La resistencia desde la religiosidad y el acervo cultural afrodescendiente

Three themes in particular were evident in this review of the reference literature: cultural wellbeing involves connections, relationships and a sense of belonging; participation in social and cultural practices; and finally, cultural wellbeing contributes to overall

wellbeing. I outline these broad themes of cultural wellbeing in interdisciplinary research literature and note that there was considerable overlap between themes.

2.4.1.1 Connections, relationships and belonging

Research conducted in the areas of international development and Aboriginal health suggests cultural wellbeing involves healthy connections to people and community, and to country and land. Healthy family, peer and community relationships are foundational for young people’s present and future wellbeing (Viner et al., 2012). Such relationships are central to the web of economic, political, social, environmental, and cultural conditions that form the basis for improving wellbeing, as depicted through the Social Determinants of Health framework (Commission on the Social Determinants of Health [CSDH], 2008).

In a published collection of case studies, Rao and Walton (2004) used a “cultural lens” to consider wellbeing in the field of international development. They described culture as “concerned with identity, aspiration, symbolic exchange, … structures and practices that serve relational ends” among individuals and groups (Rao & Walton, 2004, p. 4). For these authors, a cultural lens serves as a means of opening up questions of power and considering how people employ cultural, social and symbolic resources to foster and support wellbeing within the social order. A focus on culture is necessary, according to Rao and Walton (2004), “to confront the difficult questions of what is valued in terms of wellbeing, who does the valuing, and why economic and social factors interact with culture to unequally allocate access to a good life” (p.4). In positing these questions about the nexus between culture and wellbeing, these authors focus attention on the power relations that are central to making meaning of culture (Hall, 1997a). In research conducted in the United Kingdom, Carlisle, Hanlon, Reilly, Lyon and Henderson (2016) consider the influences of the values of modern culture on wellbeing in Scotland and how such values are socially situated.

In addition to the links between cultural wellbeing and healthy relationships among people, recent research has explored cultural wellbeing and place connection. A growing body of research has reported that a connection to country and land contributes to cultural wellbeing for Aboriginal peoples (Cairney et al., 2017; Dockery, 2017). Connection to place is also emerging in cultural wellbeing research conducted amongst other populations. The concept of place attachment, noted as the “emotional bonds between people and a particular place or environment”, is reported to contribute to wellbeing and personal identity (Seamon, 2013, p. 11). Schooling is both a social and cultural phenomenon involving systems of meaning, values and behavioural norms that are attached to particular relationships and the places in which schools are located (Deal & Peterson, 2010). This underpins the importance of healthy connections to people and places for cultural wellbeing.

2.4.1.2 Participation in social and cultural practices

Cultural connections are likewise identified as integral to cultural wellbeing in reference literature. Particularly noteworthy is the growing acceptance of the positive wellbeing benefits of participation in social and cultural practices (Dockery, 2010; Grossi, Blessi, Sacco, & Buscema, 2012; Pattanaik, 1997; White, 2015; White & Pettit, 2004). Participation takes many forms, and aspects noted in relation to cultural wellbeing include democratic processes (White & Pettit, 2004), empowerment (Rao & Walton, 2004), and the “consumption and production of aesthetic and intellectual products” (Grossi et al., 2012; Pattanaik, 1997).

In Italy, Grossi, Blessi, Sacco and Buscema are studying the relationship between culture and wellbeing at the population level in a longitudinal study, the “Italian Culture and Wellbeing Project” (Grossi et al., 2012). Their particular interpretation of culture centres around participation in cultural activities, including theatre performances, exhibitions,

concerts, book reading and practicing sport. The research has reported tentative evidence of a positive association between cultural participation and self-reported health and wellbeing, which the authors have referred to as a “culture/wellbeing positive feedback dynamic” (Blessi, Grossi, Sacco, Pieretti, & Ferilli, 2016). The idea of a culture/wellbeing positive dynamic is one that underpins a recent trend in England of “Arts on Prescription” schemes (Bungay & Clift, 2010; Chatterjee, Camic, Lockyer, & Thomson, 2017). Acknowledging the “profound relationship between culture, health and wellbeing” (Department for Culture Media & Sport, 2016, p. 13), the United Kingdom Government is encouraging increased public participation across England’s cultural sectors of the arts, museums and galleries, libraries, and heritage.

Participation in social and cultural practices includes processes of identity formation and symbolic exchange. The formation of cultural identity is linked to wellbeing (Department for Children Education Lifelong Learning and Skills, 2008; Siraj & Clarke, 2000). Studies have found that positive cultural identity can develop through community cultural

development, particularly through sharing stories and participation in the arts (Mills & Brown, 2004; VicHealth, 2013). According to Hall (1997a), making and communicating meaning through such cultural activities are symbolic practices of exchange; i.e., the processes through which people can come to appreciate themselves and others, and through which identity claims are made. The emphasis on participation alludes to the innate potential for people to be active agents in the construction of cultural wellbeing, however Rao and Walton (2004) also describe problematic aspects such as token participation, and the potential for disempowerment to limit people’s opportunity and capacities to participate.

2.4.1.3 Links between cultural wellbeing and overall wellbeing

In Western discursive constructions of wellbeing, culture remains largely absent or on the periphery to other wellbeing dimensions. By comparison, Indigenous scholars contend culture is an inherent and integral component of wellbeing. Indigenous scholar Professor Ngaire Brown recently advocated that cultural determinants of health “originate from and promote a strength-based perspective, acknowledging that stronger connections to culture and country build stronger individual and collective identities, a sense of self-esteem, resilience, and improved outcomes across the other determinants of health including education,

economic stability and community safety” (Brown, 2014). This cultural approach is contrasted with the social determinants of health model which Brown contends accepts inequalities and takes a deficit view of Aboriginality. Cultural determinants of wellbeing

instead recognise strong connections to culture and cultural identity as protective factors (Dockery, 2017) that also contribute to educational outcomes (Dockery, 2010).

Research into Aboriginal children’s health in Australian communities found

participants’ descriptions of physical, social and emotional aspects of children’s health and wellbeing “were strongly grounded in cultural wellbeing” (Priest, MacKean, Davis, Briggs, & Waters, 2012, p. 187). This finding was echoed in Day and Francisco’s (2013) systematic review of empirical evidence from research of Indigenous health programs targeting the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. An Aboriginal concept of health is holistic in that it encompasses mental health along with physical, cultural and spiritual health according to Swan and Raphael (1995) who clarify, “This holistic concept does not just refer to the whole body but is steeped in harmonised inter-relations which constitute cultural wellbeing” (Swan & Raphael, 1995, p. 19 emphasis added).

This review highlights some understandings of cultural wellbeing as they have been constructed and employed across a range of disciplines both in Australia and internationally. In the next section the review of literature shifts to the field of schooling where there is some evidence emerging of potential convergences of culture, wellbeing and learning.