Negotiating aboriginal participation in research: Dilemmas and opportunities

This chapter reflects upon the author’s experiences of negotiating Aboriginal participation for a research project on intercultural encounters in public spaces in the Darwin-Palmerston urban area, Northern Territory, Australia. Although the author prepared for fieldwork through reading and heeding the advice given by experienced researchers, as an Australian woman of Indian heritage, a newcomer to the city, she found it difficult to engage residents who identified as Aboriginal. The chapter argues that her visibility as an outsider, a migrant Indian woman willing to share stories of Kolkata and deviate from mainstream ways of conducting ethical research, was instrumental in negotiating Aboriginal participation. The author’s research findings suggest that Aboriginals find it difficult to feel respected in a climate of interventionist federal government policies. Although the aim of multiculturalism is to value diversity, the policy was subject to considerable critique because it centres whiteness and Anglo-ness in understanding inclusion.