Negotiating Identities in Pedagogic Spaces Online: The International Indigenous Health Course

• Main Author: Meyer, Lois
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education, University of Coimbra 2019
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_65880

Health is a basic human right and the capacity of adult education to foster professionals who can contribute to a more socially just society where health is fairly distributed across the social spectrum is critical in challenging structural inequalities. This is particularly so when focusing on the world’s First Nations peoples. In 2016 the Lowitja-Lancet Institute Global Collaboration presented compelling data of the global issues that confront Indigenous peoples’ health and wellbeing and the need for global action. In taking an international perspective, the research highlighted both the common ground and distinctiveness of First Peoples where many share a common history of deep rupture to traditional life while experiencing particular social determinants on their health given their specific history and context.It is from this standpoint that theInternational Indigenous Health course was conceived as part of a new fully online Bachelor of International Public Health through a partnership between the University of New South Wales, Australia and Arizona State University, USA to build a collaborative educational partnership to address global health challenges and through the coming together of Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics from both institutions.The International Indigenous Course was the first online course worldwide to provide undergraduate public health students with a global perspective on First Peoples’ public health issues and principles for action.Where typically Indigenous health courses focus on one country and rarely involve an international perspective, this course was designed and developed by drawing together the expertise and rich diversity of understandings of Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics through the cross-institutional partnership. It is within this context that this paper outlines the student trajectories and identity negotiations in participating in this new fully online undergraduate course in International Indigenous Health delivered for the first time in 2018. ...