Modern diplomacy: understanding ceremonial exchange at Indigenous festivals

Language, song, dance and story are vital to the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, yet Indigenous perspectives on how to keep culture strong are understudied. Indigenous festivals foster local expressions of culture and contribute to the livelihoods of present and future economies. However, we know little from practitioners themselves about how songs and dances in multiple languages are staged and exchanged.

This time-critical project will produce new knowledge about the ways in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous diplomacy and wellbeing are enacted through public ceremony in contemporary festivals. The project combines interviews with ceremony leaders about situated Indigenous knowledge, archival research and analysis of ceremonial performance. The project expects to generate knowledge on how the exchange of dance and song in festivals is linked to ceremonies of diplomacy, and how this diplomacy enables intercultural dialogue. Project outcomes will contribute to cross-cultural respect and a deeper understanding of place within the broader community. The creation of a mobile song library will provide new models for intergenerational learning for apprentice singers and dancers and improve access to and links between datasets, archives and Indigenous communities.