Other topics
2. Culture and governance
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Designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man from Central Australia, the Aboriginal flag colours represent: the Aboriginal people of Australia (black); the red earth, red ochre, and a spiritual relation to the land (red); the Sun, the giver of life and protector (yellow). |
Designed by Bernard Namok of Thursday Island, the Torres Strait Islander flag colours represent: the land (green), the sea (blue), peace (white), and the Indigenous peoples (black). The dhari (headdress) represents Torres Strait Island people and the five-pointed star represents the five major island groups. The star also represents navigation, as a symbol of the seafaring culture of the Torres Strait. |
Your culture influences your governance – different cultures have different governance models
All cultures have their own ways of seeing the world and beliefs, ways of behaving, and systems of knowledge, meaning, law and values.
At the heart of every society’s way of governing is its culture.
- What is culture?
- What is the cultural basis for Indigenous governance?
- What is cultural legitimacy and why is it important for the effectiveness of Indigenous governance?
- What is ‘two-way’ legitimacy and why is it important?
In this part of the toolkit you’ll find answers to these questions, helping to give you an understanding of where culture ‘fits’ in the governance of your community, group or organisation.
This chapter contains the following topics:
Also:
- Resource 2.1 Tips—Embedding cultural values in your organisation
- Resource 2.2 Different models of Indigenous governance
- Resource 2.3 Template—Our culture scan
- Resource 2.4 What can we do?—Cultural legitimacy
- Resource 2.5 Snapshot—Preparing a vision and a preamble
- Resource 2.6 What can we do?—Evaluating governance
- Resource 2.7 Tool—Stakeholder analysis
- Resource 2.8 Template—Our governance stakeholder influence
- Resource 2.9 Quiz
Read next: 2.1 Indigenous governance and culture
Read previous: 1.5 Governance in Indigenous organisations