Collaboratively rethinking the nature and practice of voluntary service in three North Australian Aboriginal communities

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The Indigenous Knowledges and Governance Group in the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University have been working with Red Cross in the Northern Territory, undertaking research into the practices of voluntary service within three Aboriginal communities – one urban, and two on remote islands in the
    Arafura Sea. These communities have quite distinct cultural heritages, and our research work has involved developing and articulating different local research methods in each of these three contexts. These methods have taken seriously the institutionalised knowledge and governance practices of Aboriginal people, and
    included Aboriginal knowledge authorities as co-researchers. Beginning with a small group of elders in each site, we have worked to develop research under their authority, including by recording statements from cultural authorities
    in their own language, transcribing and translating them and undertaking a close analysis of local contexts and practices. In this paper we report on the outcomes of this research in each of the three project sites. In particular, we note the differing ways in which voluntary service work is understood and carried
    out in these places, and potential future collaborations described by those with
    whom we spoke. Presenting these accounts here, we suggest that it is productive
    to recognise volunteering not only as a service offered to communities, but also as sets of practices through which community is constituted.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)9-27
    Number of pages19
    JournalThird Sector Review
    Volume23
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Collaboratively rethinking the nature and practice of voluntary service in three North Australian Aboriginal communities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this