'Time for Talking up Loud' Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander voices shaping Australian research - Lynore Geia (26 Oct 2015)
Dr Lynore Geia spoke on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices shaping Australian research. 'Talking up loud' is a Murri colloquialism, loosely it means 'raising our voice, getting heard', and broaching the issues in places where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's voices were deemed vox nullius in the past. Research has been one of those places; nowadays, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island voices are emerging, organising and theorising within academia; challenging 'traditional research constructs and making space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island knowledge in contemporary Australian research. Moreover, the emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island research paradigms must be a core component in developing meaningful government policy in addressing the disparities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and mainstream Australia. Research by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people values and empowers Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island people as key investors in their recovery; enabling them to reclaim and develop their strength and resilience to successfully meet the challenges of today. 'Talking up loud' in academia, research informing politics is imperative to disrupt the legacy of colonising forces that negatively affect social wellbeing and health across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander generations. We do not need more, research, policy and practices done upon us; we, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to lead research in partnership with community and academia to ensure policy and practice is done with us.
View the video of Dr Geia's presentation
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Dr Lynore Geia is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman born and raised on Palm Island off the coast of North Queensland, Australia – a forced Aboriginal community (1918 – early 1980s) under government legislation, now home to the Bwgcolman people. Lynore is a registered nurse, trained at Townsville General Hospital (1977), and a U.K trained midwife at Lewisham Hospital, SE, London, (1981). Lynore has worked in, and supports Aboriginal community controlled health, gaining extensive experience in Aboriginal women's health and birthing. This has led to a passion for working with community to develop community strategies to support and strengthen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families through best practice.
Lynore gained her BA Nursing and MPH&TM, and has recently completed her PhD studies at James Cook University (2012) with a ground-breaking thesis presenting the strengths of child-rearing practices on Palm Island through the voices of four generations of Bwgcolman families. Lynore has recently (April 2014) joined the academic staff at James Cook University, College of Health Care Sciences as Nursing, Midwifery & Nutrition, Senior Lecturer and as Indigenous Futures Research Lead in the Centre for Nursing & Midwifery Research. Lynore is committed to developing effective research and education in nursing and midwifery that impacts on health praxis; in particular 'Closing the Gap' in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island health.