Knowledge Holders Research Articles

Attuning to Children’s Layered Life-Making Through Relational Learning and Assessment

Interweaving my thinking with childhood stories of schooling, familial narratives, and experiences as a teacher alongside children, this article makes visible how my pedagogical approaches and desires for children to experience belonging shape my intentional work to recraft marginalizing curricula and assessment practices. In sharing my learning, unlearning, and continued growth, I endeavor to prompt a rethinking of how we, pre-service teachers, fellow educators, and school leaders, support children’s life‑making and wellbeing on school landscapes and offer approaches for all children to be centered as knowledge holders.

The Jimmie Barker corpus: A Muruwari man’s documentation of Aboriginal languages, history and culture between 1968 and 1972

ABSTRACT Jimmie Barker (1900–1972) was a Muruwari Elder, Cultural Knowledge Holder, linguist, historian, ethnographer, inventor and sound engineer who produced over 113 h of audio recordings using reel-to-reel tape recorders between 1968 and 1972. Jimmie was supported in his endeavours by Janet Mathews and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) (formerly, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies). The “Barker Collection” of audio recordings is now housed in the AIATSIS Collection. Jimmie initially set out to record a Muruwari-English dictionary, but this expanded into documenting Muruwari language and culture, as well as personal, family, domestic and international history. Much of the collection comprises self-elicitation, metalinguistic analyses, oral histories and reflections. It includes some of the earliest recordings and language documentation by an Aboriginal person of other Aboriginal people, observations of typological properties and language change in Aboriginal languages, and critical analyses of linguistic and anthropological research. Since 2021, Roy J. Barker, grandson of Jimmie and Muruwari Cultural Knowledge Holder, has overseen a team of linguists designing a time-aligned ELAN corpus of Jimmie’s recordings for language revival outcomes. The recordings are transcribed, annotated with metadata and coded with cultural and language tags with consideration to the FAIR and CARE Principles.

“It Matters Who Defines It”—Defining Nutrition through American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Worldviews

BackgroundAdequately assessing nutrition is deeply important for understanding and addressing health inequities, especially for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian (AI/AN/NH) peoples who have been subjected to the malnourishing effects of settler colonialism. Mainstream approaches to nutrition rely heavily on indicators of physical diet consumption, while ignoring the contributions of food to spiritual, social, and emotional health. Considering only physical aspects of dietary consumption paints a narrow picture of AI/AN/NH foodways and nutritional health further contributing to deficit-based narratives about AI/AN/NH peoples. To adequately understand and address the nutritional health of AI/AN/NHs, strengths-based approaches to nutrition that are rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing are urgently needed. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to define nutrition through AI/AN/NH worldviews. MethodsThree focus group discussions (n = 3) and in-depth interviews (n = 6) were conducted with 26 purposively identified AI/AN/NH food sovereignty experts and knowledge holders. Data collection and analysis were conducted iteratively. Through a process of open, focused, and axial coding, primary themes and supporting subthemes were established and refined, and a conceptual framework (the Indigenous Nourishment Framework) was developed to reflect the relationships between primary themes, subthemes, and the overall meaning of nourishment for AI/AN/NHs. ResultsThe Indigenous Nourishment Model contains 4 main domains of nourishment (physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational), and 8 subthemes representing concepts, practices, and beliefs, which contribute to overall nourishment. ConclusionsDespite the importance of physical aspects of nutrition, our findings assert that spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being are inseparable and integral to the overall goal of nourishment for AI/AN/NHs. The resulting Indigenous Nourishment Framework developed with a diverse group of AI/AN/NH food knowledge holders reflects the strengths of AI/AN/NH foodways and builds upon existing approaches to nutrition by offering new directions for approaching and measuring nutrition.

Co-creating impact: positioning indigenous knowledge holders as expert researchers

Co-creating impact: positioning indigenous knowledge holders as expert researchers

A hybrid framework for sustaining and managing Somali indigenous knowledge

This paper represents the important of preserving Somali Indigenous Knowledge for the future generations to come. This paper presents a systematic review of the indigenous knowledge Management Systems deployed for different sectors in Africa and other countries in the world. The acquisition and management of IK is being used to rejuvenate endangered cultural practices and improve domestic socio-economic sustainability of Somali society. This paper presents how social media platforms and their components could be integrated into the KMS to manage and sustain Somali Indigenous knowledge (IK). The discovery of knowledge and its utilization is now fueled by the advancement of technology, which connects users to external sources through different platforms. The rapidly increasing use of SM and mobile technologies creates opportunities to form knowledge networks that can facilitate the process of creating, preserving, and sharing knowledge and skills that are unique to communities in the Somali context. As an oral society with rich IK and other cultural practices, Somali society lacked a framework to organize the existing knowledge in various methods. We used knowledge products from journal articles, policy documents, working papers, policy briefs, and other gray literature. The paper refers to existing methodology E-learning and KM functions. If properly integrated, this method first identifies functional similarities between SM, E-Learning, and KM systems and their interactions. The proposed framework consists of two functional parts; KM and SM. The KM part involves knowledge capturing, validation, formatting, storing, and distribution. SM part of the framework involves knowledge presentation, sharing, and application. Since the Somalis are said to be an oral society, this framework helps to capture and disseminate IK residing in knowledge holders.

The impact of Learning from Country on teachers’ understandings of place and community: insights from the Culturally Nourishing Schooling project

AbstractIn this paper, we present findings from the Culturally Nourishing Schooling (CNS) project data, collected during and after a series of experiential and immersive Learning from Country (LFC) activities with teachers working in New South Wales (NSW) schools in Australia. LFC is positioned as the critical first step in the CNS whole-school reform project, which seeks to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ educational experiences and outcomes by developing teacher capacity to deliver culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogies. By centring Country and community, LFC, along with four other CNS strategies, encourages teachers to think, act and relate differently with respect to First Nations students, families, communities and the places and histories in which they are grounded. Drawing on Burgess et al.’s LFC framework, we found evidence of teachers: professing an ethical commitment to respecting and honouring local Aboriginal knowledges and knowledge holders; understanding the importance of connectedness and relational practices in their teaching; reflecting critically on their pre-existing ideas about Aboriginal students and communities and developing ‘place-consciousness’ or ‘Country consciousness’. We conclude that the LFC strategy is influencing the ways that teachers conceptualise and enact education in relation to Country and community, with the potential to deliver significant benefits to First Nations students, families and communities.

Role of Stakeholders in the Development of Organic Rice Agribusiness in Karanganyar Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract Organic agriculture is growing in importance to address environmental challenges and meet the rising consumer demand for healthy, eco-friendly agricultural products. However, the success and growth of organic rice agribusiness depend heavily on the active involvement and collaboration of stakeholders across the entire agricultural value chain. Therefore, the present research aims to analyze the pivotal role of stakeholders in the development of organic rice agribusiness in the Karanganyar Regency. To achieve this objective, a qualitative approach was used to collect data through in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and Focus Group Discussions with stakeholders such as farmers, business actors, local government, local communities, and consumers. The collected data were then analyzed using stakeholders’ analysis and thematic approaches to identify the roles, contributions, and challenges faced by each stakeholder. The results showed that stakeholders play a crucial role in the development of organic rice agribusiness. Farmers have a central role as primary producers and holders of local knowledge about organic farming practices. Additionally, business actors contribute by facilitating product marketing, processing, and distribution. Local governments are instrumental in providing policy and infrastructure support while also facilitating training and assistance for farmers. To ensure the success and growth of organic rice agribusiness, collaboration and synergy among stakeholders are vital as they establish networks, expand markets, access funding, and deliver education and training programs to farmers.

Research to Confront Climate Change Complexity: Intersectionality, Integration, and Innovative Governance.

Climate impacts increasingly unfold in interlinked systems of people, nature, and infrastructure. The cascading consequences are revealing sometimes surprising connections across sectors and regions, and prospects for climate responses also depend on complex, difficult-to-understand interactions. In this commentary, we build on the innovations of the United States Fifth National Climate Assessment to suggest a framework for understanding and responding to complex climate challenges. This approach involves: (a) integration of disciplines and expertise to understand how intersectionality shapes complex climate impacts and the wide-ranging effects of climate responses, (b) collaborations among diverse knowledge holders to improve responses and better encompass intersectionality, and (c) sustained experimentation with and learning about governance approaches capable of handling the complexity of climate change. Together, these three pillars underscore that usability of climate-relevant knowledge requires transdisciplinary coordination of research and practice. We outline actionable steps for climate research to incorporate intersectionality, integration, and innovative governance, as is increasingly necessary for confronting climate complexity and sustaining equitable, ideally vibrant climate futures.

“We are not droids”– IPCC participants’ senses of responsibility and affective experiences across the production, assessment, communication and enactment of climate science

The growing understanding of how and why the climate is changing has led to mounting calls on climate scientists to take on more responsibility in the context of climate science. While an increasing responsibilisation takes place in the academic literature, asking scientists to “do more”, there is limited engagement with the responsibilities that scientists already assume in practice. Drawing on novel empirical insights from 77 semi-structured interviews with participants of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), I take the increasing ‘peer-to-peer responsibilisation’ as a point of departure to contextualise such calls, asking what scientists themselves already feel and assume responsibility for at both the personal and professional level. I find that climate experts participating in the IPCC not only assume increasing responsibility across different stages of the IPCC process but also beyond. As my data analysis demonstrates, IPCC participants increasingly feel and take on responsibility not only for producing and assessing climate science but also for communicating and/or enacting it (PACE). The contribution of the article is threefold. Firstly, it makes sense of the mounting peer-to-peer responsibilisation by surfacing and contextualising how, why and with what consequences particular climate knowledge holders already assume responsibility for climate science at four key moments (PACE). Secondly, conceiving of the IPCC as a community of practice, the article provides novel insights into the work of IPCC participants and their individual experiences with the institution and its processes. Thirdly, the article adds evidence to a growing body of literature on practices of responsibility and climate emotions by focussing on participants' individual affective experiences. As the 7th Assessment Cycle gathers pace, I propose some measures the IPCC may undertake to support participants in assuming their responsibilities in the context of climate science.

PhD holders at the boundaries and knowledge brokering

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the number of PhDs pursuing careers at the boundaries between academic and non-academic sectors, particularly with multiple transitions and dual appointments. However, the professional links that PhD holders pursuing non-academic careers maintain with academia and how these relate to different knowledge brokering activities across sectors remain unexplored. To fill this gap, 39 PhD holders working beyond academia in Spain in the fields of Social Sciences, Humanities, and STEM were interviewed. The results revealed that PhD holders navigate diverse professional links with academia, including both organisational and individual-based links, and are involved in a variety of knowledge brokering activities gathered in four distinct qualitative profiles: the professional co-creator, the valuable knowledge holder, the bridge builder, and the knowledgeable associate lecturer. The profiles highlighted a complex relationship with academia, suggesting that in some cases deploying academic links does not secure or explain brokering activities. Moreover, results underscore the influence of career factors such as the organisational culture and support, the research performance in their primary job position, and the disciplinary background. Several research and practical implications of the study are discussed.

A Formative Study Towards the Inclusion of Indigenous Technologies and Knowledge Practices in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Curriculum Settings

This work on STEAM and education for sustainable development was undertaken across a series of collaborative case studies as formative research on the inclusion of Indigenous technologies and knowledge practices in teacher education. We noted that, despite the current academic imperative to decolonise southern African education, one seldom finds the inclusion of Indigenous technologies and Indigenous heritage practices in the contemporary classroom. Teachers we worked with were highly interested in their Indigenous knowledge heritage. Yet, they reported that they, and the young teachers they work with, simply do not have the heritage knowledge capital to include Indigenous knowledge systems in their teaching. Other challenges they face are the time it takes to engage community knowledge holders, and to find knowledge relating to school subject disciplines. The teachers observed that students prioritise modernity over Indigenous heritage and technologies, often undervaluing the latter as a forgotten past. Three exploratory cases delved into teacher education's response to challenges through co-engaged work, and this paper synthesises the emerging evidence-aiming to refine pedagogical tools for integrating Indigenous knowledge into STEAM education. A cultural-historical approach was used to frame the study and to derive insights and inferences in co-engaged lesson design research with teachers.

I Need to See Me in It: Critical Participatory Inquiry as a Bridge Between Theory and Practice for PAR in Healthcare Organizations

Critical Participatory Inquiry (CPI) is an emergent epistemological anchoring of Participatory Action Research (PAR) that grounds its users in a spectrum of participation that considers the way that social constraints including race, politics, and power dynamics influence how researchers operationalize and practice amplification of minoritized voices in their research. This article is a scholarly and reflexive perspective piece that invites scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners to explore the ontology and axiology of their own ideologies and their alignment with how they show up in the world and how they manage the implicit hierarchies within healthcare research and within healthcare organizations. The author uses her own positionality to explain how she grounds and frames her research in her lived experience and personal truths. It considers the types of knowledge and the knowledge holders that are privileged in academia and compares that to the realized hierarchies and power dynamics in the healthcare setting.

Quality improvement lessons learned from National Implementation of the "Patient Safety Events in Community Care: Reporting, Investigation, and Improvement Guidebook".

To evaluate nationwide implementation of a Guidebook designed to standardize safety practices across VA-delivered and VA-purchased care (i.e., Community Care) and identify lessons learned and strategies to improve them. Qualitative data collected from key informants at 18 geographically diverse VA facilities across 17 Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISNs). We conducted semi-structured interviews from 2019 to 2022 with VISN Patient Safety Officers (PSOs) and VA facility patient safety and quality managers (PSMs and QMs) and VA Facility Community Care (CC) staff to assess lessons learned by examining organizational contextual factors affecting Guidebook implementation based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Interviews were conducted virtually with 45 facility staff and 10 VISN PSOs. Using directed content analysis, we identified CFIR factors affecting implementation. These factors were mapped to the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) strategy compilation to identify lessons learned that could be useful to our operational partners in improving implementation processes. We met frequently with our partners to discuss findings and plan next steps. Six CFIR constructs were identified as both facilitators and barriers to Guidebook implementation: (1) planning for implementation; (2) engaging key knowledge holders; (3) available resources; (4) networks and communications; (5) culture; and (6) external policies. The two CFIR constructs that were only barriers included: (1) cosmopolitanism and (2) executing implementation. Our findings suggest several important lessons: (1) engage all collaborators involved in implementation; (2) ensure end-users have opportunities to provide feedback; (3) describe collaborators' purpose and roles/responsibilities clearly at the start; (4) communicate information widely and repeatedly; and (5) identify how multiple high priorities can be synergistic. This evaluation will help our partners and key VA leadership to determine next steps and future strategies for improving Guidebook implementation through collaboration with VA staff.

Indigenous voices: Using cultural knowledge for tourism

This research reports on Indigenous cultural knowledge holders' opportunities and challenges in using their cultural knowledge to develop authentic tourism experiences. The research investigated issues related to sourcing, storing, managing, and authorising local cultural knowledge to create authentic tourism experiences. The key finding is that while Aboriginal parties are interested in using cultural knowledge to develop tourism products, pathways need to be designed to facilitate the related development. The research utilised the Indigenous research yarning method and found this approach to be particularly useful with potential for broader use in qualitative research. The findings can be applied more broadly across the Australian national tourism landscape. The findings advance knowledge management theory through the lens of Indigenous tourism.

Predicting regional cumulative effects of future development on coastal ecosystems to support Indigenous governance

Abstract To achieve better biodiversity outcomes and match local governance capacity, cumulative effects assessment frameworks that combine Indigenous and western knowledge to predict future development impacts on biodiversity are needed. We developed a spatial future‐focused model informed by inclusive elicitation and strategic foresight to assess the regional cumulative effects of development on ecosystem health across the land and sea. We collaborated with three First Nations on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, enabling Indigenous priorities, knowledge and values to drive the process, from the choice of priority ecosystem components (including salmon, herring, seabirds and bears), to identifying future development scenarios (based on forestry, energy/mining, tourism and salmon aquaculture sectors). Bayesian networks were populated with empirical data and expert judgement elicited from knowledge holders to predict the cumulative effects of current and future pressures on species and ecosystems. Under current conditions, the lowest probability of persistence was predicted for Pacific salmon (37%), followed by Pacific herring (43%). Under future conditions, the greatest declines in species health were associated with the intense development of mining, tourism and forestry, with up to a 54% decline from the current baseline health estimates predicted for Marbled Murrelets and old‐growth forest. Future outcomes for overall ecosystem health were predicted to be worst in scenarios with high future forestry activities (>60% decline in some areas). The continuation or development of all four industries resulted in an 8% decline overall in ecosystem health across the Central Coast. In contrast, predicted ecosystem health in the tourism economy scenario increased up to 15% in some marine areas, primarily driven by the removal of salmon aquaculture and forestry activities. Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates an inclusive, regional approach to assessing the cumulative effects of future development on coastal species. The novel participatory tools and predictive framework draw upon and interweave multiple forms of knowledge, enabling Indigenous values to drive the process, and appropriately integrate Indigenous knowledge into regional cumulative effects assessment. Our interactive web application provides First Nations partners access to all outputs, supporting Indigenous‐led governance and in situ ecosystem‐based management of their lands and water.

Strategies for capturing, managing, and sharing indigenous knowledge

Indigenous knowledge is considered the cornerstone and the survival of communities, societies, and economies. This study assessed the various sources, means, and strategies for accessing and sharing indigenous knowledge in local communities in Ghana. The pragmatism paradigm which highlights a practical point of view that knowledge is not fixed, but instead views research from different perspectives and realism on the ground was deployed in this study. The choice of pragmatism led to the deployment of the mixed research method in this research, thus combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods concurrently, survey research approach, and cross-section design. The study disclosed that indigenous knowledge which is mainly associated with traditional healers and birth attendants, farmers, religious leaders, clan heads, chief priests, chiefs, curators and information professionals, and opinion leaders, largely exists in oral form and is mainly orally and tacitly managed and shared. Coaching, mentorship, apprenticeship, training, and storytelling as strategies for managing and sharing indigenous knowledge usually take place at shrines, churches, palaces, etc. Other strategies deployed include socialization, durbars, poem recitals, festival celebrations, cultural displays, film shows, exhibitions and displays, and outreach services. These strategies remain informal and undocumented. Hence, verbally and tacitly kept, managed, and shared which makes some of the indigenous knowledge to be lost in the event of the death of knowledge experts and holders in the communities. This calls for the engagement of information professionals to facilitate the documentation and formalization of the strategies in the communities. From the study, information and knowledge workers must be engaged to facilitate the development of manuals and procedures to guide the documentation of indigenous knowledge capturing and sharing. Community leaders need to promote and support initiatives to facilitate the formalization and documentation of all strategies for knowledge capturing and sharing.

A breakfast revolution for mothers?: introducing Kellogg’s Corn Flakes to the Swedish market, 1929-1939

ABSTRACT This paper explores the first decade of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes on the Swedish market (1929–1939), critically examining its national marketing campaign through van Leeuwen’s model of legitimation. It argues that scientific motherhood was a core aspect of Kellogg’s campaign, with advertisements emphasising three key themes: The Dutiful Mother and Wife; The Importance of Good Health; and The Embracing of Modernity. Through their advertisements, Kellogg’s urged mothers to break old breakfast habits and switch to Corn Flakes to ‘protect’ their children, emphasising the product’s health benefits. They also drew attention to the convenience and versatility of Corn Flakes, making it ideal for modern life. The campaign was highly effective, both shaping mothers’ understanding of cereal and turning it into a core part of Swedish breakfast habits. Central to this success was Kellogg’s careful balance between conveying expert knowledge and transmitting common sense grounded in established social practices. Treading this difficult tightrope served to give mothers a false sense of control over their lives as if they were the knowledge holders with agency to make their own decisions about their families, yet in reality they were being guided by the views of physicians, scientists, grocers and, ultimately, the food industry.

African Knowledge Production Incubators: Approaching Indigenous and Decolonized Social Work from the Ground Up Through Stories of Our Lived Experiences

ABSTRACT Six social work academics from five universities in South Africa embarked on an African Knowledge Production Incubators project using PALAR methodology. We acknowledged the imperative to decolonise social work curricula in South African universities with the goal of centering African knowledges. This article reports on our project’s first objective viz. telling stories of our lived experiences of being an African. Our stories reflected the richness in the traditions and rituals we inherited from our ancestral and local knowledge holders and wisdom bearers. The key learnings translated into guidelines for the extended incubation and the decolonization of the social work curriculum.

Sharing our account of journeying through Jindaola: an Aboriginal way towards decolonising educators

PurposeThis paper illuminates our journey as accounting educators by exploring accounting as a technical, social and moral practice towards decolonising ourselves. It lays the foundations for decolonising the higher education curriculum and the consequences for addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachThis paper focuses on the potential to foster a space for praxis by adopting dialogism-in-action to understand our transformative learning through Jindaola [pronounced Jinda-o-la], a university-based Aboriginal knowledge program. A dialogic pedagogy provided the opportunity to create a meaningful space between us as academics, the Aboriginal Knowledge holder and mentor, the other groups in Jindaola and, ultimately, our accounting students. Since Jindaola privileged ‘our way’ as the pedagogical learning process, we adopt autoethnography to share and reflect on our experiences. Making creative artefacts formed the basis for building relationships, reciprocity and respect and represents our shared journey and collective account.FindingsWe reveal our journey of “holding to account” by analysing five aspects of our lives as critical accounting academics – the overarching conceptual framework, teaching, research, governance and our physical landscape. In doing so, we found that Aboriginal perspectives provide a radical positioning to the colonial legacies of accounting practice.Originality/valueOur journey through Jindaola contemplates how connecting with Country and engaging with Aboriginal ways of knowing can assist educators in meaningfully addressing the SDGs. While not providing a panacea or prescription for what to do, we use ‘our way’ as a story of our commitment to transformative change.

Not All Edible Nuts Are Eaten: Evidence for Continued Aboriginal Cultural Use and Dispersal of Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) in Southern But Not in Northern Queensland

Globally, there is increasing evidence that Indigenous peoples have manipulated plant and animal populations over millennia. The Bunya Pine ( Araucaria bidwillii Hook.) is a coniferous tree native to subtropical and tropical eastern Australia, which produces 30–100 large, edible seeds within a large cone weighing 5–10 kgs. Endemic Bunya populations occur as two disjunct populations: one in south-eastern Queensland/north-east New South Wales and the other in northern Queensland. We investigated possible pre- and postcolonial Bunya seed dispersal within and between the two separate populations by utilising multidisciplinary methods to examine Aboriginal cultural connections with Bunya. Analysis of historical sources and ethnographic interviews conducted with Aboriginal knowledge holders provided strong evidence for localised deliberate dispersal within the southern population but no solid evidence for dispersal in the north, suggesting two distinct modes of Aboriginal interaction with this species. Early European colonial records documented the Indigenous cultural significance of southern Bunya, evidenced by large feast gatherings, creation Stories, Aboriginal familial tree connections, seed carrying and planting, and storage in camps. The continued cultural attachment post-colonisation was evident from ethnographic interviews with Indigenous knowledge holders that revealed plantings of this species on Aboriginal missions and modern grave sites. The development of an overarching effective biocultural management plan to conserve the biological and cultural importance of this species is therefore particularly important for the southern population, especially in the face of new threats from pathogenic dieback. The individal tree connections of certain Aboriginal families also warrant deeper ethnographic study to target planting and restoration efforts that preserve these kin-based biocultural connections.