Maboo Liyan Boorroo – Good Spirit Country: using participatory research frameworks to manage Indigenous cultural landscapes in a time of environmental and political uncertainty

Martuwarra River Of life; Anne Poelina; Martuwarra River Keepers; Sven Ouzman; Tod Jones; Naomi Joy Godden; A.Prof Martin Brueckner

doi:10.1080/13527258.2025.2564945

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Maboo Liyan Boorroo – Good Spirit Country: using participatory research frameworks to manage Indigenous cultural landscapes in a time of environmental and political uncertainty

Journal article

Open access

Maboo Liyan Boorroo – Good Spirit Country: using participatory research frameworks to manage Indigenous cultural landscapes in a time of environmental and political uncertainty

Martuwarra River Of life, Anne Poelina, Martuwarra River Keepers, Sven Ouzman, Tod Jones, Naomi Joy Godden and A.Prof Martin Brueckner

International journal of heritage studies

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2025.2564945

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Abstract

Indigenous

cultural landscapes

heritage

management

Martuwarra/Fitzroy River

Kimberley, Western Australia

Management of cultural landscapes has struggled to understand and adapt to Indigenous ways of managing heritage through a reciprocal duty of care. We argue that barriers to Indigenous cultural landscapes are threefold. First, conceptual barriers exist due to the prevalence of inappropriate heritage concepts and frameworks from the Global North. Second are relational barriers in the form of asymmetrical relationships of power between non-Indigenous heritage ‘experts’ and Indigenous individuals and communities. Third, political barriers present in neo-colonial politics are at odds with the goals of Indigenous movements. After introducing Martuwarra RiverOfLife and her co-authors, we review these barriers within a cultural landscape framework. We then turn to the heritage politics of Western Australia to further analyse the barriers Indigenous cultural landscapes face in attaining full recognition of their significance as heritage, and as living ancestral beings with a ‘right to be known’. Finally, we describe and analyse the multi-modal, multi-year collaboration between Martuwarra RiverOfLife, the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, Nyikina Indigenous custodians, and non-Indigenous researchers to establish protocols and processes that address the conceptual, relational and political barriers to the effective management of a multi-faceted Indigenous cultural landscape in Western Australia. We report on our methods and outcomes to date.

Details

Title: Maboo Liyan Boorroo – Good Spirit Country: using participatory research frameworks to manage Indigenous cultural landscapes in a time of environmental and political uncertainty
Authors/Creators: Martuwarra River Of life
Anne Poelina
Martuwarra River Keepers
Sven Ouzman
Tod Jones - Curtin University
Naomi Joy Godden
A.Prof Martin Brueckner - Murdoch University, Vice Chancellery
Publication Details: International journal of heritage studies
Publisher: Routledge as part of the Taylor and Francis Group
Number of pages: 28
Identifiers: 991005821343107891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Water, Energy and Waste; Indo-Pacific Research Centre; Vice Chancellery
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 10 Arts & Humanities; 10.290 Art; 10.290.2464 Cultural Heritage
Web Of Science research areas: Humanities, Multidisciplinary; Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
ESI research areas: Social Sciences, general