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Cross – Cultural Environmental Education and the evolution of Australia’s Cultural Policy

By al on November 3, 2009

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PK_and_the_planner_talk_all_nightMinister for the Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts, Peter Garrett, has opened a National dialogue on National Cultural Policy (October 2009).  There is both a FORUM for discussion, ideas and comment , and opportunity for making a FORMAL SUBMISSION on our future National Cultural Policy.

The website page is HERE. This includes a short, one page discussion outline. The three key themes for this discussion are

  • keeping culture strong
  • engaging the community
  • powering the young

Bluecray is currently putting together a Formal Submission.  The submission has a largely Environmental Educational and Advocacy agenda.  WHY?

Because  ENVIRONMENT encompasses all. Cultural interactions of our many different communities do not preclude  our diverse and wonderful Environment.

City_life_lismore_ne_nsw_and_heritage_diversity

##Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research – “The Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (AUSCCER) is an exciting new research initiative commencing in 2009, funded by the University of Wollongong and the Australian Research Council (ARC).“##

AND SO……………..

ENVIRONMENT gives us the breath of life, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the energy we use and the waters we share. Our unique Australian Environment  inspires our Art,  Stories, Music, Architecture, Lifestyles and Visions.

Culturally, Australia IS a distinctly diverse continent. Our Heritage is unique & complex – both its social and  natural components.

Cross-Cultural Environmental Education & Australia’s Cultural Policy

Cross-Cultural Environmental Education in Australia does not  only mean Aboriginal cultures interfacing with other non-indigenous cultures. It is about all cultures interfacing, in a pluralistic #(see below) sense. And all Cultures, including Aboriginal CULTURES have stories, art, crafts, foods, plants,  animals and heritage that have woven their way into our unique pluralistic Australian Nation.

However, the Traditional,  long time Custodians of Australia, with their widespread Cultural Heritage, are to be treasured and respected. Our Indigenous Peoples have a UNIQUE HERITAGE and are immensely precious, as is their contribution to our  National Natural and Cultural Heritage.  Within Aboriginal Cultures,  the Environment and the Culture of their country & people are intrinsically linked. This is a basis for Australian Indigenous LAND CLAIMS.

Cross-Cultural Environmental Education has much to offer. Cross-Cultural Environmental Education can show us the way, when it comes to understanding our Land and Water Stewardship processes and responsibilities.

wisdom_in_engineering

Cross-Cultural Environmental Education can help the young in the cities, increasing urban and semi-rural developments,  re connect with natural processes at a fundamental level. It can help awaken a more basic understanding of our Natural Environmental Heritage. It can help foster Regional Environmental Sustainability by facilitating  Cultural activities,  teachings, stories, dance, music and information that help our young choose a way of respect for Nature.

caldera picsEnvironmental Advocacy Collage : CHOICES for Australians

Now, below is the basis of bluecray’s FORMAL SUBMISSION to the Department of the Environment, Heritage, Water & the Arts:-

“TOTEM” based Cross-Cultural Environmental Education at a Catchment, Regional and Local level via the School “House” System.

  • The word “TOTEM”, is used, for lack of any better word. I mean it in a very loose sense here, not in the strict sense of a personal, clan or inherited indigenous TOTEM.
  • The word “TOTEM”  is used to encompass a  practical understanding  and care of a particular LOCALLY or REGIONALLY SIGNIFICANT native plant or animal species or genus. Caring for a specific component of the local natural environment, when commenced in the early formative and schooling years of a child, provides opportunity for that child, when an adult, to more fully grasp the concept of Nature.
  • BY this, I mean a “TOTEM” caring that is integrated into a student’s schooling, through exposure and interaction with teachers, artists, community workers, scientific workers, wildlife and environmental volunteers and experts, cross-cultural educators, musicians, story tellers.
  • A caring that, through continued exposure to an understanding of that “TOTEM” over time, brings with it increased awareness and understanding of the habitat necessary for it’s survival and well being. An understanding, that when carried into adulthood, will foster in many, more informed decision making, as Australian youth become active community members and leaders.

Collages13

Choice of  “TOTEM” could include a particular plant or animal that is currently :-

1. endangered or threatened (at risk) within the area of the school’s “Catchment”. eg Koala, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Powerful Owl, Richmond Birdwing Butterfly – the list can be seen by looking at individual bioregions and their threatened species lists

2. particularly relevant to the  environmental & ecological well being of the catchment area about the school. This includes ecosystem health. I am talking here about a key signature species, that  if looked after, can be instrumental in helping the biodiversity of  habitats, ecological communities and ecosystems naturally occurring within that “Catchment”. This type of list may include frogs, insects, mammals, plants that whilst not threatened under legislation, are still key indicators for health within the school’s region.

3. easily identifiable, able to be learnt about, incorporated into a variety of syllabi content across the schools’ curriculum, as well as in sport and cultural experiential learning programs. This type of list may include more common animals and plants that already have  significance to large groups of people – Koala, Wallaby, Cockatoo, Crow, Python – the list is again very long.

4. specifically identified by Australian Indigenous peoples as an animal or plant that they feel deserves more understanding and respect.

Why Chose a TOTEM based cross-cultural environmental educational approach?

  • To encompass a holistic caring  and Stewardship approach toward a particular native plant and/or animal species  or genus and its HABITAT, through continued and diverse cultural exposure via all types of cross-cultural experiences, at a basic level of an individual’s schooling life.
  • To foster  greater understanding and Stewardship responses in a youth, for when that individual later becomes an active, functioning adult member of the Australian Community at large.

Why chose a School “HOUSE” system by which to deliver such an innovation?

  • I have chosen the school “HOUSE” system as this is often the basis for many activities within a school and one that often unites students on a number of different levels. It can be the basis for group learning, sport, achievement and exchange. It has CONTINUITY. Some schools already use native animal names for their “houses”. For new schools, this is an opportunity to engage Cross-Cultural learning, should their house system be formed about a “TOTEM”.
  • To engage Students, via continuity, throughout a region, catchment or local area. To create a vehicle for an ongoing cultural dialogue,  via cross-cultural learning, with a  “SIGNIFICANT ” animal or plant, ( its history, habitat requirements and interactions, ecological contributions). This can help the students, over time, to more fully appreciate, understand and learn to live with a particular animal and/or plant species or genus.

18-06-2008

Cross-Cultural Environmental Education and the Murray Darling Catchment System:-

Whilst some Australian Schools already have animals, and possible even plants as the “SYMBOL” for their “HOUSE” system, I am suggesting here that this concept can be encouraged Australia wide, especially in a Catchment or Regional context. New Schools could be encouraged to adopt this strategy, as they have less historical ties to other “HOUSE” names and house naming heritage.

However, my main idea, of “TOTEMS” and the School “HOUSE” system has the MURRAY-DARLING Catchment System in mind. This idea could prove to be valuable, culturally and environmentally significant.  I perceive it as workeable for a Cross-Cultural Environmental Education framework, if implemented as a Cross-Cultural Education Innovation along the Catchments of the Murray-Darling Rivers.

And so, in response to the three key themes for a National Cultural Policy

1. Keeping culture strong:-

All types of cultural heritage come under the umbrella of our unique Australian Environmental Heritage that is the setting for future Australian Cultural Exchange.

  • National identity with our native wildlife and landscapes is already very strong, but based mainly on superficial understanding in the way of how to engage in meaningful Land & Water Stewardship.  Cross- Cultural Environmental Education can strengthen our National Identity, whilst keeping our pluralistic cultural identity.
  • To maintain an ongoing dialogue with the country. This has often been associated with Aboriginal use of art and other cultural activities – in the form of painting, singing, dancing, celebrations and  stories.
  • However, as well as Aboriginal Cultural exchange, there other valuable community members who have been practicing land custodians, Land and Water Stewards, Wildlife Carers and Vegetation specialists. Their stories, practical work, art, visions, music, photography, literature and creativity are part of our Cultural Environmental fabric.
  • There are a number of other cultural experiences, concerning our native wildlife and habitats that can also be shared, for heritage purposes, in a “TOTEM” based Environmental Education initiative. For example building and architecture, gardening and landscaping, engineering and earthmoving, farming and livestock management, entertainment and recreational activities. These things all have cultural components in our diverse Australian Culture

2. Engaging the community:-

  • The concept of Totem based Cross-Cultural Environmental Education within schools can be encompassed via ARTS, ENVIRONMENT, HERITAGE and many other forms of CROSS-CULTURAL exchange.
  • As  a Regionalized and Catchment concept, this can only be a good thing, for our future as an environmentally sustainable nation of many identities, all caring for the Country.
  • WATER CATCHMENTS, as a geographical and environmental reality, provide a basis by which localised and Regional cultural identity can be fostered, via linking with native wildlife habitat, and Land and Water Stewardship.
  • Along any particular stretch of an Australian River or Creek System, there is always some animal/plant that needs mentorship, needs more habitat, needs help from threatening processes. In short:- a key signature animal or plant, that can act as an indicator for the Total Catchment Health.
  • If Schools are encouraged to create vision with a “TOTEM” based environmental educational “HOUSE” system, leaving all types of “religious” implications out of it, cross-cultural outreaching may work for well with this  Vision.
  • The word “totem” may work to ostracize some religious groupings,or more orthodox communities. Implementation of  this concept of a “TOTEM” based environmental educational initiative may need to look further into the meaning of the concept “TOTEM” , perhaps coming up with another “WORD” that satisfies the overall general meaning of the word “TOTEM”. It is important not to ostracise people who may be offended by the word, due to religious beliefs.
  • At the heart of this idea of  the  word and concept -  “totem” -  is caring and fostering the future of our Australian Environment. The idea of linking one back to the environment, fostering a more harmonious life with one’s natural heritage. Using a signature animal or plant as a focus for creating environmental wellbeing , at a catchment or regional basis would involve Integrating the Cultural and Cross- Cultural components of Art, Music, Storytelling and Caring.
  • Communities about many schools already have the information, or can locate the information for any number of native wildlife or plants that are undergoing habitat loss or threatening processes:- linkage with that part of the Community and the Student – this is what is important. It is important, in this day of a largely urbanised Australian Identity, to pass on information, using the process of CONTINUITY and a vision of CARE,  for the Land, Water and Habitats of our Natural Heritage. Continuity is important for community.
  • The life cycle of the animal, the environmental and ecological contribution, the local carers experiences,  the science, the art, the stories, the songs etc: –   These, if combined into cohesive education and carried, at an all encompassing level through the School housing system, will engage many young people into understanding their local environment at a basic educational level. It will create opportunity for youth to be part of meaningful cross-cultural exchange via art, environment, sport, education and community.

3. Powering the young:-

  • Vision leads us forward. Cohesion and continuity in the Vision, from elders to the younger creates strength in outcomes. The young, if educated in ways of the environment via cross-cultural exchange, creates a stronger future, and a powerful base for future, cultural discernment, tolerance, understanding and empathy via  many levels.
  • Continuity, especially in times of great change, can be a useful tool. Continuity, with Cultural exchange can provide our Australian youth with practical skills, enhanced by increased awareness and understanding for vision building. This can help the Australian Nation’s young obtain the discernment necessary to help create  an Environmentally Sustainable Future

Some links (whilst not anywhere near exhaustive or comprehensive, these links are to give  you a taste of what is available currently), as an example of  resources for Cross-Cultural Environmental Education:

Negotiating Diversity – A Field Guide to the Convention on Biological Diversity -  and REFERENCES .

Bangarra Dance Theatre , Laura Aboriginal Dance & Cultural Festival at Arts in  Queensland, Stories of the Dreaming at Australian Museum, Koomurri : Australian Aboriginal Dance Connections.

National Sustainability Initiatives at the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts. This website page includes links to the related areas of :-  EPBC Reporting, Indicators & Local Agenda 21, as well as to  Ecologically Sustainable Development LINKS .

“Nature and society: anthropological perspectives” By Philippe Descola, Gísli Pálsson (at Australian Library collections) ISBN:  0415132169 (pbk.)

Griffith University : Centre for Public Culture and Ideas – “its central brief is to encourage greater collaboration between these areas, while articulating with contemporary debates in public culture and ideas.”  This centre promotes seminars, public lectures and events.

Queensland Stories : these include – “A collection of 11 digital stories made by Year 11 and 12 Modern History students at Park Ridge State High School. These stories explore the local history of the Park Ridge and Logan areas – from the Indigenous history of the area, to its volunteer organisations and small businesses.”

The etymology of the words culture, cultural, environment and education.

The Ecologically Sustainable Development LINKS page includes :-

  • Conferences and Events
  • Sustainability Networks and Discussion Groups
  • State Government Sites
  • Australian Government Environment Sites
  • Local Government Sites
  • Non-Government Organisations

Environmental Education for a Sustainable Future: National Action Plan
Environment Australia, July 2000 ISBN 0 642 546 665 (9 years on, where are we now?)

**A pedantic note:

In his speech to the National Press Club (27th October 2009), three main themes were identified and outlined by the Minister, Peter Garrett:-

Keeping culture strong, engaging the community and powering **the young.

It is interesting  that the words “Powering the young” were chosen. I would guess, that with the scope of professional bearing that Peter Garrett brings to his portfolio, his understanding of the etymology and definition of the word “POWERING” is enough for him not to make a typographical or ideological mistake with regard to this choice of word.

I, personally, would have preferred to have seen the word “EMPOWERING”.

There IS a difference, you see, although in some contexts the word may be seen as similar.

from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary – POWERING definition

etymology for POWERING from wiktionary

from the Free Online Dictionary – POWERING definition & EMPOWERING definition

etymology for EMPOWERING from wiktionary

# pluralism – definition

pluralism – etymology (“toleration of  diversity within a state or society“)

Collages21-2The above poem ‘by my’  Crow friend, Benoit, illustrates how simply a totem can explain environmental stewardship.

other bluecray “totem” stories at bluecray blog “Journey for Wisdom in the Land” .

Philosophy LINKS at bluecray.org

Biodiversity LINKS at bluecray.org

Cross-Cultural blog - A blog for students and teachers participating in the Cross-Cultural Rhetoric project. (Stanford University)

Warlpiri Media Association – Central Australian Media – and some of their links.

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al

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