‘Right-way’ science: reflections on co-developing Indigenous and Western cross-cultural knowledge to support Indigenous cultural fire management

Abstract

Contemporary Indigenous cultural fire management facilitates opportunities for Indigenous peoples to connect to and manage their Country, as well as providing scope for research. Right-way science is defined as collaborative process of bringing Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge and methods together to create ethical, productive and mutually beneficial research. Five key requirements of right-way science emerge from the literature, including: building relationships and trust; formal research approval processes; co-development of research; acknowledging challenges; and ethical, productive and mutually beneficial research. This article explores the question: how can right-way science enhance Indigenous cultural fire management? By reflecting on research collaborations between Western scientists and Indigenous ranger groups of New South Wales (Banbai) and the Northern Territory (Yugul Mangi), this paper, firstly, describes the methods we used to explore right-way science around cultural fire management. Secondly, it synthesises key findings of the research projects, including how we addressed the five key requirements of right-way science elicited from the literature. Thirdly, we provide insight on how right-way science can be applied more broadly to enhance Indigenous cultural fire management. We found that increasing opportunities for Indigenous peoples to care for their Country, supported by right-way science, places them in a unique position to contribute to solving some of the ongoing challenges and research questions associated with fire management. Western scientists have an important role to play, as supporters and followers of Indigenous research partners, and advocates of right-way science.