Documenting the links between language activities/use and wellbeing meeting–attendee bios
21st August 2017, Melbourne
The 21st of August saw the following 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.
A summary of the meeting proceedings is available here.
Many other people have a strong interest in research activities of this type but were unable to attend.
First Languages Australia would like to thank all those who participated and looks forward to working together into the future.
The following list is in no particular order.
Dr Michael Walsh
Senior Research Fellow, AIATSIS Centre for Australian Languages, Indigenous Social and Cultural Wellbeing (ISCW)
Honorary Associate, Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney.
Michael’s research has covered Australian Aboriginal languages; lexical semantics; cross-cultural pragmatics; language and identity; language and law; linguistic geography; language revitalization; language health in relation to community health; song language and other expressive uses of language.
The link between language retention and revitalization and Indigenous health and wellbeing is one of Michael’s core interests and has compiled a forthcoming summary of the literature relevant to this topic.
https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/walsh-m
Philemon Mosby
Committee, First Languages Australia
Phillemon Mosby is a Kulkakalgau Ya man from Poruma Island in the Central Torres Strait. Phillemon is working with elders to revive their language and encourage it back into regular use. For many years he was Councilor for the Torres Strait Island Regional Council, and a Director of the Torres Strait Regional Authority. Phillemon is a strong advocate for the importance of keeping languages alive.
Geoff Anderson
Coordinator, Parkes Wiradjuri Language Group.
Committee, First Languages Australia
Geoff came to understand the power of language when he found personal healing by coming to learn his own Wiradjuri language. He is now a powerful advocate within the schools and the whole Parkes community, helping to teach people of all ages. Geoff is a member of the Parkes Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and the Wiradjuri Council of Elders.
Geoff has been the subject of significant interviews around his personal health and well-being and his attribution of wellness to language revival. He understands well how important yet taxing these discussions can be on community interviewees, particularly those who will relive trauma through that process.
Professor Rachel Nordlinger
Director, Research Unit for Indigenous Language, University of Melbourne.
Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language.
Rachel is keen to see Melbourne University’s Research Unit for Indigenous Languages support First Languages Australia and the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages goals around the documentation of well-being in language revival contexts with a particular focus on Victoria.
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/individuals/associate-professor-rachel-nordlinger
Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann
Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages, University of Adelaide.
Ghil’ad is a chief investigator with Alex Brown in an NHMRC project assessing the correlation between language revival and mental health. Ghil’ad is interested in being involved in progressing documentation of this type nationally.
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/ghilad.zuckermann
Ray Lovett
NHMRC Research Fellow and Program Leader, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Epidemiology for Policy and Practice, ANU.
Dr Raymond Lovett is an NHMRC Early Career Fellow and Research Fellow with the Epidemiology for Policy and Practice group at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University. He also holds an adjunct Fellowship at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in the Indigenous Social and Cultural Wellbeing group. Ray is an Aboriginal (Wongaibon) epidemiologist with extensive experience in health services research, large-scale data analysis for public health policy development and evaluation.
Mayi Kuwayu: The longitudinal study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.
https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/lovett-rw
Dr Doug Marmion
Research Fellow, Indigenous Culture and Heritage, AIATSIS
Doug co-authored Community, identity, wellbeing: The report of the Second National Indigenous Languages Survey, and was a co-author of the ACARA National Curriculum document ‘Framework for Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages’
He has an ongoing interest in this area and represents languages on the committee of Mayi Kuwayu: The longitudinal study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, and at AIATSIS more generally.
http://aiatsis.gov.au/bio/ext/dr-doug-marmion
Professor Prof Jakelin Troy
Director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research, Sydney University.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy and Services).
Jakelin is a Ngarigu woman from the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, her research interests focus on languages, particularly endangered Aboriginal and ‘contact languages’, language education, linguistics, anthropology and visual arts. She has extensive experience developing curriculum for Australian schools, focusing on Australian language programs.
While Languages Unit Manager at AIASIS Jakelin co-authored Community, identity, wellbeing: The report of the Second National Indigenous Languages Survey 2014, and was a co-author of the ACARA National Curriculum document ‘Framework for Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages’. Jakelin has an ongoing interest in exploring the link between health, wellbeing and language.
Jakelin is looking to establish up a centre at Sydney University that looks at language revival practices in Australia.
Associate Professor Sheree Cairney
Principal Research Leader Ninti One, Interplay project.
Research Project Manager, Centre for Remote Health, Flinders University.
Creating a unique nexus between drugs, culture and the brain, Sheree Cairney has worked as a Neuroscientist in remote Aboriginal communities for 17 years. She leads a national longitudinal study on wellbeing in remote Aboriginal communities, ‘The Interplay Project’. A dedicated change-maker, Sheree is passionate about using knowledge, innovation, humour and empowerment strategies to impact policy, culture and humanity. She is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Remote Health, Flinders University in Alice Springs, and a Principle Research Leader at Ninti One Ltd.
Enid Nangala Gallagher
Mt Theo WYDAC. NT Department of Children and Families, Remote Aboriginal Families and Children
Enid Nangala Gallagher was born in Yuendumu, NT, and attended schooling there and in Darwin and Alice Springs. Enid trained for teaching primary grades, worked with Mt Theo as a cultural mentor, is a Mt Theo board member, holds a Waltja certificate in leadership and a Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Graduate Interpreters Qualification. Enid currently works for NT Department of Children and Families, Remote Aboriginal Families and Children, working in a team to support families and clients in Yuendumu, Nyirrpi, Willowra and Yuelumu.
Since 2004 Enid has been involved with Mt Theo Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation Committee serving for periods as Chairperson. Enid has been the Cultural Custodian of the Southern Ngalia Women’s Dance Project since its inception in 2010. In this role Enid is responsible to the Warlpiri communities of Yuendumu, Willowra and Nyirripi and directly liases with InCite Youth Arts, Mt Theo workers and senior Warlpiri women to support this cultural transmission program. Enid also acts as translator, provides trancsriptions of project materials and reports to InCite and the Mt Theo Board.
Samantha Disbray
Research Fellow, Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
Samantha has worked as a community and research linguist in the vibrant and dynamic language ecology of Central Australia since 1998. From 2007–2012 was employed by the Northern Territory Department of Education as the Regional Linguist for Central Australia. From 2012 to 2016 Samantha was Senior Research Fellow with Charles Darwin University, working on the Remote Education Systems project. Samantha works with Central Australian Aboriginal educators and activists teaching Aboriginal languages in school settings and she has published on languages in education, including the Northern Territory Bilingual Education Program.
Faith Baisden
Manager, First Languages Australia
Faith oversees all aspects of First Languages Australia’s work. She has over twenty years experience in managing national projects aimed at increasing the use of and support for Indigenous languages. Faith has lead the development of national strategies around Indigenous Languages Collections, Marketing (including ABC Partnership), Education and Place names. She has managed the development of significant national resources, such as Warra, Junyirri, Gambay, Marrin Gamu and Mother Tongue. Faith is also a member of the Queensland Indigenous Languages Advisory Committee. Her country is Yugambeh in south-east Queensland.
Carolyn Barker
Project Manager, First Languages Australia
Carolyn is a facilitator of community projects driven by Indigenous people. For First Languages Australia has overseen significant national projects — writing, coordinating and publishing resources to support language project design, development and implementation. Carolyn is able to incorporate the needs of a diverse range of Indigenous stakeholders and partner organisations, in the development and implementation of best-practice projects that build community capacity while achieving target goals. Through all her work Carolyn supports the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be heard and ensures that communities can participate in projects in ways that suit them.
Carmel O’Shannessy
Research Fellow, Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
Carmel O’Shannessy’s research areas include language contact, multilingualism, language acquisition language maintenance and the emergence of new ways of speaking, in Indigenous contexts in remote areas, specifically Warlpiri and light Warlpiri in the Northern Territory. Carmel has been involved with Indigenous languages and education in the NT since 1996 and is very interested in the intersection of language and wellbeing.
Stephen Atkinson
Chairperson of BLAC (Barngarla Language Advisory Committee)
Having lived in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland most of his life, Stephen Atkinson (43) says that settling in Port Augusta feels like coming back to his Mother Land. With a mission to reclaim the Barngarla language for the current and future generations, he takes his responsibility as the Chairperson of the Bangarla Language Advisory Committee (BLAC) most seriously. Inspired by the urge to reconnect with his family, identity, heritage and culture, Stephen has been keen to help his fraternity wherever possible. When Stephen met Professor Ghi ‘ad Zuckermann and discussed the Barngarla Language Reclamation project. Stephen joined the project and never looked back since then. Stating that the children are the key in the revival and survival of the Barngarla language, Stephen believes that we can teach them to learn and speak their mother tongue, Barngarla. While saying so, Stephen also understands that it is not going be an easy task to immerse oneself in the language that has not been spoken for over 50 years. Stephen is focused on the development of innovative teaching tools such as Language Resource Books for children, so that they can use it in their everyday life. He is proud of the fact that his mother, who used to speak Barngarla as a kid, often attends the Barngarla language workshops. Furthermore, he points out that the reclamation project also helps his Aunty Patty. Steven believes that expressing oneself in the native tongue is essential in the healing process of the Aboriginal people.
Shonae Hobson
Cadet, Research Unit for Indigenous Language
Shonae is a Kaantju woman from Coen, Qld. She is the 2017 recipient of the Faculty of Arts Indigenous Cadetship with the Research Unit for Indigenous Language, and is working with RUIL this semester while completing her undergraduate degree. She has been active in Kaantju language activities in Coen and is interested in incorporating what she is learning about Indigenous languages at RUIL into her broader goal of becoming a curator for cultural materials.
Brighde Collins
Project officer, Research Unit for Indigenous Language
Brighde is the Project Officer for the Research Unit for Indigenous Language (RUIL). Since completing a Masters by Research in linguistics in 2014, Brighde has worked with RUIL in both an administrative and outreach capacity. She works to promote the activities that RUIL team members are conducting and to support and expand their outreach capacity.
Rebecca Defina
Research Unit for Indigenous Language
Rebecca Defina is a member of the RUIL team, and began her post-doctoral fellowship with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language in 2016. Rebecca is carrying out a longitudinal study of how children acquire the Pitjantjatjara. The focus of the study is on how children learn to talk about events, and in particular how they acquire complex predicates and develop relationships between conceptual and linguistic event representations. Alongside this work, she is very interested in how her work with the Pitjantjatjara community can assist in their moves towards greater wellbeing.
