Writings

I’ve written extensively about Indigenous homelands and the ways in which land and sea are understood, lived with, and cared for by Indigenous peoples, both historically and today. My work explores place-making, storytelling, architecture, cultural mapping, and participatory methods within Indigenous contexts. I’ve also documented oral histories and written about the transmission of land-based knowledge.

You’ll find writing here that reflects my long-standing collaborations and interests across Aboriginal Australia, the Canadian Arctic, and Indigenous Fiji. One of my most significant projects to date is Mammals of Ungava, co-authored with Kristofer Helgen and published by the Smithsonian in 2014. More books are on the way. I hope you enjoy exploring these works.

Books // natural history, Indigenous knowledge systems, landscape studies, participatory mapping, place-making, oral history, cultural heritage, museums

Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North. ed. by Kenneth E. Pratt and Scott A. Heyes, Athabasca University Press, 2022. A book on Indigenous knowledge and understandings of Greenland, Alaska, Arctic Canada, and Siberia.
A book on mammals of the Eastern Canadian Arctic, as described by Smithsonian naturalist, Lucien M. Tuner, and by Inuit and Innu elders / Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2014
A cultural mapping project of Southern South Australia with the South East Aboriginal Focus Group / University of Canberra, 2014

Journal Articles // Teaching Indigenous knowledge in design, Indigenous hang out places,

The teaching of Indigenous knowledge in Architecture programs within Australia / International Journal of Technology and Design 28, 303–322 (2018)

Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues 19(1-2): 176-192

Teaching and introducing Indigenous protocols to students within the built environment profession in Australia

Indigenous hang-out spaces and design in the public realm
Mapping the “unseen” aspects of an Indigenous landscape in Southern South Australia
A collaborative design project on Indigenous lands to generate a recycling facility
Article on Inuit naming conventions and descriptions of sea ice in Nunavik, Northern Quebec
Article on the cultural heritage and uses of Inuksuit among the Inuit of Arctic Canada
Article on Inuit navigation and way finding techniques in Arctic Canada discussed in relation to a set of Inuit children drawings.

Book Chapters // Indigenous learning, Inuit place making, Inuit architecture, Indigenous knowledge systems and the built environment, storytelling, Nunavik, Kaurna seasonal calendar, senses of place

Chapter on incorporating Indigenous learning principles into classrooms
Chapter on Inuit place-making and architectural practices
This chapter explores the critical importance of ethical Indigenous knowledge engagement in the knowing of living heritage landscapes and their associated built environment education, and professional practices across Australia.
Thi chapter provides an account of how three generations of Inuit conceptualize the environment in a spatial sense, and explores the extent to which this is bound up with Inuit belief systems. 
The chapter looks into Inuit storytelling and revival practices in Nunavik, Northern Quebec
This chapter presents details and context around the making of a Kaurna Aboriginal Seasonal Calendar for the Adelaide region of South Australia
Inuit concepts of place relating to the land-water interface
Book chapter on the cultural heritage values relating to Inuksuit (Inuksuk), stone cairns made by Inuit
I contributed the foreword to the book, The Production of Place: Building Resilience in the Fiji Islands, by Anna Sundman, Stockholm, Sweden 2019.

Book Reviews //

Review of Shem Pete’s Alaska: the territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena’ina (revised second edition) by James Kari, James A. Fall, and Shem Pete, 2016. 

Theses //

Inuit Knowledge and Perceptions of the Land-water Interface. PhD Dissertation, Dept. of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Thesis | Inuit knowledge and perceptions of the land-water interface | ID: gb19f879k | eScholarship@McGill -PDF
Inuit and Scientific Ways of Knowing and Seeing the Arctic Landscape. Master’s by Research Thesis, the University of Adelaide, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design (PDF) Inuit and scientific ways of knowing and seeing the Arctic Landscape | Scott Heyes – Academia.edu.
The Kaurna Calendar: Seasons of the Adelaide Plains. Honours Thesis, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, the University of Adelaide. Link

Commissioned Reports //

Heyes, S., White, L., and Ho, L. 2019. Market Study of MDB-Funded Climate-Related Commercial Opportunities in South Pacific Island States. A Report to the Canadian High Commission, Canberra.

Grant, E., & Heyes S, 2018. Housing and infrastructure for Aboriginal Peoples living with mental illness and/or psychosocial disability: Submission to the Parliament of South Australia’s Social Development Committee Inquiry into the provision of services for people with mental illness under the transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). University of Canberra. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.24228.32643

Jones, DS, D Low Choy, R Tucker, S Heyes, G Revell & S Bird 2018, Indigenous Knowledge in the Built Environment: A Guide for Tertiary Educators. Canberra, ACT: Office for Learning and Teaching / Commonwealth Department of Education and Training; ISBN 978-1-76051-164-7 [PRINT], 978-1-76051-165-4 [PDF], 978-1-76051-166-1 [DOCX]; https://ltr.edu.au/resources/ID12-2418_Deakin_Jones_2018_Guide.pdf

Jones, DS, D Low Choy, G Revell, S Heyes, R Tucker & S Bird 2017, Re-casting Terra Nullius Blindness: Empowering Indigenous Protocols and Knowledge in Australian University Built Environment Education. Canberra, ACT: Office for Learning and Teaching, Commonwealth Department of Education and Training. ISBN 978-1-76051-136-4. 

Conference Papers //

Jones, D., Low Choy, D., Revell, G., Heyes, S., Tucker, R. & Bird, S. 2016. Planning for Country: Empowering Built Environment students with Indigenous Protocols and Knowledge, Australian & New Zealand Association of Planning Schools (ANZAPS), October 23-25, RMIT, Proceedings of the translating urban planning research and pedagogy in to practice 2015 conference, Melbourne Vic.

Heyes, S.A, New, D. Brash, A. Maher, J and Nichols, D. 2015. And you thought we were extinct: The revival of Aboriginal cultural practices and economic opportunities in the South East region of South Australia. International Indigenous Development Research Conference (IIDRC) 2014 Refereed Proceedings,Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence pg. 127-136. PDF

Jones, D., Low Choy, D., Heyes, S., Revell, G.,Tucker, R. & Meikle, H. 2014. Reverse Greening Australian Landscape Architecture Education: Charting an Indigenous Perspective on Country Respect and Design. IFLA Asia Pacific Congress, Sarawak 28-30 April, 2014.

Jones, D., Low Choy, D., Revell, G., Heyes, S., Tucker, R. & Meikle, H. 2013. Planning Education and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Australia:  Where Are We?, Australian & New Zealand Association of Planning Schools Conference, Canberra, University of Canberra, 27th September – 29th September 2013.

Heyes, S.A 2011. Recovering and Celebrating Inuit Knowledge through Design: The Making of a Virtual Storytelling Space, Indigenous Knowledge and Technology Conference Proceedings, Windhoek, Namibia. ISBN 978-99945-72-37-3. PDF