Earth song as storywork: Reclaiming Indigenous knowledges

Is it possible for Indigenous ways of knowing, which draw on earth song and storywork, to find a place within the academy? Indigenous peoples recognise that the earth has a song, which we can listen to as story. In return, we can sing our story to the world and of the world. In this paper, the authors explore their own stories and songs. They explain the ways that listening to the earth’s song and working with stories can inform their work in the academy – as teachers who support younglings to hear their voices and develop their own songs, and as the writers and tellers of curriculum. The authors ask whether it is possible for Indigenous academics to combine their academic work with Indigenous ways of knowing. They argue that, not only is the combination possible, it can be used to create a harmonious voice that will help them to reclaim their power as Indigenous academic women.

Associations with low rates of postpartum glucose screening after gestational diabetes among Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian women

OBJECTIVES To explore factors associated with postpartum glucose screening among women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). METHODS A retrospective study using linked records from women with GDM who gave birth at Cairns Hospital in Far North Queensland, Australia, from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2010. RESULTS The rates of postpartum Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) screening, while having increased significantly among both Indigenous* and non-Indigenous women from 2004 to 2010 (HR 1.15 per year, 95%CI 1.08-1.22, p<0.0001), remain low, particularly among Indigenous women (10% versus 27%, respectively at six months postpartum). Indigenous women in Cairns had a longer time to postpartum OGTT than Indigenous women in remote areas (HR 0.58, 0.38-0.71, p=0.01). Non-Indigenous women had a longer time to postpartum OGTT if they: were born in Australia (HR 0.76, 0.59-1.00, 0.05); were aged <25 years (HR 0.45, 0.23-0.89, p=0.02); had parity >5 (HR 0.33, 0.12-0.90, p=0.03); smoked (HR 0.48, 0.31-0.76, p=0.001); and did not breastfeed (HR 0.09, 0.01-0.64, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS Postpartum diabetes screening rates following GDM in Far North Queensland are low, particularly among Indigenous women, with lower rates seen in the regional centre; and among non-Indigenous women with indicators of low socioeconomic status. IMPLICATIONS Strategies are urgently needed to improve postpartum diabetes screening after GDM that reach women most at risk.

Studio portrait of Sarah-Bertha Klarenmeyer nee Meyerhof called "Spatz" as a young woman. portraits women

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Studio portrait of Sarah-Bertha Klarenmeyer nee Meyerhof called Spatz Portrait Women

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Studio portrait of Betty Meyerhof. Portraits Women

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Portrait of Marianne Meyerhof nee Juedel Portraits Women

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Portrait of Dina Meyerhof nee Loebenberg. Portraits Women

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Portrait of Fanny Goldschmidt. portraits women

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Portrait of Sophie Schoenbeck nee Mahler; Detmold, Germany. Portraits women

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Portrait of Henny Molling nee Meyerhof, Therese Molling and Julie Meyerhof nee Oppenheimer - three generations of women.

from left to right: Henny Molling nee Meyerhof, Therese Molling, and Julie Meyerhof nee Oppenheimer

Portrait of Henny Molling nee Meyerhof, Therese Molling and Julie Meyerhof nee Oppenheimer - three generations of women.

from left to right: Henny Molling nee Meyerhof, Therese Molling, and Julie Meyerhof nee Oppenheimer

Painted portrait of Hendel Meyerhof nee Behrend Portraits Women

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Painted portrait of Roeschen Dux nee Abraham Portraits Women

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Studio portrait of Grete Lifmann nee Meyerhof Portraits Women

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Portrait of Yael Arnold Portraits Women

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