Ngapartji Ngapartji as a Pedagogy of Reciprocity

• In Event: Critical (Post)colonial Pedagogies of the Contact Zone

Abstract

Objectives or purposes
1. Provide a case study of the contact zone in Australia focusing on the Anangu Indigenous community of the western and central desert region in middle of the Australian continent.
2. Introduce the concept of Ngapartji Ngapartji as an Anangu philosophy of reciprocity as a resource for rethinking critical pedagogy
3. Using the concept of Ngapartji Ngapartji to critique Walypala-dominant (non_Indigenous) educational privilege

In this paper I argue that the politics of education in the contact zone does not adequately address the Anangu philosophy of Ngapartji Ngapartji. Anangu is an Indigenous community of the western and central desert region in middle of the Australian continent. Ngapartji Ngapartji as an Anangu/Indigenous western desert philosophy emphasizes the importance of mutual reciprocity and obligation between two or more parties. In doing so it foregrounds the notion of exchange where learning occurs dialectically through relationship responsibilities. Ngapartji Ngapartji as a pedagogy of reciprocity has the potential to transform current power imbalances in the contact zone of educational practice for Anangu. As an intervention strategy I argue that Ngapartji Ngapartji provides the possibility for critically analyzing and deconstructing existing hegemonies and practices that entrench Walypala-dominant (non_Indigenous) educational privilege because it demands a movement away from learning about Anangu to learning from and with Anangu. Drawing on my personal, family and community engagement with an Anangu/western desert Aboriginal standpoint I describe how Ngapartji Ngapartji can offer new and transformed ways to inform education practice that benefits Anangu people and more broadly the way in which education is conducted for the mutual benefit of all.

Author

• Simone Tur, Flinders University