ABSTRACT
This chapter documents some of the issues arising from an action research project in Aboriginal teacher education. It traces the origins of Aboriginal teachers' idea of "both ways" education and describes some difficulties which result from reifying "both ways" as a model for developing Aboriginal education. Taking particular exception to the notion that knowledge at the interface between Aboriginality and Westernism exists, is constructed, or can be transmitted as if it were in two separate domains, the chapter argues that education at the cultural interface must take deliberate account of the ways in which Aboriginal and Western cultures intersect in particular communities. Collaborative and self-reflective study of that intersection provides a pedagogical approach which engages both Aboriginal and Western researchers in a participatory action research project where the study of practices coopted from each of the cultures mutually strengthens both. Provided that Aboriginal people control that participatory action research project, powerful new and better informed pedagogies are likely to result. Some principles by which Western researchers can ensure that their substantive and methodological work serves both science and Aboriginal interests are proposed.
