).
- Practice-oriented research proposal: a research proposal (625 words) that identifies protocols for practicing cultural safety when working with Indigenous communities, and explores techniques for preserving and safely returning historic artefacts (50%).
Indigenous Community Research can be taken as a stand-alone micro-credential or you can complement it with any other course in the Wilin Online Cultural Literacies series.
This series includes:
To get the most out of this course, we recommend taking Acknowledgement of Country first.