An interwoven learning exchange: transforming research-teaching relationships in the top end, Northern Australia

In this paper, we explore processes of learning through a focus on relationships. Situated within the context of our research on educational tourism with Indigenous tour operators in the Northern Territory, we examine the relationships built between three groups: ourselves, Indigenous tour operators and undergraduate university students. We develop a conceptualisation of teaching and research as an interwoven learning exchange characterised by multi-directional learning experiences within which all collaborators teach, research and learn. By viewing all contributors, including ourselves, as active and multiple situated co-learners, we begin a process of recognising and reconfiguring power relationships. We reflect on how an interwoven learning exchange may bring new subjectivities into being through transformed research-teaching relationships