In pursuit of culturally relevant indicators of Indigenous wellbeing

Wellbeing as a measure for evidence-based policy has gained prominence internationally and nationally. There is now widespread recognition that wellbeing is multidimensional and contextually and culturally constructed. Despite this, the tendency has been to establish universal criteria and indicators for the measurement of wellbeing. One problem with such universal applications is that the different meanings and understandings of what constitutes wellbeing that are held by different peoples can be overlooked. This is particularly true for Indigenous peoples around the world where parameters of their wellbeing tend to be defined on their behalf. While this in part reflects the power imbalance between Indigenous peoples and nation-states, it is also simply the lack of adequately nuanced data on what constitutes ‘wellbeing’ for Indigenous peoples. This situation can be attributed to the difficulty of creating measures that can be both ‘relevant’ and ‘usable’. ‘Relevance’ involves giving priority to Indigenous worldviews concerning wellbeing while concerns for ‘usability’ can steer researchers and policy makers toward a reliance on existing normative datasets and methodologies. As a result, a disconnection persists between Indigenous peoples’ aspirations for wellbeing and the policies and reporting frameworks aimed at improving Indigenous wellbeing. This disconnect can be usefully framed in the ‘recognition space’. Operationalising this space requires a focus on how wellbeing is conceptualised, by what process are wellbeing measures decided, for what purposes, and who makes those decisions. This thesis has the ambitious aim of operationalising the recognition space, to conduct research that addresses the challenge of bringing closer the often opposing concerns for ‘relevance’ and ‘usability’ in the development of wellbeing measures. A substantial component of the thesis is therefore focused on process, not just outcomes. The operationalising of the recognition space involved a two-fold process Firstly, existing approaches are extended by incorporating Indigenous worldviews in the framing of wellbeing evaluation. As an approach, it is a step in the direction of making visible the aspects of Indigenous wellbeing which tend to be at the margins of ‘usability’ accounts. But ultimately, such an approach remains imperfect. Conceptualising Indigenous wellbeing that is both ‘relevant’ and ‘usable’ requires an alternative approach. In the second part of the thesis, an alternative approach starting from Indigenous perspectives is explored, working with the Yawuru community in Broome, Western Australia. The Yawuru case study employed a participatory mixed-methods approach whereby narratives and expressions of wellbeing by Yawuru women and men informed the development of measures and indicators used to represent and evaluate their wellbeing. There are two innovative contributions of this case study. Firstly, conceptualisation of Yawuru wellbeing starting with mabu liyan, Yawuru’s philosophy of wellbeing; and secondly the use of Best-Worst Scaling as a way to elicit Yawuru priorities. Together, the objects of value and the importance attached to the various objects of value for Yawuru are determined. This approach has the benefit of transforming the way that data and information is presented and collected, by actively involving those who know their lives best, those on the ground living in communities