School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Murdoch University

This 21-page paper from the journal Children, Youth and Environment, Vol. 16(2), 2006, describes a new approach to youth participation and development used by the Yiriman Project in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. It offers an account of how people from isolated communities in the north of Australia organise bush trips to bring together the young, elders, and other community members. Not only is this used as a means to have young people “participate” more fully in the life and experience of their community, but it also leads to a range of other events including land care work, traditional culture, walking and other forms of physical animation play.

The paper first focuses on participatory practice by examining the literature concerned with youth participation and intergenerational exchange. Next, it briefly describes the cultural context in which the Yiriman project emerged. "After outlining the aspirations of Yiriman “bosses,” or elders who maintain seniority within their community, the discussion then turns to the many dimensions of the “back-to-country” approach to youth participatory practice." Finally, the paper compares the Yiriman project with the features of youth participation in the literature.

The author states that the origins of youth participation are informed by Participatory Learning Analysis (PLA) or Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) which finds its motivations for participation in "the belief that "top-down" development or government has shortcomings..." He characterises these methods by notions of the value for young people of equality, unencumbered expression, a right to shape one's future, exchange of ideas and information sharing, free access to public space, universal human rights, and "subsidiarity" or the exercise of power from below. Coupled with the participatory youth movement is the notion that intergenerational programs have mutual benefit based on the "contact hypothesis" (contact bewteen parties in conflict leads to resolution) that cooperative contact of a marginalised population can lead to a more positive attitude toward that group.

In this participatory context, the paper describes the Yiriman project as designed to help young people deal with a range of social troubles. It is organised by a group of senior Aboriginal people whose objective is to find ways for young people to separate themselves from “negative influences, and reconnect with their culture in remote and culturally significant places.” According to the article, this tradition of removing troubled youth from their normal social settings for periods of time - for hunting and collecting food with their elders, taking care of the country and walking as a means of learning stories, becoming healthy, building their skills, and respecting the old people - has long been a critical part of life and cultural practice for the Nyikina, Mangala, Karajarri and Walmajarri.

The author makes a comparison with “wilderness therapy” that has emerged as a way of working with young people, e.g., the European Outward Bound Movement, which involves taking young people to isolated settings for personal and social development. The paper describes three distinct phases: 1) a cleansing phase, which occurs early on in the programme; 2) a personal and social responsibility phase; and 3) a transition and aftercare phase.The author distinguishes the Yiriman project by its objective to be a "tool in the Indigenous anti-colonial movement, with young people “participating” in a practice that helps re-establish their families and communities as the legitimate and sovereign stewards of their country." He cites the use of traditional lore and custom, especially "the practice of walking [as]... a way of life and the way one comes to life." A critical aspect of the walk is the "following in the footsteps of those [elders] who go before."



Another important aspect of the Yiriman project, according to the paper, is the ethic of land care, including the "practice of keeping country “fresh” by visiting, walking and repainting the old Wanjina paintings." Practices included in "walking on the country" are "burning, hunting, story telling and painting" which, according to local belief, "not only “cleans up” the land, but it also “cleans up” young people and the culture of their community, keeping alive the traditions by transmitting knowledge and helping to encourage the maintenance of healthy people."



The author concludes with the observations that this is by no means a unified practice of youth participation in Aboriginal culture. The Yiriman project is distinct in its ties to the land, ancestry, and cultural and community traditions, especially surrounding "land care." The project is not always based on Western youth participation premises, though, "[w]estern concepts, such as equality, open decision-making, the pre-eminence of the individual, subsidiarity, sharing involvement in everything, immediate reciprocity and youth rights to complete independence are dominant in Yiriman’s work." However, selected and culturally appointed people make central decisions, demanding that young people “walk along behind,” emphasising the invitation to learn cultural traditions rather than to participate in an equal rights exercise. It is also distinct in its emphasis on the physical activity of walking combined with a period of living outdoors, observing and listening. The author concludes with offering the Yiriman project example as a "reminder that those working with Indigenous young people, particularly those who adopt participation as a rhetorical tool, ought to consider the parts “country,” cultural practice and physical animation play in the future of their community."

Children, Youth and Environment Journal website.