First Knowledges Health: Spirit, Country and Culture

First Knowledges

by Shawana Andrews, Fiona Stanley, Sandra Eades

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

245 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2024

Reviews

[Andrew Bysterveldt]

Having read the rest of the books in this series, I was excited to see what I would learn. I was disappointed that this was less about First Knowledges and more about political treatise on the appalling state of Australia’s health system. The book appears to be written for health practitioners and policy makers, not the general public. Yes, the content is important. But it is not anything actionable by members of the public and didn’t add to my knowledge. Quite contrary to the other books in the series, which I found engaging and worthwhile.

[Stella Hansen]

Again, I consider this entire series essential reading for all Australians

[Emmaby Barton Grace]

have unfortunately noticed that i’ve started feeling a little disappointed by the last few of these first knowledges books - i still love them/think they’re essential reading (hence the continued 5 stars even though i would personally rate this a 4), but am finding i’m not getting as much out of them - but maybe that’s a good thing because it means my knowledge is improving? or are the books just not going as deeply as i’d like? i’m not sure

either way, i have a big interest in health, so i was really excited for this - i enjoyed it but wish it had gone a lot deeper. i think partly that was because a lot of what it discussed was similar to what i read about feminist methodologies last week though - interesting to note the crossover but also meant the info wasn’t new to me

some key takeaways/things i found interesting:
- healthy country = healthy people
- life of first peoples pre-colonisation was naturally aligned to being healthy - “health was not something to be sought and attained” (though i think you could save about western life pre-industrialisation also tbf) and ‘intimately connected to Country”
- huge number of factors contribute to health, especially for first peoples, and it isn’t just physical e.g., identity, purpose, belonging, culture, medicine, prevention, holistic, spiritual, mental
- importance of cultural sensitivity/competence/awareness for health professionals e.g., about sorry business, kinship structures. i think this quote, especially when you generalise it to a general respect for culture beyond mourning, sums up the role of health professionals: “it is their right to mourn in a way that is appropriate to their culture, and our responsibility to show compassion and respect rather than bewilderment and misunderstanding” - in line with this, recognising the structural barriers and cultural reasons that mean first peoples may not trust/engage with western health services, and work to address/respect these rather than treating them as uncooperative/ignorant etc
- importance of community self-determination, strengths-based approach (including a focus on empowering first peoples and focusing on prevention and protective factors), and data sovereignty, ensuring research actually benefits and involves first peoples at every stage (including the interpretation and analysis of data!)
- really enjoyed hearing about the different successful services!! especially the birthing wrap-around services and those run by RMH
- capitalism really fucks up our health in every single way!!, first peoples are disproportionately impacted by capitalism and climate change, land sovereignty/titles will help address this

- would have liked more of: exploration of first peoples health and the reasons why health outcomes are poor, structural barriers to accessing healthcare, racism within healthcare system - though not sure if this was intentionally kept minimal because links more to a deficits-based approach/perpetuates negative stereotypes? - as well as just a more fleshed out/in-depth analysis of everything discussed - this just felt to surface level and ultimately i was left wanting a lot more :/

[Bbearbeez]

While I have enjoyed a lot of the other books in this series, I found that this one just wasn't very compelling. It felt like I read 180+ pages of the same complaints about how the current healthcare system broadly treats Aboriginal communities (which, don't get me wrong, is horrific)... but most people in Australia are already aware that this is an issue. And a lot of these issues are only brought up in the context of the present day or recent history. Very minimal connections drawn between colonisation and how that affects healthcare today, which is over 200 years of information left to interpretation. There were definitely some parts that felt more in character to the previous books where there were some insight into traditional practices. I just wish this wasn't so much of a compilation of precedent studies !!

[Bec]

Great series to make these topics accessible to mainstream population. Would have like more depth. Loads on WA services where the authors are based and some from VIC. Not a national book or would need many more authors. Loved the design book best from the series

[Gabriel Thomas]

Personally, one of the best entries in the First Knowledges series, along with Songlines, County and Astronomy.
These books are so important. I look forward to Ceremony.

[Aj]

I was hoping for a little more about indigenous medicine pre-colonisation, but still an illuminating read about the current state of affairs for Aboriginal healthcare.

[Heidi]

A read aloud with my youngest son that focused on health within the Aboriginal community. I have now read most of the titles in this series and have enjoyed all of them. They are well written and offer lots of information about current and past situations and relationships. I am a firm believer that knowledge is power and knowledge is necessary for change. These books (I feel) can help with that process.

[Wendy Yang]

Ran into this at the library and read in one sitting (?NAIDOC week collection). The key point appears to be trust issues -> lack of engagement -> poor outcome. Hence things like building relationships, having a liaison officer be a broker, staffing a place with people and practices that feel familiar.

I feel like the topics are not explored in any philosophical depth, but i guess that is not the domain of this book. but when you are bandying around words like "power" and "privilege" there is a lot to unpack that is not common sense, and I think these words are used too much and too blanket-like without understanding it. And similarly general referring to Western culture as ignorant in some ways stereotypes it, because Western culture also has a millennia of history full of wisdom. The critique instead should be of the current system under which power is being exercised.

Well, anyway this is all getting besides the point! but I do appreciate that such a series exists.

[Lachy Scott]

Thought this was insightful!