Dr Sarah Wright

Dr Sarah Wright is a senior lecturer in geography and development studies from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She works in critical development studies, particularly on geographies of food, and Indigenous and post-colonial geographies, working with Yolngu co-researchers to explore Indigenous ontologies of connection in North East Arnhem Land. She has a strong commitment to collaborative work and praxis and works closely with community groups, NGOs and social movements in Australia, the Philippines and Kenya.

Research Expertise
My research is focused on the areas of Indigenous geographies, science studies and critical development studies. My work is underpinned by a commitment to social and environmental justice. In Indigenous geographies, my contributions are primarily through a successful ongoing collaboration with Dr Sandie Suchet-Pearson and Dr Kate Lloyd and five Yolngu women, Laklak Burarrwanga and family, from Bawaka in the Northeast Arnhem Land. Together we have explored what it might mean to take Indigenous ontologies of co-becoming seriously, in ways that might help us better understand theoretical concepts such as space and place, and also to move towards a de-colonised, Indigenous-led practice in development studies and natural resource management. The group’s work building on Indigenous ontologies to include Country as a co-author (Bawaka et al 2013; Wright et al 2012) in publications and ethics review processes was highlighted as exceptionally innovative during the Fay Gale Memorial Lecture at the 2011 IAG conference. I have built range of innovative relationships with Indigenous groups and government agencies involved in tourism in the NT including with the Department of Business, Economic and Regional Development and Tourism NT. These relationships focus on interwoven learning exchanges (Wright et al 2007) between academics and Indigenous collaborators. My research in science studies has a specific emphasis on Indigenous knowledge systems and intellectual property, particularly as they relate to geographies of food and food sovereignty. My work focuses on the politics of knowledge, the way that different knowledges are experienced in place and the ways they have been variously adopted, reworked and contested at different scales. My highly cited article (Wright 2005), for example, that explores knowledge spaces as a platform for understanding the construction and co-construction of knowledge, provides an innovative framework from which to explore issues of intercultural communication on ontological levels. I have a strong commitment to collaborative work and praxis and work closely with community groups, NGOs and social movements in Australia, the Philippines and Kenya. I have developed important collaborations with government and community partners in Australia and internationally. In Australia, I have been approached to evaluate educational tourism options, collaborate on the production of materials including websites (Biliru, Mills), co-write books (Burarrwanga et al 2008; Ong’Wen and Wright 2007; Yap et al 2004), write policy documents (Bachmann, Cruzada and Wright 2008), and run pilot study tours (Wagiman Women Rangers, Juma experiences). I have also worked in the Philippines and Kenya supporting farmer-led and Indigenous-led movements.

Teaching Expertise
My teaching is focused on human geography with a specialisation in critical development studies. I am the convenor of the development studies degree at the University of Newcastle and am a lecturer in geography and development studies. I have a Graduate Certificate in the Practice of Tertiary Teaching from the University of Newcastle and have supplemented my formal qualifications in teaching with participation in programs to strengthen my teaching skills including with a year long teaching support program involving training, ongoing consultation and evaluation with the renowned Center for Instructional Development and Research at the University of Washington, USA. Through my teaching I aim for a constructive learning environment that empowers students and facilitates them developing a love of learning that will stay with them throughout their lives. In my work as a teacher, course coordinator and convenor of the Development Studies degree at the University of Newcastle, I aim to encourage an effective learning community both within and beyond my classes. This involves building trust and respectful relationships that support diversity through course design and in the classroom. It is my aim that students develop critical thinking skills and broadly applicable competencies, and come to view themselves as empowered citizens with important contributions to make in the classroom and in broader society. My teaching experience is informed by 15 years professional work as a practitioner and educator in group facilitation, cross-cultural awareness training and community-based environmental education working with non-government organisations and community groups in the Philippines, Cuba, Australia and the US. I value collaboration in teaching and research and place high importance in making contributions that extend beyond the classroom. Since starting at the University of Newcastle, I have developed collaborations with government, community and indigenous partners that bring students and community together through practical-based fieldwork and research. I have worked with indigenous partners and students to help evaluate educational tourism options, to collaborate on the production of educational materials (Biliru, Darwin), to develop a pilot study tour (Wagiman Women Rangers, Tjuwaliyn) and co-produce a publication on the practice and cultural importance of weaving for an indigenous cross-cultural womens program in Arnhemland (Gaywu womens program).

Administrative Expertise
I am currently the Program Convenor for the Bachelor of Development studies and the Bachelor of Development Studies (Hons), and a member of the Development Studies Program Committee. I was a member of the review committee for the Masters of Social Change and Development at the University of Newcastle, participated in the Phase 3 Grad Attributes project for development studies and was a member of the Faculty Advisory group for DCIT student marketing project. I sit on the School of Environmental and Life Sciences Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Committee and am currently the course coordinator for three courses in the School.

Collaborations
My primary research collaboration is within an Indigenous-non-Indigenous research collaboration with Yolngu researchers and knowledge authorities Laklak Burarrwanga, Ritjilili Ganambarr, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Banbapuy Ganambarr and Djawundil Maymuru, as well as Dr Kate Lloyd and Sandie Suchet-Pearson from Macquarie University. We have jointly conceived and developed our research and the research outputs are designed to be meaningful in both community and academic domains. Through our collaborative Indigenous-non-Indigenous research team we have produced a range of mutual benefits for all parties including sharing Yolngu knowledge through the academic community. Our work is underpinned by a partnership document (research agreement) that we have updated several times since it was first written. Together, we have come to see our collaboration as an exchange within which all of us undergo a process of learning and transformation through co-creation. The outputs of our research collaboration highlight the transformative potential of our projects to strengthen communities and progress self-determination and reconciliation through the documentation and communication of Indigenous knowledge for non-Indigenous audiences. ??We have called ourselves Milngurr which, as the partnership document states, “we have chosen because when we work together all our ideas bubble up and we have so much to share, water bubbling up from the ground, knowledge and sharing. This is Larrwaw’ Larrwaw’ which means ideas bubbling up from deep in the well, flowing out, spilling out, pouring out. That is how it is when we are together. We talked about how we all think alike, even though we live different lives in different places. We are family now.”