The Dodo Club (56th Edition)- Some Reflections on Connecting with First Nations

A note from me:

Hi Folks,

I noted in the previous Newsletter that Mary and I are currently visiting Australia, where I’m spending several weeks as a visiting university research fellow.  My programme has been very packed – based in Adelaide but also with trips to Canberra, Darwin, and Perth, from where I am writing this.  Combined with some jet lag, this is my excuse for being late in contributing to this Edition!

I have been giving multiple talks on scenario thinking and re-perceiving energy transitions (topics covered in several earlier Newsletters), contributing to a programme involving several future-oriented museums from around the world, and developing a play considering inter-generational influences.  There’s much material here for me to reflect on and write about.  I was particularly encouraged by a reading of the play to some 40 folks from the arts, university, and futures communities in Adelaide.  With some of the audience moved to tears, there was significant enthusiasm for developing this material into a full theatrical production.  My thanks go to the Museum of Discovery for enabling this reading, Mary for working with me and the actors, and, of course, the three actors themselves who performed this reading after only 4 hours of preparation. 

My Bi-weekly Guide:

Some reflections on connecting with First Nations (and Art)

While in Australia, I have been really impressed by the friendliness and service-orientation of so many people, but also moved by several brief engagements with the people, art, artefacts, and culture of First Nations in the country.  There is so much to unpack her,e and I have only scratched the surface of the surface.  There is pain and beauty and lost generations and good intentions and oppression and bloody history and injustices and wisdom and lost wisdom.  

The nature of Australia is shifting as new immigration from across Asia mixes with European (predominantly British) aggressive colonisation from generations ago, and a decimated indigenous people with tens of thousands of years of local history.  I observe the deep struggles of many people with identity and shifting attitudes to historical realities in a vast land.  The future can possibly be bright for everyone, but there are also darker scenarios.  Much will depend on human and social choices, and whether relationships between people can be built, rebuilt, or repaired.  

I would love to hear from any Newsletter readers from Australia with much deeper reflections on this than I can ever have.  Much healing and forgiveness seem required.  Art seems to be one of the bridges towards this.  Over the past several decades, for example, many First Nations people have been encouraged to build livelihoods in the contemporary world through communities of artists creating vibrant visual expressions of their culture, history, land, and experience.  

As well as having aesthetic qualities, such art can also reveal forgotten truths and deep injustices to a broader audience. The following ceramic by Josina Nyarpingku Pumani is called “Black Mist” and addresses the Maralinga story.  This was the site of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s, which covered an area of 3300 square km.  The effects were severe, with a lasting impact on the Anangu people whose lives, lands, and livelihoods were destroyed.  The red interior represents all-consuming fires, and the colour, texture, and detail on the exterior of her pot convey the story of how the smoke travelled and stretched across the APY lands.

While the circumstances are hugely different, the human traumas remind me of current events in Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere.  In these places, we must hope that, eventually, killing will end and more peaceful situations and societal forms will emerge.  

When the latest violence erupted in Gaza, I penned an immediate special Edition of the Newsletter that included some thoughts on how outsiders like me might respond constructively to our horror at such conflict.  I’ve now taken the five reflections from that Newsletter and considered how they may possibly connect with the circumstances of First Nations in Australia and elsewhere.  Each heading below comes from that earlier Newsletter.   Again, those with deeper experience, please critique these thoughts.

5 connections with previous reflections on Gaza:

1. Support humanitarian aid:

   
   This is a question of the immediate provision of resources and investment to address urgent needs.  There seems to be persistent poverty and educational inequalities in the country and, while attention is certainly being directed towards this, I wonder how deeply the distributed leadership of the First Nations peoples is involved in shaping how such resources are used in a way that builds up people rather than generating dependency.  Also, while attention is certainly being directed towards this, could there be greater investment in the types of education and engagement that change attitudes within majority populations?  And learning can flow in multiple directions - the First Nations people have a huge depth of wisdom in managing the land well despite the hostile environmental conditions in much of Australia, with that hostility now aggravated by climate change. 
   

2. Recognise the Stockdale paradox:

   
   The Stockdale paradox involves both being brutally honest about how dire a situation is currently while also remaining committed to constructive actions directed towards a practical vision of a brighter future.  In Australia, past dealings with First Nations people have certainly been dire, but I’m not sure if circumstances are still perceived as dire by most people.  Also, I’m not sure if dialogues have taken place successfully with representatives from different First Nations to establish shared understandings of what practical visions of brighter futures should look like.  We all have versions of stories about the future in our heads, but most of our stories are far from comprehensive and coherent, and they can differ greatly from stories in the heads of others.  There needs to be an ongoing discovery of collective and constructive alignment.
   

3. Build on the idealism of teenagers and young people:

   
   Between the ages of around 15-25, the brains of young people are undergoing significant changes and their minds are particularly flexible and idealistic.  This is the opportunity for them to absorb respect and warmth for people who they may otherwise label as “other” and be suspicious of for the rest of their lives.  Creating opportunities for constructive engagement and diverse role models in areas of interest to younger people, like music, sport, film and education can be an important part of that ongoing discovery of collective and constructive alignment.
   

4. Develop positive narratives, learning from historical reconciliations:

   
   As noted previously, the future doesn’t yet exist but stories about the future are always in play in our minds and affecting our choices and behaviour. We can learn from historical examples of positive steps towards reconciliation and better societies, and incorporate these lessons into our stories of how we are going to move forwards in the evolution of societies embracing both majority and minority populations.  While there are obviously still many difficulties in these areas, we can learn from the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland and the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa.  Australian discriminatory laws and oppressive approved practices, as embodied in various early 20^th century Aborigines Acts, remained in place until the 1960s and 1970s, but were eventually overturned.  Change happened.
   
   What are the emerging stories about the future society in Australia with its increasingly diverse ethnic mix?  Are current politicians largely stuck in the past or incrementalist in their approach, fearing how their constituencies will respond to the prospect of change?  Or are they able to distil positive narratives of change that inspire attractive choices?

5. Attend to new areas where the tinder of conflict may be building:

   
   The majority population in Australia is both aware of, and addressing, injustices experienced by First Nations people.  But the population mix in Australia is once again rapidly diversifying ethnically as talent and labour from elsewhere in Asia is migrating to this vast land with its many attractions.  The Australian economy is dominated by providing resources to the rest of the world, but the nature of resource needs is changing significantly as new technologies and other economies develop.  Greenhouse gas emissions are fuelling climate turbulence that particularly affects Australian environments and will also promote global regulatory backlashes.  These developments will inevitably bring tensions and amplify the need for the ongoing discovery of collective and constructive alignments.  Is Australian society preparing itself for this and building social and political processes that can enable society to be on the front foot rather than stumbling into conflicts and in-fighting? 

In summary, perhaps my earlier reactions to the ongoing violence in Gaza do indeed have some relevance to circumstances in Australia and, by extension, to other countries like Canada and the United States, where First Nations people have been decimated and oppressed through historical waves of colonisation.  I would certainly appreciate advice on this from people who know more about these situations than I do.

Question of The Fortnight

Every fortnight, I’ll be asking a thought-provoking question in hopes of sparking interesting and enlightening discussion.

I’d love to hear your response! You can do so by simply responding to this email.

Today’s question is:

Do you have experience of engaging with First Nations people, and if so, what have you learned?  Even if not, how do you react to the points raised above?

The Dodo Club Online Course

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This covers scenario/systems thinking for grappling with uncertainty, an introduction to energy transitions, and the development of strategic character in leadership.

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A series of follow-up courses that treat the main topics in increasing depth and detail will be provided if there is sufficient interest.