The Cultural Interface

The cultural interface refers to the metaphoric space where Indigenous knowledges and cultures interact with other cultures and ways of being (Nakata, 2010). Torres Strait Islander scholar, Martin Nakata (2010) asserts that the cultural interface is, “the intersection of Western scientific methodology and our world view as Indigenous researchers, where we generate new stories, methodologies and approaches into Indigenous research methodology” (Nakata, 2010). At the cultural interface, two or more cultures can meet and may even overlap to create new ways of researching, storytelling and knowledge sharing. The cultural interface is “a multi-layered and multi-dimensional space of dynamic relations constituted by the intersections of time, place, distance, different systems of  thought, competing and contesting  discourses within and between different knowledge traditions, and different systems of social, economic and political organisation” (Nakata 2007).

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References:

• Nakata, Martin. Disciplining the Savages, Savaging the Disciplines. Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2007.
  
  

• Nakata, Martin. “The Cultural Interface of Islander and Scientific Knowledge.” The Australian journal of indigenous education 39, no. S1 (2010): 53–57. https://doi.org/10.1375/S1326011100001137
  

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PEOPLE AND IDEAS

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TEXTS

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• Bodkin-Andrews, Gawaian, Frances Bodkin, Gavin Andrews, and Alison Whittaker. “Mudjil’dya’djurali Dabuwa’wurrata (how the White Waratah Became Red): D’harawal Storytelling and Welcome to Country ‘Controversies.’” AlterNative : an international journal of indigenous peoples 12, no. 5 (2016): 480–497. https://doi.org/10.20507/AlterNative.2016.12.5.4
  
  
  
• CSIRO. Our Knowledge, Our Way Guidelines. https://www.csiro.au/en/research/indigenous-science/indigenous-knowledge/our-knowledge-our-way
  
  
  
• Ford, Payi Linda, Linda Barwick, and Allan Marett. “Mirrwana and Wurrkama: Applying an Indigenous Knowledge Framework to Collaborative Research on Ceremonies.” In Mirrwana and Wurrkama: Applying an Indigenous Knowledge Framework to Collaborative Research on Ceremonies. Lyrebird Press, 2014.
  
  
  
• Gibson, Chris and Peter Dunbar-Hall. “Nitmiluk: Place, Politics, and Empowerment in Australian Aboriginal Popular Music.” In Ethnomusicology, edited by Jennifer Post. 370–387. Routledge, 2005. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203036037
  
  
  
• Nakata, Martin. “Indigenous Knowledge and the Cultural Interface: Underlying Issues at the Intersection of Knowledge and Information Systems.” IFLA journal 28, no. 5-6 (2002): 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1177/034003520202800513
  
  
  
• Nakata, Martin. “The Cultural Interface.” The Australian journal of indigenous education 36, no. Supplementary (2007): 7–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1326011100004646
  
  
  
• Nakata, Martin N. Disciplining the Savages, Savaging the Disciplines. Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2007.
  
  
  
• Yunkaporta, Tyson, and Sue McGinty. “Reclaiming Aboriginal Knowledge at the Cultural Interface.” Australian educational researcher 36, no. 2 (2009): 55–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216899
  
  
  
• Yunkaporta, Tyson. (2009). Aboriginal pedagogies at the cultural interface (Doctoral dissertation, James Cook University).
  

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AUDIO

VIDEO

Ngara was collaboratively created by Shannon Foster, Jo Kinniburgh (partners at Bangawarra), Amanda Harris, Christopher Coady and Laura Case.

Filming and video editing by Cornel Ozies, Iman Irannejad, additional video recording by Jodie Kell, additional video editing by Jade Guadalupe. 

Original artwork by Shannon Foster.

Thanks to all participants: Rhiannon Brownbill, Chloe Ngelebe Ford, Emily Tyaemaen Ford, Payi Linda Ford, Shannon Foster, Amanda Harris, Eden Tjunggalamuriny Harkins-Ford, Jo Kinniburgh, Matte McConnell, Nathan Mudyi Sentance, Nardi Simpson, and Jacinta Tobin.

This resource was funded by One Sydney, Many People Project Funding from the University of Sydney’s Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Indigenous Strategy and Services.