Debakarn Koorliny Wangkiny: a methodology for going along steady walking and talking to build relationships

Debakarn Koorliny Wangkiny: a methodology for going along steady walking and talking to build relationships

Mob on the beach going fishing

We are excited to announce the publication of our methodology paper. The paper is published as part of a special issue about knowledge translation in the Health Sociology Review journal.

This has been a long time coming. As with anything deeply experiential and immersive, words often don’t do the actions justice. We hope the paper goes some way towards capturing and describing the ways we work with community, Elders, young people and participating service organisations across the range of Looking Forward projects.

Here’s a snippet from the abstract:

Our article begins with an overview of the APAR literature and pays homage to the decolonising scholarship that champions Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing. We present a research program where Aboriginal Elders, as cultural guides, hold the research through storying and cultural experiences that have deepened relationships between services and the local Aboriginal community. We conclude with implications of a community-led engagement framework underpinned by a relational methodology that reflects the nuances of knowledge translation through a co-creation of new knowledge and knowledge exchange.

Wright, M., Culbong, T., Webb, M., Sibosado, A., Jones, T., Guima Chinen, T., & O’Connell, M. (2023). Debakarn Koorliny Wangkiny: steady walking and talking using first nations-led participatory action research methodologies to build relationships. Health Sociology Review: The Journal of the Health Section of the Australian Sociological Association, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14461242.2023.2173017