West of the wall

This is a different way of us sharing our thoughts in the way we formulate and "write-up" our strategies regarding COVID-19, incorporating an Indigenous way of sharing.A group of academic staff in the Centre for Aboriginal Studies (CAS), Curtin University, Perth, decided to share their reflections on the COVID-19 lockdown and the ensuing challenges inherent in being in teaching and learning in an Indigenous space through COVID-19 times.The manner of our knowledge sharing is simplified because each writer/speaker takes up the message stick and has their conversation (yarn) about their experiences: this includes an introduction within the text of who the speaker is, but at times does digress, as "yarning" may.Then the Message Stick goes to the next speaker to continue the conversation till we get to the finish of our story.This is our written version of a "yarning circle", which is a way of sharing narratives that is very popular in this corner of South Western Australia.The Centre for Aboriginal Studies (hereafter referred to as CAS or the Centre) is situated at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.Curtin, previous to COVID-19, had one of the largest student populations in Australia; including a strong Indigenous cohort of students who study at Curtin in every faculty.Last year a good number of Indigenous students graduated from CAS itself.Within Curtin University, CAS caters to several university teaching areas, including humanities, business, health sciences and science and engineering [STEM

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Biology · Indigenous · Outbreak · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Engineering · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Medicine · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Mechanical Engineering · Virology