Theoretical foundations for storying a knowledge basket: enhancing student engagement in Indigenous studies in the Australian context

In this chapter we consider storying as a reflective and relational teaching and learning approach in Indigenous studies. Drawing on findings from a University of Queensland (UQ) Teaching Innovation Grant, we explore how storying might be used to weave a ‘knowledge basket’ to assist students to come to terms with the difficulties, discomforts and emotions experienced between Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers, students and Indigenous communities in these intercultural teaching and learning contexts. The growing body of literature on student engagement demonstrates a move away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach towards a more nuanced, sociocultural understanding that values and learns from student diversity (Kahu and Nelson, 2018; Trowler et al., 2021; Zepke, 2015) and there are many frameworks that have been developed for student engagement. This chapter also considers what a student engagement framework in Indigenous studies might look like when storying is centred.