Weaving lives together : collaborative fieldwork in North East Arnhem Land, Australia

Abstract

Weaving lives together at Bawaka, North-East Arnhem Land is a book about basket weaving and culture. In this paper, some of the co-authors of the text, non-Indigenous academics and an Indigenous woman from northern Australia, reflect on the process of creating the book. We argue that jointly authoring a book about weaving lives has in fact interwoven all our lives in a manner which confronts many traditional academic accounts of research and fieldwork. Through the process of researching and writing the book we have experienced a sharing of knowledge and a sharing of family. In particular, we have learnt that relationships cannot be planned and that uncertainty can lead to creative transformations.