The project title, ‘Ngaliguna Wagadyi’ means ‘Our dancing’ in Wiradjuri. The title is a Wiradjuri translation of the Archie Roach song, ‘Give us back our dancing’. Roach’s song aptly describes this project’s decolonising objective to safeguard and regenerate Wiradjuri knowledge.
The project considers the nature of Wiradjuri knowledge. It will ask:
- What is Wiradjuri knowledge?
- What are its essential qualities and characteristics?
- Where is it held and how is it continued?
- What is its value in contemporary Australia?
- What does it mean to learn in a Wiradjuri way?
In writing a history of Wiradjuri knowledge, intergenerational joys and traumas that connect us to our native differences will be taken up. Central to this task is an examination of the significance of the representations that mark Wiradjuri difference.
The project will result in a manuscript for a general audience; a book chapter; a research report; an article for an academic journal and 2 academic presentations; a community access visit; a museum exhibition; a digital Wiradjuri community controlled archive.
The project will build archives and increase understanding and appreciation of Wiradjuri knowledge.
Key aspects of the project are:
- it uses a decolonizing methodology (for community and researcher).
- insider ethnography, archival history, oral history methods and discourse analysis are used in ways that mimic Wiradjuri ways of teaching and learning.
- examines potential and limits of archives to contribute to regeneration of Wiradjuri knowledge.
