Participation to Partnerships: An Exploration of Reconciliation, Co-management and their Interconnection in the South Australian Context
type: CreativeWork
description: Contemporary ecological and political crises – ranging from climate change and biodiversity loss to conflicts over territory and sovereignty – pose considerable challenges to human and more-than-human coexistence. These crises continue despite growing efforts to manage them, which is partially due to the fact that the former are deeply interconnected and the latter are not. This study explores the importance of integrating these efforts in the South Australian context. Specifically, it investigates (i) the contribution of the state’s reconciliation initiatives to human coexistence, (ii) the contribution of the state’s co-management program to human and more-than-human coexistence as well as (iii) the implications of their existing and potential interconnection. A theoretical framework that integrates elements of Indigenous methodologies and post-structuralism and an embedded case study design were employed for this investigation, with reconciliation and co-management representing the two subunits of analysis. On this basis, collaborations were established with groups and individuals involved in these fields, and data was collected using in-depth interviews, the observation of co-management meetings and the selection of relevant documents. Parallel thematic analyses were conducted to produce initial findings, which were further refined through feedback meetings with the groups and individuals involved in this study. These processes were guided by the principles of ethical and culturally safe research in Indigenous contexts and Lincoln and Guba’s criteria for qualitative research integrity. Regarding reconciliation, findings reveal a comparatively high dissatisfaction with official reconciliation initiatives among Aboriginal people, which is connected to a lack of genuine opportunities to shape their design and implementation. However, they also reveal that the unique circumstances and aspirations of different Aboriginal groups and individuals mean that some choose to…
abstract: Contemporary ecological and political crises – ranging from climate change and biodiversity loss to conflicts over territory and sovereignty – pose considerable challenges to human and more-than-human coexistence. These crises continue despite growing efforts to manage them, which is partially due to the fact that the former are deeply interconnected and the latter are not. This study explores the importance of integrating these efforts in the South Australian context. Specifically, it investigates (i) the contribution of the state’s reconciliation initiatives to human coexistence, (ii) the contribution of the state’s co-management program to human and more-than-human coexistence as well as (iii) the implications of their existing and potential interconnection. A theoretical framework that integrates elements of Indigenous methodologies and post-structuralism and an embedded case study design were employed for this investigation, with reconciliation and co-management representing the two subunits of analysis. On this basis, collaborations were established with groups and individuals involved in these fields, and data was collected using in-depth interviews, the observation of co-management meetings and the selection of relevant documents. Parallel thematic analyses were conducted to produce initial findings, which were further refined through feedback meetings with the groups and individuals involved in this study. These processes were guided by the principles of ethical and culturally safe research in Indigenous contexts and Lincoln and Guba’s criteria for qualitative research integrity. Regarding reconciliation, findings reveal a comparatively high dissatisfaction with official reconciliation initiatives among Aboriginal people, which is connected to a lack of genuine opportunities to shape their design and implementation. However, they also reveal that the unique circumstances and aspirations of different Aboriginal groups and individuals mean that some choose to…
author: Gienger, Ariane Sophia
language: en
keywords: community-based conservation; transitional justice; coexistence; Indigenous peoples; Australia; ontology
date published: 2023
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:50:59Z
provider: University of Adelaide
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Adelaide

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/138852