Developing an Exploratory Framework Linking Australian Aboriginal Peoples’ Connection to Country and Concepts of Wellbeing

Jonathan Kingsley, Mardie Townsend, Claire Henderson-Wilson and Bruce Bolam
Additional contact information
Jonathan Kingsley: School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia
Mardie Townsend: School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia
Claire Henderson-Wilson: School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia
Bruce Bolam: Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria 3010, Australia

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Aboriginal people across Australia suffer significant health inequalities compared with the non-Indigenous population. Evidence indicates that inroads can be made to reduce these inequalities by better understanding social and cultural determinants of health, applying holistic notions of health and developing less rigid definitions of wellbeing. The following article draws on qualitative research on Victorian Aboriginal peoples’ relationship to their traditional land (known as Country) and its link to wellbeing, in an attempt to tackle this. Concepts of wellbeing, Country and nature have also been reviewed to gain an understanding of this relationship. An exploratory framework has been developed to understand this phenomenon focusing on positive (e.g., ancestry and partnerships) and negative (e.g., destruction of Country and racism) factors contributing to Aboriginal peoples’ health. The outcome is an explanation of how Country is a fundamental component of Aboriginal Victorian peoples’ wellbeing and the framework articulates the forces that impact positively and negatively on this duality. This review is critical to improving not only Aboriginal peoples’ health but also the capacity of all humanity to deal with environmental issues like disconnection from nature and urbanisation.

Keywords: wellbeing; Aboriginal; health; Country; nature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/2/678/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/2/678/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:2:p:678-698:d:23516

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().