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Aerial view of red desert scrub meeting a pale salt flat, overlaid with a faint red geometric symbol of three concentric squares
Photo: Bandalang Studio
When
Mon 21 Sep 2026, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location
JoY: John Yencken [45], Ground Floor
Skills Developed
Intercultural CapabilityCritical AnalysisReflective Practice
Session Handouts
Resources on Canvas (login required)
ModeWorkshop ThreadIndigenous Perspectives

Please note that registration for this KNoT will be limited to 12 people.

About this KNoT

This KNoT builds on work across ANU at the Bandalang Studio. You can explore the Decoloyarns resources (Bandalang Studio) on their website.

Preparation

Prior to attending the session, please complete the introductory reading.

Please come to the session with an understanding of your own cultural background, and find out who the first peoples of the lands that you were born were. If this is in Australia, you can use this resource from AIATSIS: https://aiatsis.gov.au/whose-country

You might also like to explore some of the listed resources.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this session, learners will be able to articulate how their own identities, training and values shape the knowledge they bring to their work, and identify at least one way Indigenous ways of knowing could change how a problem is framed or approached.

Learning Resources

As kate said, these are a drop in the bucket:

White fragility

  • McIntosh, P. (2019). [Chapter title]. In On privilege, fraudulence, and teaching as learning: Selected essays 1981–2019 (pp. 45–58). Routledge. [Read online at ANU Library]
  • DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism. Beacon Press.
  • The Guardian. (2020, June 26). How white fragility obstructs the fight against racism [Video]. [Watch online]

Positionality

  • Underhill-Sem, Y. (2020). The audacity of the ocean: Gendered politics of positionality in the Pacific. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 41(3), 314–328. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12334 [Read online at ANU Library]
  • Jadallah, C. C. (2025). Positionality, relationality, place, and land: Considerations for ethical research with communities. Qualitative Research, 25(1), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941241246174 [Read online at ANU Library]
  • decoloyarns. (2025, May 5). 5 myths about positionality statements. [Read online] decoloyarns is an online publication sharing stories and analyses about how the disciplines we love can thrive in forums where respecting Indigenous knowledges and thinking is core to research. Each piece is a yarn (a process of conversation and storytelling to share and develop knowledge) about decolonising research — not as a theoretical and intellectual idea, but as a living practice.

Indigenous sciences and design

How to Complete This KNoT

Different elements of this workshop may resonate differently for you. In the completion task, you are encouraged to explore these areas further. Here are some prompts to consider when developing your completion activity:
  • Identify ways to apply insights from the workshop in academic and personal contexts
  • Consider how you could include multiple perspectives in future work
  • Develop your own positionality statement with respect to your work at the McCusker Institute

Submit your Completion Task here:

Submit your completion task for this KNoT via the Qualtrics survey (ANU Login required). You have 10 calendar days after the KNoT to submit it.

Writing your reflection

Most completion tasks ask you to reflect on what you did. For prompts, sentence starters, and the five areas a strong reflection covers, see Writing Your Reflection. Your completed tasks come together at the end of the semester in the Completion Evidence.

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