Time for a First Nations-led health and wellbeing research renaissance

“Renaissance,” from the French word for “rebirth,” is typically used to refer to a period of European cultural and intellectual revitalisation during the 15^th through 17^th centuries. It’s often thought of as a time of positive change, with the emergence of humanism and an emphasis on reasoning, scientific thinking and human achievement — a major shift from reliance on religious teachings. Along with a resurgence in art, literature, philosophy and trade, there was an increase in western scientific discovery across astronomy, physics, mathematics, biology and the understanding of disease.

However, there was also increased European exploration of the globe and colonisation of Africa, the Americas, the Indian subcontinent and Pacific region — which proved disastrous for First Nations, or Indigenous, populations. The spread of disease, establishment of a trans-Atlantic slave trade and invasion of sovereign nations wrought widespread destruction of First Nations cultures that had been thriving for thousands of generations prior to European contact.

First Nations peoples held rich understandings of the natural world that had evolved through relationships and co-existence within it, including understandings of what was required for human health and wellbeing opens in new tab/window. Evidence suggests that prior to colonisation, the health and wellbeing of First Nations peoples in Australia was better than Europeans opens in new tab/window of that time. This state of health and wellbeing was not achieved by accident. Rather, practices and social systems to foster the wellbeing among Indigenous (First Nations) peoples were often underpinned by knowledges opens in new tab/window around which human, living and non-living elements related or “connected” to each other. Relationality opens in new tab/window is inherent in this way of thinking. As Aileen Moreton Robinson opens in new tab/window has noted, “relationality forms the conditions of possibility for coming to know and producing knowledge through research in a given time, place, and land.”

“Seeing in two worlds”

In recent decades, there has been belated but increasing awareness of how the impact of ongoing violence, dispossession, discrimination and human rights abuses as a consequence of colonisation has left a legacy of unaddressed entrenched disadvantage opens in new tab/window and intergenerational trauma opens in new tab/window among many First Nations communities that persists despite efforts to improve health equity opens in new tab/window. However, there has been less focus on the impact of the suppression, oppression and marginalisation of Indigenous knowledge, approaches and practices that underpinned the health and wellbeing of First Nations peoples prior to colonisation. Rather, evidence about First Nations people has been generated predominantly by non-Indigenous researchers through a lens distorted by privilege and racism, manifested in the assumptions that Western non-Indigenous knowledge is superior coupled with the systems that reinforce such beliefs. This distorted evidence is reflected in current societal policies and used to inform healthcare programs and education systems, compounding and reinforcing its legitimacy.

Across the globe, pioneer First Nations scholars who have been educated within their communities and western academic institutions have now begun to share knowledge that enables “seeing in two worlds opens in new tab/window.” Scientists, artists and others are referring to the term “renaissance” in relation to this in the United States opens in new tab/window, New Zealand opens in new tab/window, Canada opens in new tab/window and Chile opens in new tab/window. First Nations scholars are now playing a critical role in decolonising and re-shaping thought, bringing new ways of relational thinking that offer new opportunities to understand ourselves and our relationship with our environment, and building cooperation to help overcome contemporary global challenges.

A new journal for and by First Nations researchers

Editor’s note: This article is based on the author’s editorial opens in new tab/window published in the first issue of The Lowitja Journal.