1 Simulation Resources
Cat Kutay and Elyssebeth Leigh
There are some concepts that are best learnt by doing, or in this case watching someone else working in that situation. We provide here some resources developed with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to highlight the skills that are relevant in working with people of other cultures, with some specific factors relevant to First Nations in Australia.
These are immersive experiences, meant to emulate some aspects of real projects in community. These are publicly available and were developed with Sarah Herkess when she was working at EWB, Australia. All the production is by the author with help from a colleague at University of Technology Sydney.
Relationships
The first role play is about relationships. It is about how to develop these, or what happens where we assume they exist but they do not. When people from the mainstream Australian culture meet, they have common background with which to assume some relationship already. When such people meet with First Nations, there is very little such background, and little existing relationship can be assumed, so we need to work on creating a relationship, from both sides. This segment also alludes to some of the warnings that we might get when we may be asking questions that will receive no answers.
Breakfast Roleplay – You will need to view outside the eBook on this link
Sacred Sites
The idea of sacred sites and their significance to First Nations, are hard to explain to people who are not close to their Country and to its history. We are not talking about human constructed edifices, but locations that have been known to the people for thousands of years. These sites have supported people with food, water and shelter or could have been the source of illness. These are places that are significant in the survival of Country (eg tributaries to spread floods and prevent erosion), animals (eg important areas of food or places for breeding) and people (eg birthing sites).
There is also a history of appropriation of this knowledge, for sacred sites may be places of danger or high concentration of minerals (eg uranium). Hence mining companies have often benefited from locating these stories. For First Nations this has led to destruction of Country and spreading of harmful chemicals.
Nearing Sacred Sites – you will need to view outside the eBook on this link
Whose Knowledge is it?
This simulation focuses on another aspect of knowledge sharing – who can share a story. A story may seem to be common knowledge when it is in fact the specific knowledge of one group (eg women) so you will get evasive answers from those not allowed to talk of such matters.
Fixing the water pump – You will need to view outside the eBook on this link
Using Simulations in class
There are other exercises you can do in class that look at the broader context of engineering in the environment. These tasks can be created based on the environment around you, such as examples where the location impacted on a project.
You can set this exercise at different time periods: now, during early colonisation, pre-colonisation, etc.
It is wet season in the Northern Territory where you are travelling. You are stranded on the wrong side of Katherine River and its level is up and overflowing the bank but it is not flowing fast.
- What approach would you take to crossing this river from a Western Perspective: consider technology available, approach to the environmental situation, threats of the situation.
- How would an Indigenous Engineer approach this: consider technology that would be available and why, what is the concern about the surrounding environment, what you would know about the threats.
Note the responses to this exercise will vary a lot due to different experiences in the class and have no wrong or right answer. They are designed to have people put themselves in the situation and think as others who have different values may think.
Also in current times there is a bridge over the river, and there are barges and houseboats that travel the rivers in the area. There are houses built close to the river, which overflows its banks often. There are crocodiles in the water and submerged logs. So you can change to a more recent context.
Atrtibution:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Author: Cat Kutay and Sarah Herkess.
