Indigenous Strategy
The Institute for Culture and Society is located in Parramatta, “the place where the eel sets down” in Dharug language, along the north bank of the Parramatta River. It sits on the traditional lands and waters of the Burramattagal people of the Dharug Nation, who have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial, in what today is referred to as Greater Western Sydney, one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world and home to the largest number of Indigenous Australians in the country. The Institute for Culture and Society acknowledges the Dharug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal) and Wiradjuri peoples as traditional custodians and Indigenous knowledge-holders, whose storytelling serve as historical record, a form of teaching and learning, a way to care for Country, and an expression of Indigenous culture and identity.
The ICS Indigenous Strategy underpins the collaborative relational work with First Nations researchers and communities in Australia and internationally that we do across research, teaching and learning, and activism.
Download the ICS Indigenous Strategy 2024-2027 (Opens in a new window)
People
The ICS Indigenous Strategy Working Group in 2025 is Professor Juan Salazar (ICS Interim Director), Professor Louise Crabtree-Hayes, Associate Professor Jessica Weir and Associate Professor Quah Ee Ling (School of Humanities and Communication Arts).
Researchers
- Professor Corrinne Sullivan (SoSS)
- Associate Professor Jessica Weir
- Professor Louise Crabtree-Hayes
- Dr Michelle Fitts
- Professor Juan Francisco Salazar
- Associate Professor Malini Sur
- Associate Professor Quah Ee Ling (SoHCA)
- Professor Alana Lentin (SoHCA)
- Dr. Bhavya Chitranshi
- Professor Karen Soldatic (Adjunct on leave until 2026)
- Professor Heather Horst (Adjunct)
Current and Recent Projects
- Indigenous/Pasifika LGBTIQ+ wellbeing & the role of rights-based practices.
- Dalarinji, Your Story: Understanding and Promoting the Social and Emotional Well-being and Mental Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ Young People.
- Understanding the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who have experienced a traumatic brain injury through family violence.
- Walking my path: The lived experiences of Indigenous gender and/or sexuality diverse peoples in New South Wales.
- Land-based Strategy for Climate Action Planning in the Andean Salt Flats of Toconao, Chile [Via Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile]
- Foundations in Indigenous Disaster Resilience [via Monash University]
- Fire & flood pathways are best journeyed together, Bushfire and Natural Hazard Research Centre.
- Disability Pension Reform and Regional Australia: The Indigenous Experience.
- Hazards, Culture and Indigenous Communities.
- New Public Management, Aboriginal Organisations, and Indigenous Rights.
Visiting Scholars
- Professor Anne Poelina, University of Notre Dame, October 2023.
- Professor Elisa Loncon, Universidad de Santiago, Chile, June 2024. ICS Global Advisor 2025-2026.
- Jimena Cruz Mamani (PhD visiting scholar) Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile 2023.
- Luz Marina Huenchucoy (PhD visiting scholar), Universidad Católica of Temuco, Chile 2023.
Events
- Guest Research Seminar: Weaving New Pacific Futures, 18 June 2025, hosted by ICS and HCA.
- Writing Palestine Now, Writing Palestine Again A Conversation with Sara Haddad and Hasib Hourani, 2 May 2025, facilitated by Ben Etherington (WSRC).
- International Seminar Land-based Strategy for Climate Action Planning in the Andean Salt Flats of Toconao, Chile (PACSAT) April 2024. Visit by members of the Lickan Antay Indigenous Community of Toconao, Chile and researchers from the Institute of Archaeological Research (IIAM), Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile.
- Water Rights Forum October 2023 in collaboration with Minority Rights Group and WSU Sustainability Education and Partnerships.
- Grass Tree Living Burn Pierces Creek Forest, with triptych and electroacoustic/sonic work, with ACT Parks and ANU, as part of The Community Garden Festival, 17-22 February 2022, funded by The Seed Box, Linköping University, MISTRA and FORMAS.
Multimedia
- Indigenous leadership, At Risk in the Climate Crisis podcast series, episode 4, 2022.
- ‘So you care about Indigenous Scholars?’ poster series, 2020
- ‘Cultural burning in southern Australia’ poster series, 2021
Research Seminars
- Doing Kalavata: The Materiality of Fijian Collectivity by Heather A. Horst – 17 October 2024
- Cosmographies Film Screening + Q&A by Juan Francisco Salazar – 2 October 2024
- Socio-Ecological Transitions from Indigenous Contexts: Mobile resurgences of Mapuche communities in Wallmapu, Chile by Gonzalo Salazar – 1 August 2024
- Indigenous Methodologies from a Mapuche Perspective: Ontology of Reciprocity and Connection with Nature by Elisa Loncon – 18 July 2024
- Negotiating Forms of Aboriginality by Jack Gibson - 13 June 2024
- Taking Action for Palestine in Academic and Cultural Institutions by Alana Lentin, Amani Haydar and Ronit Lentin – 14 April 2024
- After the Fire, Beyond the Waters - Thriving Future - by Auntie Sharon Riley, Jason De Santolo, David Conyers, Stephen Healy. Terrestrial Politics in Uncertain Times ICS Conference 25 October 2023.
- Disability equality in the Sámi population in Norway by Line Melbøe - 23 March 2023
- YarnCountry / Foundations for Belonging: First Nations and Refugee Collaborations through Place and Technology by Madison Shakespeare - 13 April 2023
- Working digitally: Indigenous sex workers navigating digital environments by Corrinne Sullivan - 27 July 2023
- Azmapu: Contributions of Mapuche philosophy, by Elisa Loncon – 16 March 2023
- Storytelling and Indigenous Data Sovereignty by Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews - 17 November 2022
- Cultural Marginalization, Historical Trauma, and the Need for Environmental Justice by Cirecie West-Olatunji, 13 October 2022.
- The Racial Contract: A conversation on doing race work! by Debbie Bargallie - 2 June 2022
- Being Brave and Making Informed Change: What ‘Indigenous Studies’ mean for WSU Research and Teaching by Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Alanna Kamp and Susan Page - 26 May 2022
- Decolonizing the ANU School of Music: An Indigenous led 'recovery' by Kim Cunio – 24 March 2022
- Subterranean justice: cosmo-geology, extractivism and unthinkable politics in the Salar de Atacama by Manuel Tironi - 21 October 2021
- Incorporating local languages into community research by Hannah Sarvasy 17 June 2021
- Indigenous Futurism by Bronwyn Carlson - 3 June 2021
- So you care about Indigenous scholars? By Corrinne Sullivan, Carolyn Smith, Sibyl Diver and Jessica Weir - 20 May 2021
- Truth-telling and public opinion: evidence from the Reconciliation Barometer by Professor Timothy Rowse - 25 March 2021
- How not to burn: dispatches from the fire front by Dean Freeman and Jessica Weir – 19 March 2020
Recent Publications and Creative Research
2025 | Salazar, J.F. (2025). Cosmographies. Speculative Documentary Film. 93 minutes. Australia/Chile. Co-written with Victoria Hunt (Te Arawa, Ngati Kahungunu, Rongowhakaata Māori) and produced in collaboration with Toconao Lickan Antay Community (Chile). Weir, J.K 2025. ‘Leaning into Difference to response to catastrophic fire’. In Boddington, E., Chandran, B, Dollin, J, Har, JW, Hayes, K, Kofod, C, Salisbury, F, & Walton, L (eds). Sustainable development without borders: Western Sydney University to the World (2025 ed.). Parramatta: Western Sydney University. |
2024 | Sullivan, C.T, Techi, N. & Sur, M. (eds) 2024. First Nations knowledge and scholarship in Australia. Issues Vol. 6. Michelle Locke, Sarah Kennedy, Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Shannon Foster, Aunty Frances Bodkin, Uncle John Foster, Uncle Gavin Andrews, Aunty Karen Adams, Jodi Stephenson, Peter Fryer, Brooke Fryer, Maripa Teo, Uncle Eddie Burge, and Bronwyn Carlson (contributors). Bargallie, D., Fernando, N. & Lentin, A., 2024. Breaking the racial silence: Putting racial literacy to work in Australia. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 47(8), pp.1532-1551. Day, M. and Sullivan, C.T 2024. 'Indigenous peoples, digital leisure, and popular culture'. AlterNative: an international journal of indigenous peoples, 20 (2), pp. 261-267. Fitts, M.S & Soldatic, K. 2024. 'Temporalities of emergency: the experiences of Indigenous women with traumatic brain injury from violence waiting for healthcare and service support in Australia', Health Sociology Review, 33(2), pp. 160-174. Fitts, M.S., Johnson, Y. and Soldatic, K., 2024. 'The Emergency Department Response to Indigenous Women Experiencing Traumatic Brain Injury from Family Violence: Insights from Interviews with Hospital Staff in Regional Australia', Journal of Family Violence. Harriden, K., Weir, J.K. and Cunio, K.E., 2024. 'Looking to see, listening to hear, learning to understand: centring Indigenous relationality to pursue a more-than-disciplinary academy', AlterNative: an international journal of indigenous peoples 20 (4), pp. 766775. Harriden, K., Gordon, B., Gross, R, Stevens, R and Weir, J. 2024. 'Disrupting colonial environmental research and teaching, yarn by yarn', Environmental Justice. Soldatic, K., Sullivan, C.T., Briskman, L., Leha, J., Trewlynn, W. and Spurway, K. 2024. 'Indigenous LGBTIQSB + people's experiences of family violence in Australia', Journal of Family Violence, 39 (7), pp. 1241-1253. Sullivan, C.T, Tran, D., Spurway, K., Briskman, L., Leha, J., Trewlynn, W & Soldatic, K. 2024. '"Absolutely it was not safe" : Indigenous LGBTIQSB+ experiences of education in Australia'. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 53, (1), --. 1-18. Sullivan, C.T and McLean, J. 2024. Contesting digital colonial power : Indigenous Australian sovereignty and self-determination in digital worlds. In A. López, A. Ivakhiv, S. Rust, M. Tola, A.Y. Chang and K. Chu (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Ecomedia Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 212-219. Weir, J.K., Morgain, R., Moon, K. and Moggridge, B.J., 2024. 'Centring Indigenous peoples in knowledge exchange research‐practice by resetting assumptions, relationships and institutions', Sustainability Science, 19(2), pp. 629-645. Wills, E., and Fitts, M.S., 2024. Listening to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in regional and remote Australia about traumatic brain injury from family violence: A qualitative study. Health Expectations. |
2023 | Fitts, M.S., Cullen, J., and Barney, J., 2023. Barriers Preventing Indigenous Women with Violence-Related Head Injuries from Accessing Services in Australia. Australian Social Work. 76(3), pp. 406–419. Fitts, M.S., Cullen, J., Kingston, G., Wills, E., Johnson, Y. and Soldatic, K., 2023. 'Using research feedback loops to implement a disability case study with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and service providers in regional and remote Australia', Health Sociology Review, 32(1), pp. 94-109. Fitts, M.S., Cullen, J., Kingston, G., Johnson, Y., Wills, E. and Soldatic, K. 2023. 'Understanding the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with traumatic brain injury from family violence in Australia: a qualitative study protocol', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), 1607. Salazar, J.F., 2023. A chronopolitics of outer space: a poetics of tomorrowing. In J.F Salazar and A. Gorman (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Social Studies of Outer Space. London and New York: Routledge pp. 142-157. Soldatic, K., Sullivan, C.T., Coe, G., Leha, J., Trewlynn, W. and Spurway, K., 2023. 'We never get a space to just have a good time together': indigenous LGBTIQSB+ young people carving out alternative viable lives', Journal of Youth Studies, pp. 1-14. Spurway, K., Sullivan, C., Leha, J., Trewlynn, W., Briskman, L. and Soldatic, K., 2023. '"I felt invisible" : First nations LGBTIQSB+ young people's experiences with health service provision in Australia', Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 35(1), pp. 68-91. Sullivan, C.T., Spurway, K., Leha, J., Trewllyn, W. and Soldatic, K., 2023. 'The Dalarinji project - "Your Story" : a narrative synthesis', Journal of Global Indigeneity, 7(2), pp. 1-25. Sullivan, C.T., Tran, D., Spurway, K., Briskman, L., Leha, J., Trewlynn, W. and Soldatic, K., 2023. 'This is our place, but we're the outsiders' : the navigation of identity and spaces of belonging by Indigenous LGBTIQ + women in Australia', Australian Geographer, 54(3), pp. 347-364. Sullivan, C.T. 2023. Be(com)ing in the city: Indigenous Queer relationalities and community building. In B. Carlson, M. Day, S. O'Sullivan and T. Kennedy (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Australian Indigenous Peoples and Futures. London: Routledge, pp. 285-295. Weir, J.K. 2023. 'Expert knowledge, collaborative concepts, and universal nature: naming the place of Indigenous knowledge within a public-sector cultural burning program', Ecology and Society, 28(1), 17. |
2022 | Bargallie, D., and Lentin, A., 2022. Beyond convergence and divergence: Towards a ‘both and’ approach to critical race and critical Indigenous studies in Australia. Current Sociology, 70(5), pp. 665-681. Briskman, L., Sullivan, C.T., Spurway, K., Leha, J., Trewlynn, W. and Soldatic, K. 2022. '(Re)Claiming health : the human rights of young LGBTIQ+ Indigenous people in Australia', Health and Human Rights Journal, 24(1), pp. 35-47. Chitranshi, B. 2022. Adivasi single women's collective in South Odisha : between othered histories and possible futures. In M Ray (ed.), State of Democracy in India: Essays on Life and Politics in Contemporary Times. New Delhi: Primus Books, pp. 344-372. Fitts, M.S., Cullen, J., Kingston, G., Wills, E. and Soldatic, K. 2022. '"I don't think it's on anyone's radar" : the workforce and system barriers to healthcare for Indigenous women following a traumatic brain injury acquired through violence in remote Australia', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(22), 14744. Soldatic, K. and Fitts, M.S., 2022. Barriers to recovery : the impact of disability social security reform on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians living with mental health conditions. In K. Soldatic and L. St Guillaume (eds), Social Suffering in the Neoliberal Age. London: Routledge, pp. 79-93. |
2021 | Freeman, D., Williamson, B., and Weir, J. 2021. 'Cultural burning and public sector practice in the Australian Capital Territory', Australian Geographer, 52(2), pp. 111-129. Smith, W., Neale, T., and Weir, J.K., 2021. 'Persuasion without policies : the work of reviving Indigenous peoples' fire management in southern Australia', Geoforum, 120, pp. 82-92. Weir, J.K., Freeman, D., and Williamson, B. (eds) 2021. Cultural Burning in Southern Australia, Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, pp.1-34. Weir, J.K. 2021. 'Terrain : de/centring environmental management with Indigenous peoples' leadership', Borderlands, 20(1), pp. 171-206. Williamson, B., and Weir, J.K., 2021. 'Indigenous peoples and natural hazard research, policy and practice in southern temperate Australia : an agenda for change', Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 36(4), pp. 62-67. |
2020 | Fitts, M.S., and Soldatic, K., 2020. Who's caring for whom? : disabled Indigenous carers experiences of Australia's infrastructures of social protection, Journal of Family Studies. Rademaker, L., and Rowse, T. (eds.) 2020. Indigenous self-determination in Australia: histories and historiography, Canberra: ANU Press. Salazar, J.F., and Córdova, A., 2020. Indigenous media cultures in Abya Yala. In A.C. Pertierra and J.F. Salazar (eds), Media Cultures in Latin America: Key Concepts and New Debates. New York: Routledge, pp. 128-146. Sullivan, C.T. 2020. 'Who holds the key? Negotiating gatekeepers, community politics and the 'right' to research in Indigenous spaces, Geographical Research, 58(4), pp. 344-54. Winner of Geographical Research's Wiley Award for Best Paper 2020. Weir, J.K., Sutton, S., and Catt, G., 2020. ‘Indigenous peoples’ fire management and the theory/practice of disaster justice. In A. Lukasiewicz and C. Baldwin (eds), Natural Hazards and Disaster Justice: Challenges for Australia and its Neighbours, Chicago: Palgrave Macmillan:, pp.299-317. Williamson, B., Markham, F., and Weir, J.K., 2020. 'Aboriginal peoples and the response to the 2019-2020 bushfires', CAEPR Working Paper, vol. 134/2020, pp. 1-21. |
