I have Pen,Book and Food;Now,Let's Write: Indigenizing a postgraduate writing workshop

Abstract

This paper explores some of the thinking and planning involved in Indigenizing the curriculum of a postgraduate research and writing workshop delivered by Central Queensland University on the Sunshine Coast in 2013. In this paper, the authors adopt an action research approach to developing and Indigenizing the curriculum and the workshop processes. The authors explore ways to create a learning environment that is welcoming for Indigenous students, rather than one which can exclude and thus minimize participation and learning outcomes. They specifically focus on the learning environment, the workshop's framework, the food and drink available to participants, and time for quiet reflection in seeking to improve the research writing and outputs of postgraduates and researchers. The authors describe a workshop process that explicitly recognizes the Indigenous concept of Country and reflects the Indigenous practices of community, spirituality and reciprocity. The result was a two-day writing workshop that developed participants’ research, writing and publication outputs, within an Indigenized curriculum and learning environment.