First Knowledges: Health traces the deep connection between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing and Country, showing how colonisation severed that relationship and how self-determined healing is actively rebuilding it.
About This Book
For thousands of generations, the health of Australia's First Peoples was inseparable from land, culture, and community. Health — part of Thames & Hudson Australia's First Knowledges series — moves well beyond Western medical frameworks to examine Indigenous approaches to birthing, end-of-life care, and cultural ritual. It foregrounds Aboriginal leadership and Eldership as central to health decision-making, and honours the resistance and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the face of ongoing colonial disruption. Drawing on decades of research and health practice, the three authors weave storytelling with scholarship to articulate a vision for self-determined, culturally grounded futures. Essential reading for anyone working at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge systems and public health.
Key Features
- 240 pages of narrative scholarship combining Indigenous storytelling with decades of health research
- Authors: Shawana Andrews, Fiona Stanley, and Sandra Eades
- Published by Thames & Hudson Australia, ISBN 9781760763404
What You'll Discover
- How pre-colonial Aboriginal lifestyles and diets — grounded in Country — sustained wellbeing across thousands of generations
- Indigenous approaches to birthing and end-of-life care that exist outside and beyond Western clinical frameworks
- The role of Aboriginal Elders and community leadership in shaping culturally appropriate health decision-making
- How Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems chart a path toward self-determined, community-led health futures
About the Author
Shawana Andrews, Sandra Eades, and Fiona Stanley bring together decades of combined experience in Indigenous health research and practice. Their work reflects deep engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and their collaborative approach to this book honours the primacy of First Peoples' voices in shaping their own health narratives.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 240
- Dimensions: 12.9 x 19.5 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781760763404
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson Australia
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Public health researchers, Indigenous studies academics, policymakers working in community health, and readers committed to understanding First Peoples' knowledge systems on their own terms.