Research — Dilin Duwa

Towards understanding Indigenous economic self-determination

Empirical evidence from Indigenous entrepreneurs

We are seeking Victorian Indigenous Entrepreneur volunteers for Storytelling to understand the work they do as they contribute towards Indigenous economic self-determination.

What is this research about?

The project aims to improve our understanding of Indigenous economic self-determination in order to develop hypotheses/prepositions that will be utilised in future for the development of an Indigenous economic self-determination model.

The objective is to identify and examine the different forms of social-symbolic work by which Indigenous entrepreneurs aim to achieve Indigenous economic self-determination.

Utilizing empirical information from Stories of lived experiences of a range of Indigenous entrepreneurs (from the very experienced older entrepreneurs to the younger ones who have operated Indigenous businesses across and within different historical periods in different parts of Victoria), the study will provide insights into the different works Indigenous entrepreneurs have practiced i.e., how they do/have done the work and how they see this work evolve over time.

Who will the research benefit?

Indigenous entrepreneurs and their communities. This research will facilitate Indigenous entrepreneurs’ ability to share their invaluable knowledge and expertise with their immediate communities, the broader Indigenous society and academia. These will benefit from learning from Indigenous entreprenuers’ work that builds towards the achievement of Indigenous economic self-determination. This will in turn generate interest in Indigenous business/entrepreneurship on a local and international scale for Indigenous communities striving for economic self-determination.

What does it involve?

Each participating Indigenous entrepreneur having 4 sessions — Introduction (1), Storytelling (2) and Debrief (1) - with the researchers at your culturally convenient location and time. The introduction and debrief sessions will be 1-3 hours while the Storytelling sessions will each be 2-4 hours long. The sessions include tea/food.

The aim of the Stories is to provide insights into the different works Indigenous entrepreneurs have practiced. This will in turn provide information for developing hypotheses/prepositions about how Indigenous entrepreneurs contribute to Indigenous of economic self-determination. This information will be vital for future studies interested in developing an Indigenous economic self-determination model.

Due to negative and discriminatory experiences, we understand that narrating Stories of lived experiences and discussing some reflections may be painful and we will be sensitive to that. At any time if you wish to terminate the session or have a break, we will support you during this time.

You have the power to stop and start your participation in the research.

Participation is completely voluntary. You can withdraw at any time.

It is essential for the Storytelling sessions to be audio recorded for transcription and analysis purposes.