Tyson Yunkaporta

Weaving his roles and makings, Tyson Yunkaporta is many things. He is a scholar, story-teller and member of the Apalech Clan in Far North Queensland, sharing his insight in his books Sand Talk (2019) and Right Story, Wrong Story (2023). He is an educator, research fellow and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University, as well as an artist of poetry and traditional wood carvings.
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Often referenced as ‘reverse-anthropology’, Tyson’s work applies indigenous methods of inquiry to examine the Western world, providing opportunities for reading and addressing the complex global crises of our time outside of the language and knowledge systems that brought them into being.

Throughout his interviews, podcasts, keynote presentations and publications, Tyson reminds us to stay far from settling on any given framework or solution and to instead turn our efforts towards fostering the conditions for emergence. Part of our work, Tyson often articulates, is to examine our thinking for where we move into diametrical opposition over dialogue with others and supports us to diversify, connect and be changed by people and systems outside of our usual siloed social engagements.  
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For a little glimpse of Tyson’s book Sand Talk, you can watch a preview video here. You can listen to an interview with Tyson and Emergence Magazine here.  

An older interview (3 years ago) with Rebel Wisdom can be found here. A more recent interview with Tyson can be found here.