challenging neo-colonial thinking and practices ...

Social Resilience: challenging neo-colonial thinking and practices around ‘risk’ Fran Gale and Natalie Bolzan Published Gale, F. and Bolzan, N. Social Resilience: challenging neo-colonial thinking and practices around ‘risk’, Journal of Youth Studies. Vol 16, No 2, pp 257 -272, March 2013.

Funding This research was funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant LP 0668286. Abstract: Understandings of resilience which primarily focus on the individual are of limited applicability unless we recognise the historical, economic and political factors in which social life occurs. To explore the social foundations of resilience is to chart the ongoing influence of these factors. An appreciation of this context is pivotal to any understanding of the current situation of Indigenous young Australians. Social and economic disadvantage which so profoundly affects Indigenous Australian populations is directly attributable to effects of colonial policy, institutionalised discrimination and contemporary racism. The neo-colonial continuation of such practices can be seen in the reproduction of Aboriginality as problematic, and Indigenous people as at high risk and requiring intensive intervention and governance. The social determinants of resilience are thereby obscured by a focus on 1

particular individual risk factors. Understanding and acknowledging social resilience acts as a counterforce to this approach. This paper discusses the themes central to social resilience that are highlighted by a group of Australian Indigenous young men, which challenge or subvert the notion of Aboriginality as problematic. The innovative processes that these Australian Indigenous young men have set in train overturn traditional thinking and practice about ‘risk’. Introduction: Australian colonial context and the problematisation of Aboriginality The historical context of the relations between white people and Aborigines is essential to understandings of risk and resilience for Indigenous Australians. Australia was invaded by white people 220 years ago. At first, the dominant policy approach was to conquer and subdue indigenous people, with ensuing massacres (for example indigenous people were sometimes killed by hunting parties); then came a protectionist and segregation phase around the 1870s to 1930s, including moving indigenous people to missions and reserves; following this, an assimilation policy was adopted and in operation from the late 1920s and 1930s up until the I970s. This included the removal of indigenous children, now referred to as the 'stolen generation' (Whiteside et al, 2011; Briskman, 2003, 2007). In removal from their land and relocation into missions, many lost their connection to their ancestral lands. These actions of white policy resulted in and had consequences for indigenous people being put at 'risk' and the state appointing white 'Aboriginal Protectors'. Control of their own lives was removed from Indigenous Australians. Later flirtations with self determination were allowed: for example, Land Councils were formed; limited land rights were granted and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was established, with elected members but under the oversight of the 2

Australian Government. However under the Liberal Government (1996-2001) these were effectively rolled back, the Commission was abolished and a more interventionist government approach was again taken. Now at the end of the first decade of the 21st century with a Labor government, a National Congress of Australia's First Peoples has been established, independent of government. Understandings of 'risk' Work on resilience has focussed around discussions of risk. Traditionally, there has been a strong focus on individual factors to predict risk; much of the 'risk' literature ignores the historical political and economic factors in which social life occurs (Cuneen, 2008). It is mainly concerned with individual and family failure; factors such as 'problematic schooling', unemployment of parents and absent fathers. The limitations of risk factor frameworks should be noted, in particular, their failure to account for generative social processes that give rise to and exacerbate specific risk factors (Rutter, 2010; Cunneen, 2008). This is vital when ‘considering Indigenous young people where the longer term effects of colonial policy, institutionalised discrimination and contemporary racism have led to social and economic outcomes of profound inequality’ (Cunneen, 2008, p. 52; see also Carson et al, 2007). In the juvenile justice system, for example, a person's gender, being male, and their cultural identity, for example, being indigenous, are reduced to 'risk factors' (Cunneen, 2008, p. 53). Certain characteristics are reinterpreted as representing the failings of individuals rather than as the outcomes of inequality, discrimination and lack of opportunity, that is of long term systematic structural oppression and abuse as an impact of colonisation (Choo, 1990). Although Indigenous Australia is diverse; embracing different nations with varied cultures, Indigenous Australians see themselves 3

as ‘having experienced fundamental aspects of invasion and colonisation similarly across the continent' (Baldry and Green, 2002, pp. 5-7). The history outlined above has resulted in numbers of young Indigenous Australians experiencing lives affected by intergenerational unemployment, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and drug issues (such as alcohol, petrol and glue sniffing) and involvement with the police and "the welfare". Notions of risk are used to justify interventions (McAlister, 2008). In this case white State interventions reproduce Aboriginality as a 'site that requires intense governance and intervention’ (Cuneen, 2008, p. 15). Eradicating colonialism, however, for both colonised and coloniser, argues McLeod, ‘implies a process ‘of overturning the dominant way of seeing the world and representing realities in ways that do not replicate colonial values' (2000, pp. 22). The need for helping practice and theory guided by Indigenous Australians’ participation and experiences is acute (Whiteside, Tsey and Earles 2011; Douglass Whyte et al, 2009; Coates et al, 2006; Gair et al, 2005; Gray and Fook, 2004). In order to grow theory and practice that responds better to Indigenous Australians’ experiences and needs, improved recognition of the effects of invasion and colonialism; along with recognition of the need for self determination and of the impact of neo-colonialist values is essential (Green and Baldry, 2008, Baldry and Green, 2002). At the same time as there is growing recognition of the imperative of this need, the locus in work on resilience is shifting from seeing resilience as a quality of the individual, to one of relations (Rutter, 2010) and cultural contexts (Ungar, 2008). The resilience literature has to date been almost entirely devoted to Western sample groups 4

and Western individualistic thinking, observes Ungar (2008). We still lack knowledge, he argues, regarding contextually and culturally embedded processes of resilience relevant to marginalised youth living in non-western countries, and aboriginal and immigrant young people living in the West (Ungar, 2008). Euro-centric and North American biased 'helping' theories and interventions, including those in the area of resilience, have been imposed on Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) peoples, when they have not been active participants in its development (Boyden and Mann, 2005; Ungar, 2005; Green and Baldry, 2008; Ungar, 2008). In our exploration of social resilience, rather than pre-defining what it might look like, we were interested to find out how the indigenous young people understood social resilience and so were careful to allow emerging understandings to come from the young people themselves. The research project The research was funded by an Australian Research Council grant to explore understandings of social resilience with marginalised young people. Three locations were chosen on the basis of their socioeconomic, geographic and cultural diversity; a rural site, a socio-economically disadvantaged suburb and a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) urban site. In each location youth workers, employed to work with young people to identify what social resilience might mean to them, met with the research team and were inducted into the project. The youth workers recruited young people in ways most relevant for their own community. In the rural community this happened through existing youth networks and word of mouth, in the socio-economically disadvantaged community recruitment happened through a local youth refuge and in the third community recruitment occurred through a CALD drop-in centre. In each site the project 5

was explained and young people were invited to be involved. Group membership could remain stable or be dynamic depending on the characteristics of the groups. Participation was solely dependent on the young person’s interest in participating. Distinct groups emerged in each site. The focus of this paper is on the findings from one of these three sites; a rural community in Northern NSW where the group that formed was primarily composed of Indigenous Australian young men. In our research with groups of marginalised young people we have been concerned to address the power imbalance which exists between adults and young people. This power imbalance is accentuated in particular for Indigenous young people. Processes of colonisation have obliterated or profoundly disrupted Australian Indigenous cultures and customary practices. Indigenous Australian people have often been reluctant to become involved in research as too often they have been cast as victims and/or treated as 'means to ends', remaining outside the shaping of the research agenda, 'objects' to be studied rather than full participants. In our exploratory study, and responding to the colonial legacy, we aimed for Indigenous Australian young people to direct the research and to frame what social resilience might comprise for them from their values and perspectives. Awareness of Euro-centric bias embedded in resilience research in choice of constructs and design of investigative processes even when researching with marginalised or minority population groups (Smith, 1999), led to development of a particular methodological approach, which we have called an 'interrupted space'. This approach is based on Blaikie's abductive research methodology (2007) and is a form of participatory action research (PAR). Our 6

development and use of the 'interrupted space' methodology has been described in detail elsewhere (see authors’ own, 2011a and forthcoming, 2011b). We attempted to create an interrupted space in which unexpected circumstances provided new opportunities for the research participants. Here this meant that young people were supported and resourced in pursuing something of interest to them as a small group for an extended period of time. In doing this, familiar patterns of relating were altered and new opportunities for 'being' emerged. This enabled a different type of conversation to develop in which young people were not placed in the familiar role of 'child'. However it also meant that we did not need to rely solely on the testimony of young people as to what was occurring. We were also able to observe changed behaviour in all research participants and in the broader communities in which these young people were placed. The young people were invited to say what they would like to change in their community (defined as any community, for example school; families; employers) and were afforded the opportunity to change this by developing a project of their own. At each weekly session, over an 18 month period, they were provided with a small sum of money for either food or equipment and a youth worker who would be a resource rather than be prescriptive. The 'interrupted space' meant that young people exercised as much power as possible within the constraints of working with a funding authority, demands of ethics committees and rules for academic research. The data consisted of multiple sets. These were: ongoing repeated interview material from the young people about what they were doing and any impacts they saw on themselves or the community in which they lived; interviews from community members in areas which the young people identified as significant such as local technical 7

college, school, the police, local magistrate, general community members and local government departments; media on the project and observations of changed relations in the communities or altered formal arrangements which were directly related to the project or participants in the project. The data was and continues to be subjected to a thematic analysis. Blaikie speaks of qualitative data coming in the form of language, meaning and accounts from participants’ everyday activities, in order to get an insider's view on the events rather than an imposed outsider view (Blaikie, 2007). This approach differs from the more usual PAR methodologies in that there was no intention that the activities of the young people would be evaluated and used to inform another cycle of action (Humphries, 2008). Instead, we were interested to see whether the introduction of the resources and the ' interrupted space' offered by this research process would provide the opportunity for the young people to own the project. It was hoped that this would act as a circuit breaker for the 'circuits of dispossession' (Fine and Ruglis, 2009) that are a consequence of colonisation, and which are experienced by these young people. The interruption of these circuits may offer insight into social resilience. The issues in the community that the young Indigenous men raised as their concerns included their sense of 'young blackfellas' not being respected in the wider community; their experience of a 'disconnect' between themselves and the wider local community and that they were often seen as a 'problem,' for example, by the school or by the justice system. The young people chose a project which surprised us as researchers. They decided to train working dogs and called themselves ‘PAWS UP’. Through this project, the Indigenous Australian young people identified what for them were key indicators of 8

social resilience; moreover, social resilience in action has also led to change in their community, for example in greater community connectedness, and in ways of dealing with issues of juvenile justice. Winning numerous regional shows and wool expos around New South Wales; the young people have now broken the Australian record in dog jumping. They have begun to get paid for doing 'shows'. Overall the local community has expressed a lot of support, including the local state MP who has discussed this project in parliament; the local high school has begun to have the Indigenous young people teach the students dog training as part of the High School program; the local TAFE have introduced the program into their curriculum and are exploring options to provide the young people with formal recognition for their work in the dog training program and many of the young people are now attending training in the Iron Man Welders program and have subsequently formed 'Aglads' which aims to meet the labour needs of the local rural industry, in particular, those of local farmers. The Indigenous young people’s successful project has been effective in terms of them developing and building social resilience in their community. Importantly, the lines of colonising interference are being redrawn in this community. Indigenous Australian young people's framing of social resilience A benefit of working with social resilience is that it doesn't rely on the concept of the (individual) 'self', which, Boyden reminds us, is largely a Western cultural construct (2010). Understandings of the social contribution to resilience is arguably of particular significance in Indigenous and non western cultures where the 'self' may be conceived more communally. Themes: of being authors of their own solutions and having agency to carry out those solutions; of not being labelled or categorised; of being given respect as a 9

group and having safety; of civic connectedness, belonging and having a responsive community and of having hope for a future which is about flourishing not just surviving, were all factors of social resilience which emerged from the Australian Indigenous young men's framing of their values and perspectives. Each of these will now be discussed. Authors of their own solutions and having agency Young people firstly spoke of the importance of being able to have an opportunity to try and 'fix' what they identified as issues for them, in the community. You’ve given us a chance to do something ourselves (Paws Up member) At the same time, the young people were used to looking to adults for instruction or guidance on what to do, and, as adults are accustomed to giving such guidance, the process of the young people working out how to address the issues they identified, took several months. During this period the youth worker aimed to encourage and support the young people's own solutions, acting as a support and resource. Initially the young people appeared to want to please the worker with suggestions of projects they considered the worker might approve of. One of these, for example, appeared to be the suggestion by the young men of ‘going bush' with local Indigenous Australian elders. When this was offered, however, few young people responded. After a period where the worker continued to encourage the young people to make authentic choices of their own; they decided on a project that really surprised the workers in its unexpectedness; the young people wanted to train dogs who would work on farms, to jump. As it turned out, their choice of project spoke well to the issues they were concerned about. Having agency; the power to act on their own decisions emerges

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as an important theme. One young man commented when speaking of what he liked about working with the dogs 'it’s good because you guys gave us a choice' Young people having agency involved adults sharing power with young people. The professionals involved had at times, in the initial stages in particular, to actively resist any temptation to 'take over' the project. It was the young people who made key decisions around the project whether these were in the more public contexts of the working dogs’ training and jumping activities, including entering shows and putting on shows, to the more private contexts of the young men establishing the rules about behaviour in the group and requesting the youth worker's support in bringing these to the attention of anyone who might break the rules agreed on. We have written about these processes in detail elsewhere (Authors’ own, 2011a and b). Being authors of, and having agency to implement, their own solutions was important not only to the Indigenous young people, but also to their parents. Unsurprisingly, Indigenous Australian parents were initially wary of their young people’s involvement. Their initial response was the more familiar one of not wanting their young people to be involved because of a mistrust of the history of government and white interventions. However there was a distinct change over time when they saw that this wasn't conventional intervention by 'the welfare' and that it cast young people as authors of their own solutions, rather than as 'victims'. It was then that parents and members of the wider Indigenous community actively encouraged the involvement of the young people. Parents levels of support increased to the point where they sometimes attended the jumps and many others phoned the youth worker asking for their young people to 11

attend. Mum bought a copy of the newspaper because she was so proud my picture was in it (Paws Up team member) The families of the team members are highly supportive of the program. They do not now consider it to be some “do-gooder’s scheme” because they are treated with respect by the co-ordinator and they can genuinely see the positive impact the program is having on their children’s lives (credit union media liaison worker) Here, self determination may be seen to be a community value and is expressed collectively; it is not only about individual autonomy. For many helping professionals, however, including those who work with risk and resilience, self determination is often viewed primarily in terms of individual autonomy (Green and Baldry, 2008). For Australian Indigenous people, self determination is most often, though not only, understood and experienced within a collective framework (Green and Baldry, 2008; Watson, 1988). Winning dog jumping events, for example, wasn't seen by the young people as being about individual competition. One striking example of this occurred when the young men refused the opportunity for each of them to take turns to work with a particular dog which consistently made winning jumps, choosing instead to stay working with the dogs which they had each trained, commenting that the winning dog won 'for all the group'. It’s like they’re a single entity, they’re there to represent, and that’s what they do (indigenous Youth Worker)

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It’s just this incredible buzz for the kids, and it’s a positive buzz. It’s not drugs, or alcohol, or dangerous driving. It’s all about rules and responsibility, and being part of a group and being tuned into what everyone else is doing (TAFE Coordinator) The program has changed the young people’s behaviour. They now have a greater sense of purpose, where previously their focus was on drinking and partying (indigenous youth worker) Once they had decided on the project, and committed to it as a group, the young people rarely missed attending, for instance, even when it involved very early morning starts. Being responsible to each other in the group; negotiating decisions as a group (from setting rules around behaviour of group members to broader group decisions about choice of regional shows); inviting siblings, extended family members and friends to also come to the group were further demonstrations of the young people's commitment to a collective framework. Working collectively meant support was gained to address tasks also through kinship and friendship ties. No part of Indigenous Australian life can be detached from responsibility to the group and the land, Watson (1988) observes, arguing that it is critical for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers to recognise, value and draw on Indigenous approaches to knowledge and wisdom (see also Larkin, 2011; Whiteside et al, 2011). In this rural community an Indigenous Australian worker commented that she believed the dog jumping project chosen by the young people was effective, in large part, because their choice had cultural resonance and drew on long established group skills: 'our mob understands dogs and we've been around dogs for a long time'. 13

In Australia, Indigenous people's customary approaches to their welfare and wellbeing were not given respect by colonial governments, which tried to obliterate Indigenous Australian traditions. The lack of respect for customary approaches and lack of recognition by non-Indigenous bureaucracies, has led to speculation that this may go some distance towards ‘explaining and understanding the continuing poor results from imposed non-Indigenous programs’ (Green and Baldry, 2008, p. 390). As a group the young people demonstrated their skills in organising, communicating, negotiation and decision making. Their active involvement and agency with the dog jumping project afforded them opportunities for greater visibility in their local community and this led to a challenge to negative constructions of the young people. Not labelled or categorised 'It isn't the welfare, you know, it’s doing ordinary shit and stuff’, one young man said, when speaking of what he liked about working with the dogs. The young people did not want to have labels such as 'disadvantaged' or 'welfare' attached to them. They did not want to be 'problematised' by having a 'special program'. The Indigenous young men's concern about being regarded as a 'welfare problem' is echoed in work on colonisation by Indigenous Australian writers such as Nigel D'Souza (1994, p. 27) who is critical of the social services field 'where we are treated as welfare problems', leading him to conclude 'we need to de-colonise the field of social welfare'.

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As the young people began to win dog jumping events at shows and wool expos their success attracted media attention. In media stories, the young people, in spite of their success, were often still labelled in negative ways, continuing to reinforce stereotypes. One media report, for example, included the sub-heading 'Break and enter, assault, robbery ... dog jumping' (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2008) These young people did not label themselves in terms of 'categories', rather, they were young people working with dogs; however they had little control over labelling of them by others. Commenting that they felt as 'young blackfellas' they were given ‘no respect anywhere’, the young people did not want labels which bestowed a 'totalising identity' (Dominelli, 2002, p. 51) on them. Indigenous Australian young people find they are not only problematised as individuals, on the basis of their being Indigenous, by government, welfare and justice bodies but, as Anthony shows in her work with Australian Indigenous people who come before the law; they are contextualised in terms of being a 'dysfunctional (Indigenous) community' (Anthony, 2008, p. 2). Anthony identifies the operation of a post-colonial narrative in which the Indigenous community is: 'both condemned and in need of rescue, particularly through a bolder assertion of postcolonial…control. The scapegoat in these rescue efforts is the Indigenous offender’ (Anthony, 2008, p. 2). She observes how this implies a rejection of the Indigenous community at the same time as a denial of the validity, of an Indigenous identity (Anthony, 2008). One of the indications that the young people's dog jumping project is having some success in addressing such concerns was demonstrated when a local judge allowed one of 15

the young men to leave the area to jump his dog, while on remand. This had not ever happened before and indicated the young men were no longer being detained as 'problematic Indigenous young persons' but could now be seen by the judge, as outside of a framing of Aboriginality and the young men as 'totally problematic' We support the program like by changing bail conditions so the kids can participate. The magistrate adjusted this kid’s curfew so he can take part in the evening training. Police have no issues with doing this because we know the boys won’t be getting into trouble. Barriers are beginning to break down between the police and the young people (police officer). The young people involved in Paws Up have begun to influence the behaviour of others around them. They are withstanding peer pressure to go out drinking and partying, for example, instead preferring to go and train with the dogs. This is catching the attention of their peers .(police youth liaison officer) Their choice of the dog jumping project meant the young people were not 'ghettoised' as a group, but rather that they were then on a pathway into increasing connectedness with the wider community. These civic connections proved pivotal. Increased civic connectedness and community responsiveness By its nature, the young people's project of working dog jumping and training took place in public arenas such as local and regional shows, wool expos, local schools and nursing homes. The project also attracted a great deal of local media coverage. The young people were thus afforded a 'public space' where they not only had greater visibility but also increased opportunity for civic connectedness. This resulted in not only

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forming more connections with the wider community, but importantly, as it turned out, it increased the community's engagement with, and responsiveness to, the young people. Civic connections and community responsiveness provided the point at which transformation occurred. A capacity for greater collective action was available. As a consequence of the dog jumping project, a sense of shared responsibility developed among the young people and also their wider community. A striking instance of this took place in relation to policing and the young people. After winning the dog jump at their first local show, and while the young people were on the platform being presented with their prize, the police brought drug sniffer dogs up to them, treating them as suspects. The local community vigorously protested this action and defended the young people; the community’s actions included writing letters of protest to the police as well as to the local paper. This also provides a compelling illustration of how public spaces can enable the construction of 'more dynamic, inclusive, democratic forms of dialogue' (Uitermark et al 2005, p. 631). The public space in which members of the wider community and the Indigenous young people came together revealed, in this case, the functioning of a dynamic of marginality. This was challenged by the community who defended the young people. A further consequence of the young people having increased visibility and community interaction in a public domain is that it afforded opportunities for their rights as well as their needs to be considered and responded to in the context of their structural constraints (Adams et al, 2002). We have seen the local building society offer and provide the young people with a free account. Farmers have given the young men work 17

and tradespeople have offered them apprenticeships. The local technical college now includes dog training as a bridging course. Rather than there being pressure to conform, the public space has enabled acknowledgement and respect for different needs and diversity within the community. Local farmers previously looked down on the boys, until seeing them compete and how they connect with the dogs. The farmers now allow the boys to go and work on their farms to work with cattle. Community perceptions are changing (local council member) Doors have opened from people seeing the relationship between the dogs and the boys when they’re jumping (youth worker) Council have provided support to the program by micro-chipping thirty of the dogs, as well as offering facilities for training (council member) The community has shown support by donating money and dogs to the Paws Up program. In addition, the publicity the team received led to them being given a donation from the University of New England. Paws Up has also received much attention at a government level, with Ministers visiting Armidale to meet the team and watch some of their competitions. (credit union media liaison officer) These connections represent a shift in relations, particularly between the farmers and the young men, where previously there had been a divide. In public spaces identities are 'encountered , created and contested' observes Uitermark et al (2005, p 628 ) and once there is a meeting together in the public domain, 'genuine antagonism' can be negotiated (Uitermark et al, 2005, p.625 ). Another example which demonstrates this shift in

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relations occurred when retired local farmers in nursing homes who expressed a desire to see ‘real working dogs’ again are now visited by the Australian Indigenous young men with their dogs.

Instead of telling us where to go, now it’s usually ‘hello, how are you going? (police youth liaison officer) It’s much easier to deal with the world from a popular and successful standpoint, than from one where you’re having to try and make your way against all sorts of prejudice (local journalist) In such everyday encounters in the public domain differences may be negotiated and interpretations adjusted, leading to the development of more fluid and multidimensional identities (Fraser, 1995; Uitermark et al, 2005;, Amin, 2002). The project initiated and developed by the Indigenous young people has, in this local context, led to connections forming between them and the wider community, enabling multidimensional components of a group identity to be recognised and respected. The implications, as Nancy Fraser (1995) argues, are that group identities are not then simplified in ways which may encourage separatism, authoritarianism and intolerance, further reinforcing marginality. Counter-discourses may be created on a number of levels. For example, over the life of the project, some change has occurred in the nature of the media reporting about the young people. More recent media reports are shifting to a point where the young people are not a priori seen as 'a problem' (The Daily Telegraph, 2011; ABC TV Stateline, ,2011), but rather the young people’s success is celebrated: this is in contrast

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to earlier reporting which, as discussed above, included negative constructions, stereotyping and labelling. Inhabiting the public space and community connectedness enabled the Australian Indigenous young people to be involved in negotiating a 'bottom up' politics of belonging and identity. Rather than projects or organisations generated by governments or bureaucracies, a 'bottom up' construction is vital to confront neo-colonialism (Uitermark et al, 2005). Young people previously marginalised from the community now have economic and cognitive links into the community. ‘Aglads', for example, has grown out of the dog jumping project, to meet employment needs in the local rural economy. Respect and safety In describing what was initially most appealing about their involvement in the project, a number of the young people identified respect as central. No-one respected us, but then the dogs learnt to respect us and we respect them (Paws Up member)

Once you respect them (dogs), they’ll be your friend for life (Paws Up member) Respect also implied both trust and safety to these young men. For example, the actions which the young people took to keep their dogs safe at the jumping captured the mutual respect between themselves and their dogs as well as the significance of trust. The young people have developed their own particular approach to their sheep dog jumping. As they jumped their dog they would run up just behind the dog and stand at 20

the base of the jump holding out open arms to catch it, in case it should fall. Commenting that this was unusual in working dog jumping competitions, community members interviewed saw it as notable that the young men, often perceived as marginal in that community, were so caring and nurturing to their dogs and intent on keeping their dogs safe. When describing this quality in their method of jumping the dogs, the young men said it was vital in encouraging their dogs to take the required risk to jump high, that they could have the confidence that they would not be hurt should they fail. The centrality of trust to the young Indigenous men, was highlighted in this example (authors’ own, 2011b forthcoming). Obligations and reciprocity of relationships among humans and between humans and nature, Malezar and Sim (cited in Green and Baldry, 2008, p. 399) maintain, are foundational to an Indigenous world view. At one level this is about respect. For the young people, having something to offer that is valued and accepted as worthwhile by 'the other' means there is a reciprocity which challenges the colonial orientation. There is respect in this: it is not about charity nor is it all on 'white terms'. The team have also formed relationships with the children in the community, by showing them how to train the dogs. This mentoring role was previously unheard of. (local council member) Respect is fundamental to empowerment, as Green and Baldry affirm, 'empowering work requires respect for people's ideas, knowledge and understanding of their own needs' (2008, p. 395; see also Whiteside et al, 2011). A de-colonising approach necessitates validating Australian Indigenous wisdom (Briskman, 2003; Larkin, 2011). In much resilience work, the professional is the 'expert' and has expert 21

knowledge; it is argued then, that it is vital for a de-colonising reorientation that Australian Indigenous young people be seen as experts in their own lives and have their knowledge respected. Foucault's insights around knowledge being power, help reveal the importance of respecting people's own wisdom, as this respect provides an opportunity for some transformation of traditional power relations (Green and Baldry, 2008). This altered dynamic avoids reproducing dominant power relations and the lines of colonising interference may then begin to be redrawn. Hope The young people did not want only to address what they saw as problems; rather they also wanted to create opportunities (see also Whiteside et al., 2011). When discussing outcomes from their experience of the dog jumping, they responded that it was different to organised football, for instance, in which they had previously participated, in that they saw their dog jumping project as leading to travel opportunities and diverse experiences as well as to potential jobs in the future,

You gotta change if you wanna keep flying along, otherwise you’re gonna be stuck in gear one (Paws Up Member). Doors have opened from people seeing the relationship between the dogs and the boys (local council member) Typically the picture in Australia for Indigenous people, as Briskman (2007) observes, is 'gloomy'. Indigenous people experience the worst health and highest unemployment rates of any population group and are at risk for a range of social problems. These factors signify the state’s incomprehension of Indigenous culture, ‘dominated by an ethnocentric 22

approach to policy and adopting approaches which are mainly ameliorative, avoiding complex issues such as land rights, self determination and control by Indigenous people of their own destinies’ (Briskman, 2003, pp. 94-95). In work on the contribution of the ‘social’ to resilience, such ‘systematic structural oppression’ has been understood in terms of 'the political economy of risk' (Boyden, 2010, plenary conference presentation), which allows the burden of risk to fall more heavily on some groups than others; particularly on minority cultural groups, such as Indigenous peoples. The notion that the Australian Indigenous young people are in a cycle of 'generational disadvantage' and that they do not see a future, that is that they are 'no hopers' has been challenged by the development of the dog jumping as a technical college bridging course and by offers of employment as jackaroos as well as the formation of Aglads. For these young people, social resilience is more than about responding to a problem, it is about flourishing (Zautre et al 2010). Long-term hope in this context is bound up with successfully challenging neo-colonialism. Conclusion The innovative processes that these Australian Indigenous young men have set in train challenge or subvert the notion of Aboriginality as problematic. They overturn traditional thinking and practice about ‘risk’. In this study, social resilience is shown to be the capacity to be responsive to Indigenous Australians’ active participation in its formation and direction. The circularity here 23

underlines the importance of social resilience as both process and outcome. Through enabling changes in agency, established power relations, civic connectedness and community responsiveness between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups, social resilience in concept and practice has the potential to interrupt the circuit of dispossession. An issue which remains to be clarified in future research concerns the long-term durability of the changes which the young people’s project has fostered, and to identify any recurring patterns underpinning those changes. It is of interest that the state and its institutions in this local community have modified their practices in relation to these Indigenous Australian young people. This raises the further question about potential reform of the dominant neo-colonial public realm. The approach described here was effective in building social resilience with Australian Indigenous young people and their community. As an example of social resilience in action, this may be useful for other communities. Rather than being prescriptive, however, social resilience, as these Indigenous Australian young men have framed it, transforms vision and practice for both Indigenous and nonIndigenous people so that there is listening, authentic dialogue and respect for who Indigenous young people are and what they offer. Such social resilience potentially ‘decolonises hearts and minds’ (Green and Baldry, 2008, p. 400).

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