Stories: Peta Jeffries

Reflecting, connecting with integrity, and respecting difference.

Peta, a lecturer and researcher at Charles Sturt University’s School of Indigenous Australian Studies and the Gulbali Institute, leads the Stories of One Basin project for the One Basin CRC, which prioritises First Nations aspirations, Indigenous knowledges and Indigenous-led research to address climate change. Her work intersects visual arts, eco-social work, and history, with a focus on individual and collective healing in the Murray Darling Basin. Her leadership exemplifies a respectfully collaborative, integrity-driven approach to research, particularly in the context of addressing social and ecological injustices caused by ongoing colonialism.

Central to Peta’s leadership are her strong values, a commitment to addressing climate change, past and ongoing injustices, and promoting integrity in research practices. She applies Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogy (ISP), a relational and critical approach that considers historical, institutional, and socio-cultural contexts, challenges dominant assumptions, and prioritises Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.

Peta has identified several challenges in her field, including the dominance of some epistemologies, ontologies and axiology’s and their associated approaches, confusion around and resistance to incorporating Indigenous perspectives and Indigenous self-determination, and project timeframes that constrain meaningful and respectful outcomes. In an attempt to address or overcome these, she has implemented innovative solutions, including adopting ISP as a transformative framework, focused on building communities of practice, and promoting collaboration and co-creation through relational inquiry and accountability.

Her methods challenge traditional research norms, her approach goes beyond critique and or cultural competency training, and instead embraces an iterative and transformative way of being and doing. Critical self-reflection is a key element of her leadership, however, creating genuine human and more than human connections that transform self and those around her through trauma-informed experiential learning, creativity, mindfulness, and somatic techniques is an important aspect and objective of Peta’s teaching and research.

Drawing from wisdom of the head, heart and the senses Peta’s approach to leadership is about understanding, supporting, and respecting interconnectedness, action, justice and transformation. For example, in a project led by traditional owners, Peta was asked to research what was considered at the time to be “traditional ecological knowledge” of fish and eel traps. This led to the co-creation of an extensive database of archival research that was then used by Traditional Owners and catchment managers/decision makers to inform ongoing water and land management practices. The site is now recognised and listed by United Nations as a world heritage cultural landscape. This positive outcome contributes to ecological, economic, and social justice for the broader Indigenous and non-Indigenous community. The success of this project demonstrates the potential of inclusive, respectfully collaborative, and importantly, Indigenous led projects.

Quiet but firm, Peta’s leadership challenges norms and inspires change. She highlights the interconnection of ecological, economic, and social justice, emphasising the importance and value of relational accountability and multidimensional approaches. Her work lays a foundation for more inclusive and effective research practices in the Murray Darling Basin and beyond.

Learn more about Peta’s story here.