YARNCOUNTRY Quick Overview and User Guide

YARNCOUNTRY is a program in the MAPIMO APP. YARNCOUNTRY was conceptualised and designed by Madison Shakespeare, Dr Michelle Catanzaro and Dr Katrina Sandbach of the Young and Resilient Research Centre WSU.

Uniquely, YARNCOUNTRY employs decolonising methodologies through which to privilege Indigenous ways of knowing that may facilitate deeper understanding of First Nation ontologies and create culturally safe yarning through connection to Country.

YARNCOUNTRY offers users a strengths based approach through which to communicate how they feel on Country across Australia. Positioned within a yarning space that values how each person feels, users can contribute visual narratives by contributing photos of Country that they may connect to and there is scope to add a comment about their relationship with the natural environment around them.

Harnessing multiliteracy modes of communication that offer YARNCOUNTRY users the choice to engage in visual storying develops multicultural yarning spaces by adding posts about new places that have not been commented on or by contributing responses to others posts that are in response to, but independent of these existing posts. This facilitates cross cultural yarning opportunities about Country, connection to and Custodianship of our natural environment.

Understanding how each YARNCOUNTRY contributor feels at specific locations across Australia is pivotal in developing diverse multicultural communities founded around care and understanding. This cross Cultural communication evoked through First Nation-led practice evokes diverse narratives of experience, knowing, doing and being at shared places.

Reciprocity can be realised by all who use YARNCOUNTRY, benefit is gained by all who feel a connectedness with shared natural environments, significantly First Nations Peoples can harness this program as a way through which to engage in and fulfill aspects of our roles as Custodians of Country.

YARNCOUNTRY promotes understanding of holistic wellbeing through yarning about connection to Country.
[ Written by Madison Shakespeare].