Facilitating dialogue to support Ganma: a methodology for navigating contested knowledge

Title
Facilitating dialogue to support Ganma: a methodology for navigating contested knowledge
Publication Date
2021-11
Author(s)
Thraves, Genevieve
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6770-4131
Email: gthraves@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:gthraves
Dhurrkay, Miriam
Baker, Penelope
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6775-178X
Email: pbaker31@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:pbaker31
Berman, Jeanette
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4389-4193
Email: jberman@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:jberman
Nye, Adele
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1603-2643
Email: anye@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:anye
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Aboriginal Studies Press
Place of publication
Australia
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/53429
Abstract

The Ganma (Marika 2000) metaphor can be used to underscore Yolŋu approaches to education that incorporate both Western and Aboriginal epistemologies. Ganma is the point where saltwater (non-Aboriginal knowledge) and freshwater (Yolŋu knowledge) meet to form a lagoon. The different bodies of water churn beneath the foam-striped surface, and this 'great sharing' supports a 'rich habitat of its own' (Bat and Guenther 2013:128), thus revealing the benefits of the collaborative approach to knowledge generation. This metaphor can be used as a foundation for negotiating culturally contested knowledge arenas. This paper reports a study that extended an existing dialogic process to the field of gifted education in an endeavour to realise Ganma. Three Yolŋu elders and three teachers collaborated in a facilitated dialogue to develop an appropriate talent development model for gifted Yolŋu youth at the study site, a boarding school in Darwin. The participant satisfaction with this process demonstrates that the dialogue protocol used is an appropriate tool to facilitate Ganma.

Link
Citation
Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2021(2), p. 3-13
ISSN
0729-4352
Start page
3
End page
13
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International

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