In 2022, Eualeyai / Gamillaroi woman, Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt OA was awarded the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellowship as part of an ARC Laureate program that was aimed to develop research that sought “to reduce the harmful overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the criminal justice, coronial and child protection systems”. For the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellowship (KLF), Larissa aimed to curate a program for early carer First Nations women and non-binary scholars and appropriate mentors to engage in a range of workshops and gatherings that provides a space for strengthening cultural exchange, safety and professional development as part of ensuring that First Nations peoples are empowered, supported, safe, and strengthened when working and learning within and across these institutions.
The Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellowship program, commenced back in 2023, facilitated and led by Wiradyuri women, Professor Juanita Sherwood and Senior Research Fellow, Dr Gemma Sentance, enhanced and balanced by the guidance, direction and advice of Larissa Behrendt, and the ongoing expert knowledge, leadership and generosity of Associate Professor Pauline Clague, and Research Assistant Ash Little. Together, this ‘leadership team’, better regarded as collective stewards and custodians of this culturally safe program, have slowly, intentionally and carefully sowed and cultivated the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellowship program, located on the unceded lands of the Cadigal Peoples. This program stewardship and custodianship is an embodiment of First Nations matriarchal ways of Knowing, Being and Doing that breathe life into collective leadership, learning, responsibility and intergenerational sharing – the core pillars guiding our conceptualization of an Indigenous Mentorship program.
Now, marking two and half years since the commencement of the KFF, we believe it is timely to reflect on its progress and share some of the insights and work that has been undertaken. It is with this intention in mind that over the next few posts, we will reflect on the work being cultivated in this space, sharing past events, insights and growth. This will share some of the KFF story, which continues to build and grow. As a beginning point, we believe it is useful to bring to light and centre some of the core principles and understandings guiding this work. It is our hope that over the next few weeks we will show how these principles have guided our custodianship of this collective space.
Over the last few years, the KFF has invited over twenty-five First Nations women and non-binary academics across UTS – a diverse cohort with a wealth of knowledge, creativity and experience comprising both seasoned academics with long-term careers in academia and early career researchers commencing their journeys in research. Across the duration of the KFF program it has facilitated and supported over a dozen in-person and online events, as well as providing support to develop the careers of its members through attendance at local conferences and international festivals. It is through this space we are challenging and disrupting dominant approaches to mentor and mentee relationships. Instead, grounding mentorship within our ways of Knowing, Being and Doing which centres on collective responsibility, reciprocity and relationality. Also receiving knowledge developed through extensive experience from Indigenous leaders who have the knowledge and have survived the Technical and the political mainstream university/Academy.
In building the KFF program, we have been guided by several core principles and visions, such as, reciprocity, respect, honouring our relationships, sharing, healing, listening, learning, and restoration.
Through this program we have sought to embed it within our roles and responsibilities to our communities, families, Country, and Ancestors. Fortunately, it is through the KFF program that we have been presented with a unique opportunity to share with each-other and build a strong reciprocal relationship that can carry forward and pass on collective lessons and insights to strengthen and support future generations of First Nations scholars.
The cultivation of this space is grounded in the principles of social and emotional well-being, decolonising and anti-racist approaches, cultural safety, Nation re-building, and the revitalisation and restoration of our cultural practices and connections. Within this space we seek to strengthen the well-being of our cohort through providing a culturally safe, nourishing, and strengthening space, recognising the holistic nature of First Nations well-being, the strength of our cohort, and the role and impact of historical and collective trauma due to ongoing colonisation and racism. This approach seeks to build our abilities to identify and call out racism when it is safe, provide a support network to heal from colonial harms, and align with our voices, truths, and visions.
Guided by Nation Re-building principles, this program honours the critical roles and responsibilities of our cohort members who belong to the many diverse First Nations across this continent. Relationships are our specialty and here we grow and tend to these as they are vital to our ongoing work. Here we recognise these principles as critical to best practice and supporting our individual cohort as citizens of their respective Indigenous Nation/s and Communities. We do this through privileging our knowledge systems, processes, and leadership, that values lived experience, inclusivity, diversity, (re)connection, and revitalisation of our Ways. Guiding this work is the revitalisation, and re-connection with and to our cultural practices, languages, stories, and relationships, critical to our healing and belonging as individuals and as a collective. Thus, a significant role of the KFF program is providing a space to engage in healing work that re-connects and revitalises our cultural practices, knowledges, and ways of doing business. While, strengthening and supporting our professional development with/in the academy as First Nations scholars.
How we support relationship building is vital to our communities and our own wellbeing as Indigenous academics. Our communities live in and outside of universities. Our Academies often fail to be responsive to our specific circumstances. This is why it is critical to provide informed and culturally specific and safe models of learning and supporting our next generations of Strong Black Academics.
References
Gee, G., Dudgeon, P., Schultz, C., Hart, A. & Kelly, K. 2014, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing’, in P. Dudgeon, H. Milroy & R. Walker (eds), Working together:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice, 2nd edn,
Kulunga Research Network, West Perth, WA, pp. 55–68.
Jorgensen, M. (ed.) 2007, Rebuilding Native nations: strategies for governance and development,
University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Jumbunna Research 