A new book, Indigenous Knowledge: Australian Perspectives, offers a comprehensive exploration of the foundations and contemporary applications of Indigenous knowledge in Australia. This publication brings together the insights of Australian Indigenous elders, cultural practitioners, and specialists to provide a deep and wide-ranging introduction to these rich knowledge traditions.
The book poses critical questions: How are we to live well with others? How can we sustain abundant environments and nourishing cultures? How might connections to place and generations past strengthen our cultural, political, and economic futures?
For countless generations, Indigenous knowledge has shaped human life in Australia. These traditions offer wisdom about ancestral histories of occupation, coastal inundations, major climate changes, and essential guidelines on living well with the land. They continue to guide environmental management, social balance, and material provision.
Australia’s unique collaborative research approaches, which centre the expertise of Indigenous knowledge-holders, are also explored in this work. The interdisciplinary nature of Indigenous knowledge extends across diverse fields, including medicine, social and economic development, environmental management, agriculture, history, law, and the creative arts.
Indigenous Knowledge: Australian Perspectives demonstrates how these traditions, originating millennia ago, remain crucial in addressing today’s global challenges and ensuring socio-environmental diversity for the future.
This significant work is edited by a trio of distinguished scholars. Professor Marcia Langton AO, an anthropologist and geographer, is a Yiman and Bidjara descendant and the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. Professor Aaron Corn, the inaugural director of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne, coordinates the Doctor of Philosophy in Indigenous Knowledge degree. Samuel Curkpatrick, a researcher with expertise in Australian Indigenous music and philosophical issues of language and epistemology, brings his academic rigour to this vital contribution.
Indigenous Knowledge: Australian Perspectives offers readers a chance to engage with Australia’s rich Indigenous heritage and its relevance to shaping a sustainable future.
More information: mup.com.au
