Documenting the links between language activities/use and wellbeing
Summary of meeting proceedings, 21st August 2017
The 21st of August saw a committed group of language workers and researchers gather in Melbourne to explore ways of documenting evidence of the positive associations between Indigenous language activities and wellbeing.
The gathering was hosted by the Research Unit for Indigenous Language and First Languages Australia, in collaboration with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. Attendees included specialists in the areas of language work, epidemiology, linguistics, neuroscience, project management, community engagement and capacity building. Participants in Alice Springs contributed by video link.
A summary of the program can be viewed here.
Background
Australian language workers have long asserted a strong positive association between community language activities and wellbeing, both for individuals and our communities.
First Languages Australia (FLA) is interested in encouraging work that explores these links in both revival and maintenance settings. This work aligns with FLA’s broader aim of increasing awareness of Indigenous languages across all sectors of society.
The collection of evidence that highlights the benefits of language activities on wellbeing could have profound effects on community health and access to language services. Qualitative and quantitative evidence of such effects will be useful in advocating and gaining ongoing support for community language activities.
The collaborations required to collect and share this evidence are also a bridge to richer engagement between researchers and Indigenous community members, encouraging increased Indigenous community participation in language research.
For researchers, this collaboration has the power to:
· Increase understanding about language community needs concerning research collaborations around language.
· Broaden perspectives about how and why communities might wish to be involved in research.
· Increase the pool and the diversity of language community members who are willing to contribute their skills to research activities.
· Encourage a deeper understanding of the worldview of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which will, in turn, strengthen empathy and ease of communication.
For language communities, the collaboration has the power to:
· Empower people to better engage with researchers and collaborate in the development of research methodologies.
· Increase the community interest in language work.
· Increase the financial support for language activities.
· Through a greater shared understanding of research process, rationale and intended benefits; see a stronger drive coming from communities to seek research collaborations and to actively engage in the work.
In encouraging this documentation, First Languages Australia hopes to support strong partnerships between all those who share passion and commitment to the preservation and promotion of the first languages of this country.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language published a story about the gathering here.
The following two background papers were distributed prior to the gathering:
Walsh, M. Forthcoming. Language is like food … ”: links between language revitalization and health & wellbeing. In Leanne Hinton, Leena Huss & Gerald Roche (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization.
Whalen, D., H., Moss, M., and Baldwin, D. 2016. Healing through language: Positive physical health effects of indigenous language use. F1000Research 2016, 5:852
Program
The program was a series of presentations from teams that have been, or plan to be, collecting evidence of these relationships.
In 2016 the National Health and Medical Research Council funded two projects looking to identify links between language activities and health.
Understanding the connections between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, health and wellbeing to support action to improve outcomes, led by Dr Ray Lovett of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University.
Examining the impact of Language Reclamation on Social and Emotional Well Being among the Barngarla. Led by Dr Alex Brown and Prof Ghil’ad Zuckerman from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and Adelaide University.
From 2014–2016, Ninti One’s Interplay project measured the complex relationships between culture, community, empowerment, education, employment, health and wellbeing in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Their research showed language, and particularly literacy in Aboriginal languages, was significantly related to individual wellbeing.
Debbie Loakes is currently being supported by the Research Unit for Indigenous Language to review the linguistic literature that highlights the benefits of language activities on wellbeing. The review is being undertaken in collaboration with First Languages Australia and the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, and will also consider literature on the trauma of language loss.
AIATSIS is currently in discussion with the Indigenous Languages and Arts Program in the Department of Communication and the Arts around a proposed third National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS).
Presentations on the above research projects complemented those from Enid Gallagher of Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation, Geoff Anderson of Parkes Wiradjuri language group, and Steven Atkinson of the Barngarla Language Advisory Committee; who each talked about the impacts of language activities on the wellbeing of their communities.
There was intense enthusiasm and dedication within all the stories shared. In the words of Stephen Atkinson:
I was not sure whether to prioritise coming today. It is a big trip, and we have a lot going on at the moment but being part of these discussions has been inspiring. With the work of all of us here together it feels like there may never be another language lost in Australia.
Proceedings
Mayi Kuwayu: The longitudinal study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing
Raymond Lovett
Mayi Kuwayu will be the first comprehensive study to look at how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture relates to health and wellbeing. The study is intended to provide evidence of how connection to country, cultural practices, ritual, spirituality and language use impact health and wellbeing outcomes.
A longitudinal study is one that captures data from participants on an ongoing basis. It is planned that the survey will be distributed every five years to collect information on how individual interaction with culture effects their health over time.
The study is being led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and institutions through the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (ANU). Study partners include The Lowitja Institute and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Implementation is supported by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health peak organisations across the country, and First Languages Australia is a project partner.
The project aims to survey between 16,000–40,000 people. Surveys will be mailed out from a national database to a random sample of eligible people. Participants will be asked to provide consent to have the information they provide linked to other existing data including Medicare data such as MBS and PBS and hospital data; this request has been well received by participants.
For the first time, there will be national level data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural factors (e.g. language use, connection to country) and their relationship to health and wellbeing. It is anticipated the data will be used to influence and guide policy and program formulation, implementation and evaluation. Another outcome is the creation of an Aboriginal-controlled collaborative research resource, available for approved projects in strict accordance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethical community standards and values.
The pilot survey will be distributed in early 2018 with data available for analysis before the middle of the year. First Languages Australia will collaborate with the project leaders to report on the language data collected.
The survey is currently being tested to refine its efficacy. Data from test groups have already shown a significant correlation between language connection and individual wellbeing.
Language, Culture and Wellbeing and the work of the Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation
Enid Gallagher and Samantha Disbray
The Warlpiri Youth Aboriginal Development Corporation (WYDAC) has been operating for over 20 years. It started small, just as a way to get young people who were at risk away from the community and out on country with elders, to stop the problem of petrol sniffing at Yuendumu and at other Warlpiri communities.
In the 1990’s petrol sniffing came up as a big problem in remote communities in Central Australia. A small group of families took young people out to their outstation, Mt. Theo. Mt Theo is still an important centre for rehabilitation and diversion, for young people with substance addiction and youth offenders. But over years Warlpiri have expanded the Mt Theo programs and developed a program of youth development activities in all four communities.
Language and cultural activities are core to all of WYDACs programs.
The lesson
Geoff Anderson
After a horrific accident, Geoff Anderson withdrew from the world, and the small country town of Parkes, where he had been raised. He still had his wife and his family, but even that left him with a terrible suspicion that he was nothing more than a burden on them.
Then one day Geoff heard that Stan Grant Snr, is holding a Wiradjuri language class. There’s a spur of the moment decision: to take a car ride to a classroom. Slowly, step-by-step, he leaves his house and starts a revolution that will spread throughout the town, https://open.abc.net.au/explore/22207.
In this discussion, Geoff talked about how he has used the media to share his story hoping to touch other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are suffering and inspiring an understanding of the power of Indigenous languages in all Australians.
Reliving the trauma each time Geoff tells the story is a massive burden to his health and on his led ones. Geoff emphasises the importance of appropriately supporting people when asking them to relive such experiences.
You can listen to Geoff’s story here, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/thisisabout/thelesson/8103734
Examining the impact of Language Reclamation on Social and Emotional Well Being among the Barngarla
Stephen Atkinson and Ghil’ad Zuckermann
Barngarla Language Advisory Committee, Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide and Professor Alex Brown of SAHMRI were awarded an NHMRC grant to examine the impact of language reclamation on participants social and emotional well being
Stephen Atkinson spoke personally about his experiences in language revival and of the plans to work with researchers to document the improvements in wellbeing he, and other community members are experiencing.
This transdisciplinary project is the first of its kind globally in exploring whether there is quantitative evidence for linking language reclamation to improved social and emotional well-being. The project will focus on the Barngarla Aboriginal people of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, with implications expected for language reclamation, revitalisation and reinvigoration movements all over the world. The hypothesis for the study is that language reclamation results in mental and physical health improvements.
The project is funding the training and employment of three community language workers to be key researchers during the duration of the five-year study. The research team hopes to prove that they can prevent illness through restoring cultural heritage. They hope to change the way that governments all over the world, not just in Australia, approach health issues in Indigenous communities.
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/september/1409493600/anna-goldsworthy/voices-land
http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/02/21/could-language-revival-cure-diabetes
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad & Walsh, Michael 2014. ‘“Our Ancestors Are Happy!”: Revivalistics in the Service of Indigenous Wellbeing’, pp. 113–119 of Foundation for Endangered Languages XVIII. Naha, Ryukyuan Island, Okinawa, Japan.http://www.professorzuckermann.com/#!our-ancestors-are-happy-/c1bgt
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad, Shiori Shakuto-Neoh and Giovanni Matteo Quer 2014. ‘Native Tongue Title: Proposed Compensation for the Loss of Aboriginal Languages’, Australian Aboriginal Studies (AAS) 2014/1: 55–71.http://www.professorzuckermann.com/#!native-tongue-title/cufd
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad & Walsh, Michael 2011.”Stop, Revive, Survive!: Lessons from the Hebrew Revival Applicable to the Reclamation, Maintenance and Empowerment of Aboriginal Languages and Cultures”. Australian Journal of Linguistics 31: 111–127. http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Revival_Linguistics.pdf Also published as Chapter 28 of Making Sense of Language Readings in Culture and Communication (2012), Second Edition, edited by Susan D. Blum.
Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad 2009. “Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns”. Journal of Language Contact Varia 2: 40–67. http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf
The Interplay project
Sheree Carney and Tammy Abbott
Historically wellbeing has been difficult to understand, measure and strengthen for Aboriginal people in remote Australia. Part of the challenge has been genuinely involving community members and incorporating their values and priorities into assessment and policy. Ninti One’s Interplay project adopted a ‘shared space’ collaborative approach between remote Aboriginal communities, governments and scientists, to merge Aboriginal knowledge with western science — by bringing together stories and numbers.
The project concluded in June 2017. It established an evidence base that provides policymakers and business with an objective measure of the complex interrelationships between health, wellbeing, education and economic participation and the role of culture, community and empowerment.
The project developed a wellbeing framework designed in collaboration with Aboriginal community researchers to evaluate the impact of interventions and inform policy in the areas of culture, community, empowerment, education, employment, health and wellbeing.
The project used a strength-based approach requiring the genuine involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants at all stages of the research including design, planning, data collection, interpretation and reporting. It expanded the definition of education, employment, health and wellbeing beyond mainstream understandings.
As a result of this research, an evaluative tool has been developed to inform and objectively measure the impact of a range of policies and programs.
A cohort of 842 Aboriginal people aged 15–34 years from four remote communities completed individual surveys designed and administered by Aboriginal community researchers.
Literacy in Aboriginal language was found to be a key factor impacting on wellbeing. Results confirmed learning about culture and developing literacy in individuals Aboriginal language in schools improved individual wellbeing.
The findings suggest that bilingual education and strengthening culture and community involvement in schools are necessary to improve both education outcomes, language preservation and community wellbeing more broadly.
Interplay Wellbeing Framework: http://www.crc-rep.com/wellbeingframework/
Project background: https://old.crc-rep.com/interplay
TEDx St Kilda 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf-dK8HFP2c
Wilson, B., Quinn, S. J., Abbott, T., & Cairney, S. (2017). The role of Aboriginal literacy in improving English literacy in remote Aboriginal communities: an empirical systems analysis with the Interplay Wellbeing Framework. Educational Research for Policy and Practice. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-017-9217-z
Cairney, S., Abbott, T., Quinn, S., Yamaguchi, J., Wilson, B., & Wakerman, J. (2017). Interplay wellbeing framework: a collaborative methodology “bringing together stories and numbers” to quantify Aboriginal cultural values in remote Australia. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), 68. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0563-5
Flesh and Blood: A linguistic review of wellbeing
Debbie Loakes
Research Unit for Indigenous Language to work is supporting a linguistic review of wellbeing in collaboration with First Languages Australia, the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language and other partners.
The review will build on existing collations by Michael Walsh (2017) and Whalen, Moses and Baldwin (2016), to review the linguistic literature that relates to the positive effects of language activities on wellbeing, with consideration of literature on the trauma of language loss.
Debbie Loakes has been undertaking work in regional Victoria talking to Australians about the English they use and how they feel about it. This led to specific conversations with Indigenous Victorians whose feelings about English proved to be quite different to other Australians, finding:
a) Mainstream English can be traumatic
This was especially the experience of Aboriginal people in mission situations, enlightening for the flipside of wellbeing
b) People specifically recognised “non-mainstream” Aboriginal/Koorie English as positive. Various levels of acceptance were reported with older people tending to be more uncomfortable about it, younger people being more proud.
c) Aboriginal languages (Gunditjmara, Latji Latji / Barkindji) many people commented on their lack of knowledge, but also positivity around revival.
The findings will be detailed in a forthcoming publication titled ‘Australian Aboriginal English as an L1: Trauma and Celebration’, in the journal Applied Linguistics.
The AURIN Project
Rachel Nordlinger and Nick Thieberger
AURIN is a data management tool built to support researchers in exploring and presenting information from large data sets.
Led by The University of Melbourne, AURIN collaborates with more than 80 institutions and data providers across Australia.
In the coming months, members of the Research Unit for Indigenous Language will be exploring the use of the tool to identify and map ABS Indigenous language data collected through the Census.
National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS)
Doug Marmion
The second National Indigenous Languages Survey (2014) targeted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language organisations and individuals to collect information on two key areas — language activities and language attitudes.
It painted a complex picture of the state of health of Indigenous languages in Australia but showed a growing recognition of their value as elements of identity and self-esteem. Respondents held an almost unanimous view that connecting with and learning about language has a powerfully beneficial effect on people’s well-being.
NILS is funded by the Ministry for the Arts, through the Indigenous Languages and Arts program and led by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in collaboration with First Languages Australia.
A third survey has been proposed and is being discussed. Its goal and form and have not yet been decided.
NILS 2 (2014) — http://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/community-identity-wellbeing-report-second-national-indigenous-languages-survey
NILS (2005) — http://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/national-indigenous-languages-survey-report-2005
Future planning
Impressive work is underway. The collection of evidence of the positive connections between Indigenous language activities and wellbeing is gaining momentum and will see publications in the coming years.
Attendees will maintain contact with other interested parties as a wellbeing working group and look forward to meeting again in the future.
Wherever possible, First Language Australia will:
- collate information about the various projects in a manner that is accessible to researchers, language workers and their communities, starting with these proceedings.
- work with the Mayi Kuwayu team and other collaborators to help tell and share the language story revealed through the pilot data.
- collaborate in discussions with AIATSIS around the proposed NILS 3.
- encourage activities that collect positive wellbeing stories with language workers around the country.
- connect interested language workers and communities with potential research partners.
