Regenerative Learning: Hearing Country and Music for Healing People, Place, and Planet

In this chapter, Aboriginal knowledge and lived experiences form the heart of a transformative paradigm for healing people, place, ecosystems, and climate. Using cultural insights, we outline key concepts that form the basis of a healing framework for people that is capable of regenerating cultures, spirit, and Country. We show that reclaiming cultural knowledge is possible because the human spirit—one’s vibrancy or liveliness—has cared for this element of ourselves. The key is to listen deeply and attentively to the human spirit and the music of our places—held in the nature of all beings. As Aboriginal people, we are seasonal people, who respond to the living nature of our places as it communicates in reciprocal ways with us. For people who bear the sickness of cultural loss, the potential for reclaiming remains with us. This perspective marks a radical change in the way mainstream education understands the human capacity to relate to each other and to nature. It is a necessary change for climate action, and one that everyone is encouraged to take up.