Yarning Circles
These virtual gatherings via Zoom were facilitated by conference organisers to provide an opportunity for participants to expand on their experiences of the presentations relating to each conference theme. One of the aims was for participants to collaborate and hopefully begin new research journeys, or to continue and grow existing collaborations
2. Communications
Wednesday 7/12 6 pm (AEDT)
3. Professional voices
Thursday 8/12 8am (AEDT)
4. Children’s voices and children’s drawings
Thursday 8/12 4pm (AEDT)
5. Collaborating for children’s rights and sustainable development outcomes
Friday 9/12 8am (AEDT)
What is yarning?
Yarning is one way First Nations knowledges are shared and transmitted among people and across generations.
Yarning is grounded in the intellectual traditions of Australia’s First Nations peoples. Yarning continues to be used and valued today in a range of contexts, including education, healthcare, and research. Yarning and oral storytelling might be accompanied by visual or performance artforms.
Yarning circles are places to share and listen to each other’s stories. While we will gather via Zoom for our ECV2022 Yarning Circles, rather than in a traditional circle formation, our sharing, listening, and collaborating can still be guided by yarning principles and protocols.
How will we yarn together?
In our Yarning Circles we would like participants to observe the following protocols:
- Yarning Circle facilitators Acknowledge Country/Place – this observes First Nations sovereignty and our embeddedness and connection to places.
- Each participant names and locates themselves – who you are, where you come from, and what knowledge you bring to the yarning circle – this observes relatedness, subjectivities and positionality.
- Participants reflect on the main messages or key points from the presentations they have viewed – this observes the imperative to build on from what others have said.
- Participants engage in deep listening and active sense making while others are speaking – to establish connections to, and significance of, what is being said; to identify translations or clarification that may be needed – see next point.
- Speakers declare cultural meanings of terminology/language that they bring to the yarn.
- Everyone works towards shared understandings and future directions – this observes the value of collective knowledge and community capacity-building.
Acknowledgement
We respectfully acknowledge that First Nations lands have always been places of teaching and learning. We thank Australian First Nations knowledge holders, past, present, and emerging for sharing their knowledges so that we may honour the intellectual traditions that have been, and continue to be, held by them in perpetuity.
References
Lowe, K., Backhaus, V., Yunkaporta, T., Brown, L., & Loynes, S. (2014). Winanga-y Bagay Gaay: Know the river’s story – a conversation on Australian curriculum between five Indigenous scholars. Curriculum Perspectives, 34(3), 59-91.
Shay, M. (2021). Extending the yarning yarn: Collaborative Yarning Methodology for ethical Indigenist education research. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 20(1), 62-70, https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2018.25
