Using dialogue to support 'Ganma'

Ganma (2000) is the point where saltwater (non-Aboriginal knowledge) and fresh water (Yolŋu knowledge) meet. The “great sharing” of these two bodies of water, supports a “rich habitat” (Bat and Guenther, 2013:128) in the newly formed lagoon. Ganma has been used as a metaphor to demonstrate the benefits of a collaborative approach to knowledge generation, and it can be used as a foundation for negotiating culturally contested knowledge arenas, including Education. This presentation reports a study that extended an existing dialogic process to the field of gifted education to support the realisation of Ganma. Three Yolŋu Elders and three teachers collaborated in a facilitated dialogue to develop an appropriate talent development model for gifted Yolŋu youth at the study site, a boarding school in Darwin. Participant satisfaction with the dialogue revealed it to be an appropriate process demonstrates for facilitating Ganma.