Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing

The objective of the Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing is to provide a reliable and convenient source of information for policy makers, academics and students on the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples and communities across the world. The Handbook will allow readers to make informed choices when making decisions regarding the wellbeing of Indigenous populations. The Handbook will also assist non-government organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development to gain a global perspective of factors that are relevant to the development of stronger and more effective international policy aimed at improving the lives of Indigenous communities.

Contributing authors are currently being identified and will be selected based on their unique knowledge and expertise regarding the wellbeing of a specific Indigenous population.

The Handbook is expected to be published in late 2017.

Publisher

Routledge is the world's leading academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Routledge Handbooks and Companions series provides a cutting-edge overview of classic research, current research and future trends in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Each Handbook draws together newly commissioned work to provide a comprehensive overview of a sub-discipline.

The international team of contributors to each Handbook has been specially chosen for their expertise and knowledge in the field.

Each Handbook is introduced and contextualized by leading subject specialists, lending coherence and authority to each volume.

The Handbooks and Companions address new developments in the Social Sciences and Humanities, while at the same time providing an authoritative guide to theory and method, the key sub-disciplines and the primary debates of today.

Editors

Dr Matthew
Manning

Matthew Manning

ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, The Australian National University
B.Com (Economics), MA (Hons), PhD Economics

Dr Manning is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at The Australian National University. Dr Manning was previously an economist in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University. Dr Manning's research interests include Indigenous wellbeing, public policy, crime policy, applied microeconomics, and the causes and prevention of crime.

Dr Manning's research involves adapting economic methods for measuring objective and subjective outcomes associated with developmental prevention programs in vulnerable communities. Dr Manning uses economic methods for analysing complex multiple criteria problems for the development of prevention policy and has conducted a number of economic analyses (e.g. cost-benefit analysis) for government and non-government organisations. Dr Manning has published in areas such as juvenile justice, developmental/life-course prevention, drug and alcohol prevention, police legitimacy and wellbeing/life satisfaction.

Dr Christopher
Fleming

Christopher Fleming

Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Griffith University
B. Arts (Economics), M. Applied Economics (Hons), PhD Economics

Dr Fleming is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith Business School in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, a member of Griffith University's Indigenous Research Unit, and a Senior Associate of MainStream Economics and Policy. Prior to joining Griffith Business School, Christopher worked as a senior consultant for Marsden Jacob Associates and as a senior advisor within the Sustainable Development Policy Group of the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment.

An applied micro-economist with significant consulting and public policy experience, Dr Fleming's research and consulting interests include: indigenous wellbeing, social and economic project/program evaluation; the social, environmental and economic determinants of subjective wellbeing; natural resource and environmental economics; the economics of crime; the sustainable management of natural resources; and the economics of sustainable tourism.

Handbook structure

Comprising a total of 32 chapters, the Handbook will be divided into five sections, each representing a particular domain of wellbeing as follows:

Physical Wellbeing
Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Economic Wellbeing
Cultural and Spiritual Wellbeing
Subjective Wellbeing

Within each section contributions will be sought from international authors across six distinct geographic regions (Europe and the Circumpolar North, North America, South/Central America, Africa, Asia/Pacific and Oceania).

Further details will follow as content is finalised.

Sample chapter

This sample chapter has been prepared to give potential readers an example of the depth and quality of the Handbook's content.

The chapter explores the subjective wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Evidence is provided on:

Mean levels of self-reported life satisfaction;
Trends in these means; and
Differences in the determinants of life satisfaction between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Results indicate that Indigenous life satisfaction peaked in 2003 and has since declined. This result questions the effectiveness of current policies aimed at enhancing Indigenous wellbeing.

>> Download sample chapter, Subjective wellbeing of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people of Australia, by M. Manning, C.L. Ambrey, and C.M. Fleming (1.2 Meg PDF)