Bridging the Gap Seminars

History behind Bridging the Gap Seminars

Responding to a need.

In the early 1990’s, the Yolngu membership of ARDS directed the now Chief Executive Officer of ARDS (Richard Trudgen) to develop and deliver seminars to try to overcome the continual clash of cultures and misunderstanding which was causing great pain and grief in their communities of north-east Arnhem Land. The people were experiencing higher death rates then ever before, they were losing their jobs, nothing seemed to work like it did before.

Everything is in a mess and we do not know what is going to happen. Balanda (outsiders) are now running our communities and they do not understand us or our culture; there are just too many arguments and so much confusion I do not know what to do! Yol ŋu Clan Elder1993

Many non-Yolŋu people, professionals in their fields, were coming to work in Yolŋu communities without any training in how to work in a cross cultural situation. Lack of proper training was undermining the effectiveness of those doctors, nurses, teachers and others as they struggled to understand Yolŋu people and their language. Many walked away disillusioned and at times broken from the experience.

Government programs designed in Canberra and Darwin to improve Yolŋu people’s lives used up a lot of money but very little change; many times these programs actually made things worse for the people.

The ARDS Yolŋu membership wanted people on both sides of the cultural divide to gain the skills needed to understand each other better and to know how to work together more productively, to understand the real issues as to why things were not working and to know what is needed to produce better outcomes.

When working to improve a human situation we need to understand how humans work; how culture, history and language interact.

So, the Seminars were designed to;

• show people some of the main aspects of Yolŋu culture
• explain what happens when two different cultures come together
• teach the underlying reasons as to why the “problems” exist in the first place
• show how Yolŋu people and other Indigenous people can be empowered, and
• impart skills in how to work better in a cross cultural/cross language situation.

Topics Covered in the Seminar:

Capacity Building Blockers

· Understanding World-view

· Dominant & Dominated Cultures

· The Importance of Language

· Human Dynamics

· Traditional Kinship Structures

· Traditional Land Owning Systems

· Traditional Law and Politics

· Reflection on the present situation in Arnhem Land and Indigenous Communities

· Communication Across Cultures

· Different Cultural Mores

· Learning Approaches

· Education that works

We promote an open, question-driven environment.