Hybrid economy research in remote Indigenous Australia: seeing and supporting the customary in community food economies

Abstract

Hybrid economy research in remote Indigenous Australia is what Gibson-Graham [2008. Diverse economies: performative practices for "other worlds". Progress in Human Geography, 32 (5), 613-632] describe as a performative ontological project. This research seeks to address the marginalisation of customary economic activities that contribute to the well-being of Indigenous Australians. It aims to make the customary sector more real, more credible and more viable as an object of policy and activism, challenging the dual dominance of the state and the market as the focus of development (cf. Gibson-Graham 2008). This paper outlines how hybrid economy research has sought to broaden views of the economic landscape in remote Indigenous Australia amid the withdrawal of key policy and programmatic support by the Australian Government. This research draws on Canadian national surveys of Indigenous peoples, harvest studies and programmatic support for customary harvest - hunting, fishing and gathering of bush foods - to identify ways in which the Australian Government might better see and support Indigenous community food economies.