Meet PhD candidate Lauren Tynan
My name is Lauren Tynan and I’m a trawlwulwuy woman from lutruwita/Trouwerner/Tasmania, and grew up and live on Awabakal Country.
Lauren Tynan – PhD candidate story
I am a PhD candidate and lecturer in the discipline of Geography and Planning, School of Social Sciences at Macquarie University.
Research topic summary
My PhD looks at Aboriginal cultural burning practices in south-eastern Australia and how Aboriginal people care for and connect to Country. Cultural burning is a way of using fire to care for all of Country, not just for asset protection and fuel reduction.
However, undertaking the research has sent my PhD in the direction of methodology – why we undertake research and how we can research ethically.
Now, a big focus of my thesis is on Indigenous and decolonising research methodologies and trying to understand what relationality is and how it can be applied to all aspects of research.
Influences and motivation
After working in the not-for-profit sector, I returned to university to do a Masters by coursework in International Development. In the Masters I completed a mini research project and absolutely loved it! It was so refreshing to dive into literature and wonder how and why things happen the way they do.
I came across the work of the Bawaka Collective and this transformed what I thought research was and how it can be conducted. I am lucky enough to have Kate Lloyd, Sandie Suchet-Pearson (of the Bawaka Collective) and the fabulous Fiona Miller as my PhD supervisors.
Cultural burning is a passion of mine, something I do with my family and community outside of research. At first, I was very resistant to the idea of researching cultural burning, very aware of how research can be colonising and the stereotype of researchers going into Aboriginal communities and extracting knowledge for their own gain.
In the end I decided that as I was already part of the cultural burning community, I would be in a pretty good position to connect with people (conduct interviews) and do the research in a way that prioritises community and Country (research ethically), rather than my career.
What motivates me is thinking about the future of my grandchildren’s grandchildren. What can we do now to safeguard their future?
Experiences inform research
I love the quote by Cree scholar Shaun Wilson (2008, p. 77) who says, “Right or wrong; validity; statistically significant; worthy or unworthy: value judgements lose their meaning. What is more important and meaningful is fulfilling a role and obligations in the research relationship—that is, being accountable to your relations."
This sums it up for me. My experiences outside of academia, of being connected to my family and community and Country are what inform my research, they are not separate. This also includes being part of strong cultural burning communities where people are so generous in sharing their knowledge – passing it down for our grandchildren’s grandchildren.
Wilson, Shaun. Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Columbia University Press. 2008.
Graduate research career highlight
Connecting with other Indigenous scholars and communities has been my highlight to date. These incredible opportunities include:
- ‘MAI Ki Te Ao Doctoral Gathering’ and ‘Decolonizing Against Extinction: Sharing, Strengthening Connections and Continuing Ceremony Gathering’ in Aotearoa, 2019, as part of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference
- workshops and retreats hosted by the Department of Indigenous Studies, Centre for Global Indigenous Futures
- workshops hosted by the National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN).
These opportunities have been more than networking and presentations, they have been genuine moments of family-making and knowledge-sharing. Without these networks, I would not be thriving in academia.
Advice to fellow graduate researchers
You can change the way research is done. You can be creative! If research doesn’t feel right, find a way that responds to your ways of Knowing, Being and Doing. You can challenge and resist colonising academic traditions; it doesn’t have to be about testing and critiquing and discovering. You can do research in a way that fosters strong relationships and creates beautiful futures. And when you do this, write about it, and share it with the rest of us so we can learn from you!