On September 29th, Research Fellow Dr Charmaine Papertalk Green of the WA Centre for Rural Health of the University of Western Australia received formal notification by Edith Cowan University of the successful completion of a Doctor of Philosophy.
Dr Green is a Wajarri, Badimaya and Wilunyu woman of the Yamaji Nation of the Midwest, Western Australia.
She has lived and worked in rural Western Australia (Midwest and Pilbara) most of her life, and within the Aboriginal sector industry as an artist/poet, community agitator, community development practitioner and social sciences researcher.
Born in Eradu, raised in Mullewa, Dr Green has lived in Geraldton, Western Australia for the past 22 years.
The four-year thesis, an autoethnography titled “Aboriginal Female Autoethnography: Ngatha Wangga (I Talk) Little Yamaji woman: Big Yamaji Narratives” examines how Yamaji knowledge was produced, transferred, transmitted, and exchanged in the City of Greater Geraldton, including Mullewa. This also included her personal journey of growing up in Mullewa.
Dr. Green will be presenting her findings through several public community forums in Geraldton and Mullewa.
Director of the WA Centre for Rural Health Dr Sandra Thompson congratulates Dr Green on her recent success.
“The work, sacrifice, and discipline of Charmaine to complete this was immense,” she says.
“We have already appreciated the great learning and wisdom that Charmaine has shared across her doctoral journey.”
To complement the completion of her PhD, Dr Green recently completed a poetry book titled ‘Art’, her second collaborative work with John Kinsella.
In a dynamic exchange, Green and Kinsella created ekphrastic poetry and conversations in response to the late Nyoongar artist Shane Pickett’s artworks.
Published through Magabala Books, ‘Art’ will be released on November 1st, 2022.
Dr Green’s poetry has appeared in many anthologies and her publications include Nganajungu Yagu (Cordite 2019) and False Claims of Colonial Thieves, co-authored with John Kinsella (Magabala Books, 2018).