title: Dynamic landscape, dynamic practice: Aboriginal dwelling beside the Carran Carran–Durt’yowan floodplains (Thomson River–Latrobe River, Central Gippsland)

authors: Anderson, William

abstract: Recurring occupation beside waterways is an essential part of Aboriginal dwelling and movement in the landscape. Riverbanks and their wider floodplains were repeatedly inhabited as hunting and fishing grounds and to gather plants and other materials; moreover, Aboriginal people used rivers and creeks as routeways and landmarks to navigate Country, for meetings and ceremonies, to affirm boundaries and territorial claims; and they were sacred features whose origins were captured in stories and songs. Archaeological investigations often encounter material that hints at persistent occupation of riverine landforms, but it is rare to conclusively prove the overall duration that a place was inhabited and the length of occupation episodes. Excavations near Sale in central Gippsland, in GunaiKurnai Country, identified one such place. Cultural deposits buried in the sands of an alluvial rise at Fulham include hearths and concentrations of stone artefacts up to a metre deep. Radiocarbon dating shows two distinct occupation phases—in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene eras—that were separated by a gap of up to eight thousand years. The results underline the enduring significance of the alluvial plains around the confluence of Carran Carran (Thomson River) and Durt’yowan (Latrobe River) and show habitation by GunaiKurnai Ancestors over vast timespans as the climate, water level, landforms and ecology of the wider estuarine district changed. They highlight spatial and temporal connections between the upper and lower reaches of these river systems over several millennia, giving a unique, long–term perspective on human responses to shifts in climate and water flows.

text: Dynamic landscape, dynamic practice: Aboriginal dwelling beside the Carran Carran–Durt’yowan floodplains (Thomson River–Latrobe River, Central Gippsland) Recurring occupation beside waterways is an essential part of Aboriginal dwelling and movement in the landscape. Riverbanks and their wider floodplains were repeatedly inhabited as hunting and fishing grounds and to gather plants and other materials; moreover, Aboriginal people used rivers and creeks as routeways and landmarks to navigate Country, for meetings and ceremonies, to affirm boundaries and territorial claims; and they were sacred features whose origins were captured in stories and songs. Archaeological investigations often encounter material that hints at persistent occupation of riverine landforms, but it is rare to conclusively prove the overall duration that a place was inhabited and the length of occupation episodes. Excavations near Sale in central Gippsland, in GunaiKurnai Country, identified one such place. Cultural deposits buried in the sands of an alluvial rise at Fulham include hearths and concentrations of stone artefacts up to a metre deep. Radiocarbon dating shows two distinct occupation phases—in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene eras—that were separated by a gap of up to eight thousand years. The results underline the enduring significance of the alluvial plains around the confluence of Carran Carran (Thomson River) and Durt’yowan (Latrobe River) and show habitation by GunaiKurnai Ancestors over vast timespans as the climate, water level, landforms and ecology of the wider estuarine district changed. They highlight spatial and temporal connections between the upper and lower reaches of these river systems over several millennia, giving a unique, long–term perspective on human responses to shifts in climate and water flows.

year: 2021

title: Infant and peer relationships in curriculum

authors: Redder, Bridgette Miriam

subjects: infants

abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore the relations between infants and their peers as they interacted intersubjectively with one another in an early childhood care and education environment and to investigate how the teacher was answerable through her engagement in these intersubjective events. Drawing upon a Bakhtinian methodological approach to research utterance was employed as my unit of analysis, providing a means to investigate the intersubjective interactions between infants and their peers in tandem with the teachers’ engagement in these interactions as answerable acts. 
This thesis builds on a previous pilot study which utilised dialogic methodology to investigate the nature of infant and teacher dialogue in an education and care context (White, Peter & Redder, 2015). The research that formed the basis for my subsequent analysis took place in a New Zealand education and care centre that catered for children less than two years of age. In the present study the same polyphonic video recording was used to capture infant and peer intersubjective interactions and the teacher’s engagement within these events. A mixed methods research approach was employed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse the video data.
The findings of this study suggest that infants are intersubjective agents in their relationships with peers and with teachers. Infants intentionally communicated with peers in lived relational experiences that were characterised by the fleeting, elongated or connected nature of their interactions. Mutual understanding, joint attention, attunement and the employment of synchronised language forms were features of infant ― peer intersubjective experiences. In addition, the findings revealed the capacity of infants and peers to relate with one another in social interactions that promote ‘dialogic spaces’ through which intersubjective relationships are sought. 
When teachers engaged in the infant ― peer intersubjective relations they either restrained by ‘shutting’ down or sustained by ‘opening up’ the intersubjective experience for the peers. The teacher’s body language was a feature of their engagement that contributed in a variety of ways to the infant ― peer intersubjective experience. Indeed how teachers engaged themselves in the interactions that were taking place between infants and their peers often determined the orientation of the teacher’s body positioning. The findings suggest when teachers restrained infant ― peer intersubjective dialogue, this form of engagement had the potential to alter how infants related to peers in subsequent interactions, highlighting the importance of sensitive, ‘in tune’ teacher engagement. Furthermore, the results highlight the pivotal role of the teacher as a ‘connecting’ feature within infant and peer intersubjective experiences, one who has the potential to ‘open up’ dialogic spaces for infants and their peer partners through engagement that is dialogic.
These findings taken together may have implications for policymakers, educators and teacher education by ‘opening up’ dialogic spaces through which infants are seen as intersubjective agents and dialogic partners.

text: Infant and peer relationships in curriculum The purpose of this thesis was to explore the relations between infants and their peers as they interacted intersubjectively with one another in an early childhood care and education environment and to investigate how the teacher was answerable through her engagement in these intersubjective events. Drawing upon a Bakhtinian methodological approach to research utterance was employed as my unit of analysis, providing a means to investigate the intersubjective interactions between infants and their peers in tandem with the teachers’ engagement in these interactions as answerable acts. 
This thesis builds on a previous pilot study which utilised dialogic methodology to investigate the nature of infant and teacher dialogue in an education and care context (White, Peter & Redder, 2015). The research that formed the basis for my subsequent analysis took place in a New Zealand education and care centre that catered for children less than two years of age. In the present study the same polyphonic video recording was used to capture infant and peer intersubjective interactions and the teacher’s engagement within these events. A mixed methods research approach was employed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse the video data.
The findings of this study suggest that infants are intersubjective agents in their relationships with peers and with teachers. Infants intentionally communicated with peers in lived relational experiences that were characterised by the fleeting, elongated or connected nature of their interactions. Mutual understanding, joint attention, attunement and the employment of synchronised language forms were features of infant ― peer intersubjective experiences. In addition, the findings revealed the capacity of infants and peers to relate with one another in social interactions that promote ‘dialogic spaces’ through which intersubjective relationships are sought. 
When teachers engaged in the infant ― peer intersubjective relations they either restrained by ‘shutting’ down or sustained by ‘opening up’ the intersubjective experience for the peers. The teacher’s body language was a feature of their engagement that contributed in a variety of ways to the infant ― peer intersubjective experience. Indeed how teachers engaged themselves in the interactions that were taking place between infants and their peers often determined the orientation of the teacher’s body positioning. The findings suggest when teachers restrained infant ― peer intersubjective dialogue, this form of engagement had the potential to alter how infants related to peers in subsequent interactions, highlighting the importance of sensitive, ‘in tune’ teacher engagement. Furthermore, the results highlight the pivotal role of the teacher as a ‘connecting’ feature within infant and peer intersubjective experiences, one who has the potential to ‘open up’ dialogic spaces for infants and their peer partners through engagement that is dialogic.
These findings taken together may have implications for policymakers, educators and teacher education by ‘opening up’ dialogic spaces through which infants are seen as intersubjective agents and dialogic partners.

year: 2014

title: The arguing genre and the explaining genre: A comparison in terms of discourse relational analyses of texts written in English and texts written in Maori

authors: Crombie, Winifred

subjects: linguistics

abstract: There is a commonly held belief that those who are immersed in indigenous cultures have a tendency, when constructing academic texts, to avoid sequential, deductive argumentation. We report here on a comparison of two groups of texts exhibiting two different genres – explaining and arguing. One group of texts was written in Māori by indigenous authors, the other group was written in English by non-indigenous authors. Our findings are that although the percentage use of logico-deductive relationships is roughly equivalent for both groups of texts/ writers in the case of the explaining genre, the Māori texts/ writers use almost twice the percentage of logicodeductive relationships as do the English texts/ writers.

text: The arguing genre and the explaining genre: A comparison in terms of discourse relational analyses of texts written in English and texts written in Maori There is a commonly held belief that those who are immersed in indigenous cultures have a tendency, when constructing academic texts, to avoid sequential, deductive argumentation. We report here on a comparison of two groups of texts exhibiting two different genres – explaining and arguing. One group of texts was written in Māori by indigenous authors, the other group was written in English by non-indigenous authors. Our findings are that although the percentage use of logico-deductive relationships is roughly equivalent for both groups of texts/ writers in the case of the explaining genre, the Māori texts/ writers use almost twice the percentage of logicodeductive relationships as do the English texts/ writers.

year: 2005