Country and Culture First: Towards Relational Governance for Culturally Regenerative Universities

In the context of planetary, social and epistemic crises, this paper explores how universities might transform governance practices to support culturally regenerative futures. Drawing on a cooperative inquiry within an international research group, the study develops the concept of relational governance as an alternative to dominant corporate models shaped by neoliberal logics. Grounded in Aboriginal and place-based epistemologies, the research proposes governance as an embodied, ethical and relational practice developed through attentive engagement with people, Country and more-than-human worlds. Relational governance values Aboriginal knowledge; activates reckoning and locale; and includes local Aboriginal councils to transform universities towards being welcoming, Aboriginal places for people of all backgrounds. Through storied narratives, the paper illustrates how knowledge is co-created through dialogue, ceremony and ecological participation, with Country understood as an active agent in decision-making. The findings highlight the importance of Aboriginal leadership, truth-telling and structural change within universities. Ultimately, the paper contributes to the growing movement toward culturally regenerative universities, offering relational governance as a pathway for institutions to foster an ethic of care, reciprocity and life-affirming futures.