Appropriate sharing - Cultural knowledge in the public domain

“He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words. “ ~Elbert Hubbard�

One of my biggest challenges since I made the decision to base my career on my Aboriginal heritage and spirituality has been in the area of sharing knowledge.

I have spent the majority of my 44 years advocating for Aboriginal rights, equality and inclusion of our culture in all areas of our communities.

For 12 years I was a member of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group. A volunteer group that works with the Department of Education, the Board of Studies and the Minster for Education to ensure that Aboriginal culture is included in the school curriculum, that Aboriginal language and learning modalities are included as best practice models in all levels of education and that Aboriginal communities all over NSW have a voice and input into how our Aboriginal history is taught in schools.

During my time as a Local and Regional President as well as a state representative for this organistion, I learnt so much valuable knowledge from the dedicated Elders from all over NSW who made the sharing of their culture and the education of others their priority. My biggest lesson was when to share and when to know that something was not for discussion in the public domain.

I was silenced more than once when I went to excitedly share something, only to have a more knowledgeable hand placed on my shoulder and a shake of the head from someone who knew what I was about to share wasn’t appropriate.

At first I felt angry, I had so much to share and was so excited to finally have somewhere where I had a voice. I felt like that voice was being gagged at most of my attempts to share.

It wasn’t until one of the Aunts took me aside and explained that I didn’t need to prove who I was or my right to be speaking for my people. They had all known who I was and who my family was, when I first told them my ancestry. I sat there kind of embarrassed. A red glow spread over my cheeks. I hadn’t realized that I was trying to prove anything. But, I was 20 something at the time and my skin wasn’t as dark as I wished. To look at me most people wouldn’t know that I have the Aboriginal Heritage I am so proud of. I had come in to prove a point and I was failing miserably.

The lovely, wise old Aunt took me under her wing and helped me use my voice at the right times in the right way without having to share pieces of my family’s history, culture and spirituality that were not mine alone to share.

I was blessed, growing up, with a very large family circle. I knew from when I was old enough to ask, the names of my grandparents parents and their parents. I was not only told the names of my ancestors and the great Aunts and Uncles who where also related. I was told where they had lived, the paths they had taken when they had left the ancestral home and where the majority of them were all living now. I knew who had passed, where they had passed and where they were buried. Special stories they had shared about their life and personal experiences.

Our family tree was something that was valued most in my family growing up. Knowing who everyone was and where he or she had come from was knowledge that was shared freely and we were encouraged to take note.

I didn’t realise that something as simple as knowing my family tree was something that so many others did not have access to. It was much later I learned of the assimilation act and the stolen generation. I did not know what I was being taught was a blessing; a privilege and that everyone did not have the same opportunities.

Fast forward to last year when I decided to submit to a publisher an Oracle deck I had illustrated and written the guidebook for. The cards were inspired by my own special connection to the natural world and my childhood growing up in the beautiful valley I was born in.

There were many times during the process of that card deck creation that I had to ask myself the question of who owned the information I was writing about and whether it was culturally appropriate to share it.

I decided that I would only share experiences, observations and interactions that were my own. If it was told to me on a public forum or was something I knew most people in my family had also been privy to, then I was comfortable sharing it.

One of the cards in the deck is a card called Campfire. Its keyword is “ Story Teller” and its meaning is to remind us all that each one of us has a story to tell. Traditionally, intergenerational learning happened on a daily basis. The whole environment was the classroom and learning was a life long process of learning to live in partnership and in service of that environment.

Growing up with many cousins and brothers and sisters you would think that we all had the same experiences. And while in some part that is true, it is the lessons we each learn from those experiences, the questions we each ask and the interest we have that will ultimately decide what we will learn, what we will discover and what we then go on to share with those around us.

The hardest thing I have encountered and I know my children have also had this happen at school, is that what we share in regards to personal knowledge is dismissed or not seen as being important cultural knowledge. Or worse still told we are wrong.

There is a belief for some reason in the public arena that cultural sharing only has significance if you are sharing things that are seen as “secret knowledge” or “ sacred knowledge” things such as family creation stories, sacred sites, initiation knowledge, lore, rituals or magical practices. Sadly often the knowledge doesn’t even belong to the person sharing the traditional practices. Often the public seems to still want to take the knowledge and use it freely.

Simple basics of Aboriginal Culture like the importance of the family, family ties, language, storytelling, intergenerational learning, the connection to the land, working with and recognising the seasonal changes and the energy, understanding and spirit of place and Country are somehow made less significant.

Yet to me these are the very cultural components that I myself feel safe sharing. They are the things I have experienced, know like the back of my hand, observed and lived through. It is these things that I will pass to my children first and foremost. There are other members in my family I am sure who have other observations and knowledge to share and it is not my right to share their knowledge for them.

There is also the issue of Women’s business and Men’s business. I am a daughter. My mother had no brothers and my grandfathers mother died when she was quite young meaning my Grandfather was raised by his granny. I have learnt a lot about some of the male practices from my traditional land but it is not something I would ever feel comfortable talking to anyone else about. It would be wrong and culturally inappropriate as a woman to share any of the male specific knowledge.

Rituals, ceremonies, Dreaming stories, and traditional cultural practices are not something I am comfortable putting in a public forum or sharing outside my own family.

The quote I used at the start I think explains perfectly the way I feel about sharing knowledge that is inappropriate or not my right to share.

If I am silent on topics it’s for a reason. I shouldn’t have to explain why I don’t want to talk about something. Understand and respect that I will share freely what I feel comfortable sharing and if I say I can’t talk about something or don’t feel comfortable with a topic that should be explanation enough. Silence has a power all of its own, some things can’t be explained with the limited words in our English language vocabulary, some thing have to felt, seen or experienced before they can be truly understood.