Engaging with Indigenous Research Methodologies: The Centrality of Country, Positionality and Community Need

The articles in this special themed section are derived from presentations delivered at a series of symposia exploring Indigenous research methodologies held at the University of Canberra in 2016–17, funded by the university’s Collaborative Indigenous Research Initiative. The research projects all employ interdisciplinary approaches to engage with contemporary issues at the intersection of Indigenous/First Nations studies, cultural heritage, cultural geography, and research concerned with Indigenous wellbeing. Common to all of the projects is a commitment to developing culturally appropriate research that experiments with innovative methodologies to collect, understand, archive and improve access to memories and resonances linked to significant places. Underpinning these endeavours is an emphasis on Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies, positioning these projects within the anti-colonising, decolonising and/or Indigenising agendas of the academy that seek to privilege the experiential nature of Indigenous peoples’ relationality to all aspects of their (our) worlds. In so doing, we acknowledge and respect the diversity of ways of knowing, being and doing within and among First Nations communities.