Oral Presentation Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society Annual Scientific Conference 2026

I've tried yarning, what next? Extending practice through Indigenous Methodology. (147393)

Kai Wheeler 1
  1. The University of Queensland, MOUNTAIN CREEK, QLD, Australia

Yarning is recognised as a culturally responsive approach to health practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. However, using yarning does not, by itself, make engagement culturally safe. This presentation asks: once we have tried yarning, what comes next? It explores how practitioners can strengthen their ways of knowing, being and doing by engaging with deep looking (reflexivity), deep listening (Dadirri) and Ganma. Deep looking requires examination of our standpoint, assumptions, power and the institutional systems shaping what we see, value and act upon. Deep Listening emphasises patience, stillness, relational accountability and listening beyond the spoken word. Ganma, a Yolŋu metaphor describing the meeting and mixing of saltwater and freshwater, offers a way to bring different knowledge systems into relationship without collapsing their distinctiveness. Applied to obesity research and practice, these approaches challenge deficit narratives and biomedical framings. They create space for Indigenous knowledges and lived experience while building clear understandings of community priorities and wide-reaching health. The presentation invites participants to move towards a deeper methodological practice grounded in reflexivity, reciprocity, cultural humility and accountable relationships.