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Deep Belonging
Exploring relationships with Country, community, culture, kinship, and the living world.
What does it mean to belong?
Research Questions
- What does it mean to belong?
- How do humans participate in relationships with Country, community, culture, and the living world?
- How does belonging influence identity, wellbeing, and human flourishing?
- How do Indigenous knowledge systems deepen our understanding of relationship and responsibility?
- How do dialogue, reciprocity, and care transform communities?
- What conditions allow belonging to emerge, persist, or fracture?
- Can belonging become a foundation for ecological and social renewal?
Current Research
Country and identity
Migration and belonging
Dialogue and relationality
Community wellbeing
Loneliness and social connection
project 1
The Crisis of Belonging: Resonance, Kanyini, and a Relational Ontology of Human–World Relations
Investigates belonging as a fundamental condition of human flourishing through resonance, Kanyini, and relational ontology.
project 2
Living Participation: David Bohm, Kanyini, and the Recovery of Human–World Relations
Explores David Bohm’s concept of participation alongside Kanyini as a foundation for restoring human–world relationships.
project 3
Deep Belonging: A Relational Framework for Sustainability Science
Develops a relational framework for understanding sustainability through belonging, reciprocity, and living systems.
project 4
Community Wellbeing Through Kanyini: Belonging, Country, and Collective Life
Examines how Indigenous principles of Kanyini support community wellbeing, collective resilience, and flourishing.
project 5
Ubuntu and Kanyini: Toward a Relational Ontology of Belonging
Brings African and Australian Indigenous philosophies into dialogue to develop a shared relational ontology of belonging.
project 6
Kanyini, Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ, and Indigenous Ontologies of Belonging Across Continents
Compares Indigenous knowledge traditions to explore universal principles of relationship, kinship, and responsibility.
project 7
Country Inside: Rebuilding Identity and Coherence After Displacement
Investigates how reconnecting with place and relationship supports identity and healing after displacement.
project 8
Rhythm Before Meaning: Why the Body Knows Belonging First
Explores how belonging begins through embodied rhythm and relational attunement before conscious understanding.
project 9
Loneliness as a Symptom of Broken Belonging
Reframes loneliness as a disruption of relational participation rather than simply social isolation.
project 10
The Physics of Belonging
Proposes that belonging emerges from lawful patterns of coherence operating across living systems.
project 11
Dialogue as Belonging
Examines dialogue as a participatory process that creates shared meaning and restores relationship.
project 12
From Individualism to Belonging: A Civilisational Phase Shift
Explores belonging as the basis for a new civilisational paradigm beyond individualism.