Operationalising the capability approach: developing culturally relevant indicators of indigenous wellbeing – an Australian example

Abstract

The tension that exists between the worldviews of Indigenous peoples and government reporting frameworks is what Taylor has termed ‘the recognition or translation space’. The meaningful operation of the ‘recognition space’ hinges on four key points – firstly, why measure wellbeing, secondly, how wellbeing is conceptualised, thirdly, by what process the wellbeing measures are decided, and finally, who makes those decisions. Sen’s capability approach is concerned with development as a process of expanding people’s freedoms to live the life they have reason to value. It is in this spirit of freedom that Sen has not prescribed a fixed list of functioning and capabilities. The open-ended nature of this approach, in letting the identification of important capabilities be dependent on specific contexts and people’s own values, aligns with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples which asserts that Indigenous people must be agents of their own development. This paper contributes to the understanding of what a good life means by augmenting the capability approach to incorporate Indigenous worldviews. Through participatory research methodologies we define and select indicators of wellbeing which are grounded in the lived experiences of the Yawuru people in Broome, Western Australia.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge that this work was undertaken on Yawuru country and extend their gratitude to all the Yawuru women and men who have generously given their time to share their ideas, views and thoughts for advancing the research, in particular the Yawuru Steering Committee who have been a guiding compass to ensure the research is fit for purpose for community needs and aspirations. The research received both financial and in-kind support from the following organisations to which the authors are very grateful: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (Australian National University), Kimberley Institute Limited, Nulungu Institute (University of Notre Dame), Nyamba Buru Yawuru, Nagula Jarndu, Bottles of Australia and Yawuru Prescribed Body Corporate. The research has also benefitted from numerous discussions with Dr Krushil Watene, Professor John Taylor, Associate Professor Tahu Kukutai, Frances Morphy, Dr Nicholas Biddle, Dr Janet Hunt, Helen Alexiou, Annick Thomassin, John Hughes and Dr Justine McNamara. The authors would like to express appreciation to John Hughes for preparation of graphics. The authors would also like to thank the two anonymous referees for their very insightful comments for improving the paper. Last but not least, thank you to the editorial board of the Oxford Development Studies for their thorough and thoughtful suggestions for finalising the paper and to Shelley A. Barry for her patience and dedication in preparing the paper in the final stages.

Notes

1. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english accessed on August 29th 2014.

2. Native Title comprises the rights and interests of Australian Indigenous peoples in their traditional lands and waters, which for each group derive from their own laws and customs and are recognised by the Federal Court in accordance with Australian statutory and common law, although they are subject to a judicial process of application by prospective Native Title holders. If determined to exist, this Title is held in trust by a Prescribed Body Corporate as per the requirements of the Native Title Act (1993).

3. This research project consist of both qualitative and quantitative phases. The qualitative phase outlined in this paper provided the foundation for the survey development phase of conceptualising Yawuru wellbeing. A Yawuru Wellbeing Survey was administered in May and June 2015. The survey questions development was an extension of the process outlined in Table 1.

4. The research activities received formal approval by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the Australian National University (Protocol Number: 2013/249).

5. Informed consent was obtained from each participant at the beginning of each interview and focus group, including permission to use a digital voice recorder.

6. Bugarrigarra is the core of Yawuru cosmology. Bugarrigarra is the time before time, when the creative forces shaped and gave meaning and form to the landscape, putting the languages to the people within those landscapes and creating the protocol and laws for living within this environment (Yawuru RNTBC 2011, p. 13).