ABT13: Aboriginal cultures
Week 6
1/4/2013
Ppt): Art and the Dreaming
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, is crucial to the understanding of Aboriginal art. Art is means of access to the Dreaming, a way of making contact with this spiritual dimension, and yet in turn it is the product of Dreaming. In order to understand much Aboriginal art it is therefore necessary first to understand the concept of the Dreaming.
(Morphy 1998)
Howard Morphy is one of the foremost experts on traditional Aboriginal Art and as the quotation points out Art and the Dreaming are indivisible and follow the very ideas that you have been discussing in your first assignment. If you remember the diagram in Bill Edward�s book everything is related within this concept and from the Aboriginal point of view there is a profound connection between Aboriginal belief systems and artistic expression such as stories, painting, decoration, dance and music and even the ritual body paintings used in important rituals or ceremonies are directly connected to the �Dreaming� and all are expressions of this unity
Ppt): Morphy argues that:
The designs that are painted on people�s bodies during rituals are the very designs that the ancestral beings had painted on their bodies, and the ceremonial grounds that are constructed today are the same ones that the ancestors first constructed. Thus the use of paintings in ritual allows performers to participate in the spiritual dimension that was instrumental in shaping the world and which is fundamental to its continuing existence 
Although we cannot draw a definitive line between art in different societies but in our own society art has tended to become a commodity and is seen to exist for its own sake (although aesthetics or the perception of  beauty is an important and perhaps universal value in all societies) whereas in Aboriginal societies, art provided a link with the past and was seen as a means to communicate with the ancestral spirits and exercise their rights to activate a two way relationship between people and the Dreaming. People are part of the dreamtime, are its creations and as Morphy suggests, �take on the clothing of the Dreaming in their art, songs, and rituals�.
As Edwards�s points out, although in earlier times it is probable that these artistic expressions were not specialised occupations and all could take part in the production of the various artistic forms. However, there were limits on the use of particular symbols and just as particular people of groups had rights to �country� there were also rights to certain symbols and designs that were related to that land. Both men and women have rights to certain areas of sacred knowledge which expressed their roles in society.
However, it would be problematic to assert that this pattern of relationships is not subject to change. People change, move about, pass away, or exert an influence on how the Dreaming law is passed on to future generations and interpretations of the different understandings of the significance of the law are all part of the processes of change. Art served a diversity of social and political functions and once again it is important to emphasise the diversity of uses and mediums in different areas and in different language groups.
Edwards touches on a variety of different forms such as Ppt):
Ground drawings
Body paintings
Bark paintings
Designs on functional items such as weapons, dishes, dilly bags, mortuary poles, headdresses, musical instruments such as didgeridoos, drums, clap sticks, bullroarers.
Rock engravings (petroglyphs)
Aboriginal rock art collection ‘world’s largest’
By Emma Masters
Posted Sat Oct 3, 2009 8:07am AESTUpdated Mon Oct 5, 2009 11AM AEDT
HYPERLINK “http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200910/r446490_2164566.asx” Video: Arnhem Land reveals hidden rock paintings (Stateline NT)
The Burrup Peninsula: Rock Art
HYPERLINK “http://www.fara.com.au” http://www.fara.com.au
Stand up for the Burrup
HYPERLINK “http://www.standupfortheburrup.com” http://www.standupfortheburrup.com
Art and Soul: Hetti Perkins
Another recent documentary about both traditional and contemporary art by Hetti Perkins is another resource that people might like to look at and a preview of this and a Study Guide are also available in this week�s resources. 
Hetti Perkins, senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, shares her knowledge of – and passion for – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. As we criss-cross the land with her, meeting artists remote, rural and urban, she shares her insights and feelings about them and their extraordinary art. She encourages the artists to tell the stories behind their artworks. Her journey enhances our knowledge and appreciation of Aboriginal art, encourages us to see the world from an Aboriginal perspective and, ultimately, gives us a richer understanding of Aboriginal culture.

��������������������������������������������������������������� �: Readings: Week 6
Edwards, W H 2005, (Chapter 8) �Relating through Art�, in An introduction to Aboriginal societies, second edition, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne.
Morphy, H 1998, �Foundations: art, religion and the Dreaming�, in Aboriginal art, Phaidon Press, London.
Mundine, Djon 2008, �an Aboriginal soliliquoy�, in They are mediating: bark paintings from the MCA�s Arnott�s collection, Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney N.S.W.), Museum of Contemporary Art, pp.15-33
Bell�s theorem-Aboriginal Art, it�s a White thing
Free online resource via Kooriweb

Tutorial: Week 5
25/3/2013
One of the interesting ideas but put forward by the sociologist C Wright Mills was his concept of the sociological imagination. The term was given a specific meaning by Mills and he suggested that the concept could be used to develop an ability to connect seemingly impersonal historical forces to their own lives. His suggestion was that people look at their own personal circumstances as social issues and in general connect their own individual experiences with the workings of society. In presenting this idea he argued for three key questions that constitute the core of this idea:
What is the structure of a particular society and how does it differ from other varieties of social order?
Where does this society stand in human history and what are its essential features?
What varieties of women and men live in this society and in this period, and what is happening to them?
Based on a similar use of imagination I would like you to discuss some of the principles and values that might be applicable to the kind of society or culture that you envision based on a similar worldview to the Aboriginal worldview that we have been looking at in the past 4 weeks.
An activity for this week in the tutorial will be to open the Week 5 tutorial Powerpoint and use the Discussion forum to discuss the following question:
Do you think that you would perceive things differently if you believed that the natural world was a conscious living system?
There are a number of categories in the Powerpoint which will help you to address different areas of the question and we would love to hear some responses in your discussion forum. 
Tutorial Question: Do you think that you would perceive things differently if you beved that the natural world was a conscious and living system.

�������������������������������������������������X���������8 X: ABT13: Aboriginal cultures
Week 5
25/3/2013

Ppt): Social and political organization

Ppt): Readings: ***Collective societies

Edwards (Chapter 4&5)
Munyarryun, Daisy et al – The role of kinship in environmental management
Stephanie Fryer-Smith: Aspects of traditional Aboriginal Australia
*Please note the use of traditional

Australian Institute of judicial Administration located at Monash University

2nd Ed Aboriginal Benchbook for Western Australian Courts Stephanie Fryer-Smith (Published 2008)
HYPERLINK “http://www.aija.org.au/Aboriginal%20Benchbook%202nd%20Ed” http://www.aija.org.au/Aboriginal%20Benchbook%202nd%20Ed

Ppt): Political organisation: Governance

There is no doubt that one of the early impressions of the first colonists (particularly in relation to the east coast) was that Aboriginal peoples lacked agriculture and fixed systems of governance and this tapped into their already fixed ideas about Indigenous peoples. However, in fact both were clearly present in the different groups but just structured differently. And these were ignored in favour of the various colonial discourses and stereotypes such as cultural evolutionism, devolution and noble savagism which were already firmly embedded in the colonial mindset.  I will speak to the perceived lack of agriculture in later but for the moment would like to discuss the issue of governance.

In fact Aboriginal societies are considered to be what we might call hunter-gather societies (largely organic or egalitarian) and maintained a particular social organisation based on the principles of the Dreaming worldviews (or Law as we discussed last week). As we have seen in previous weeks this included a particularly cohesive set of principles, philosophy and values that consisted of rule (or direction) by senior knowledgeable elders (both male and female) based on consensus. A number of anthropologists divide this into sacred and secular decision-making (Reading 5.20 but overall this type of governance can be called �Gerontocracy� or rule by elders.            

Ppt): The Ngarrindjeri Tendi: Jenkin (1978, p.13)

As we will be visiting Camp Coorong later in the course we can also look at a more structured governance system called the Tendi  that existed as a significant equivalent to a high court and parliament (In western terms) in the 18 Lakalinyerer (or tribes) of what is now seen as the Ngarrindjeri nation. Each group had its own defined territory and it own governance structure and men were democratically elected to sit on the Tendi and a rupulle, or in our terms president, was in turn, elected by that body. Thus, the Ngarrindjeri peoples clearly possessed a democratic form of governance which in fact pre-dated the evolution of European democracy (In Australia the Westminster system) by many thousands of years.  As Graham Jenkin argues in the Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri these governance bodies (or in the case of disagreements between the different groups a combined Tendi: this is a good example of a federation) were able to discuss and settle issues and disputes which affected the Nation as a whole and the missionary George Taplin who lived and worked among the Ngarrindjeri peoples between 1859-1879 argues that these bodies were still functioning in the 1870s.     

Ppt): Kinship & Social Organisation

As we have seen in the last few weeks �The Dreaming� provides the basis for the structure of Indigenous society and included the ethical and moral principles for how people interact � how they behave towards each other, and how the society was structured to provide everybody with a sense of positionality and belonging within the group Ppt):

Their roles – what they are expected or required to do (or not do)
Their status – where they fit into authority systems
What they can expect of others in their society
Who they are related to and what these relationships mean.

Although the patterning of Aboriginal social systems varies significantly across different kinds of societies today we will be looking at the kinds of social systems which are structured to meet the requirements of small-scale hunting-gathering societies in which cooperation between members was critical for survival. Hence, everybody needed to be able to rely on everybody else and conflict needed to be minimized (or at least very well controlled) if the group was to survive and flourish. These arrangements are structured around a series of important (and often overlapping) systems which combined to provide Indigenous Australians with a very clear and detailed understanding of who they were, where they fitted in to society and what their rights and obligations were. These include Ppt):

Language groups

As we mentioned earlier, we are using the term �language group� to describe the largest grouping of Indigenous Australians (rather than tribe or nation).

Edwards (2005) describes language groups as having some very specific characteristics and is a group which Ppt):

Inhabit a defined area of country
Use a language (or dialect) peculiar to itself
Identifies itself by a distinct name (e.g. Warlpiri, Biripi, Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri, Pitantjatjara)
Possess custom and laws which vary from its neighbors
Has its own rites and beliefs which vary from its neighbors
Is generally endogamous (in an endogamous group marriage occurs within the group) rather than exogamous (in an exogamous group you marry somebody from outside the group).

Dialect groups

Within some (but not all) of these language groups are sub-groups (dialect groups), which may also share these characteristics. Dialect groups are smaller groups within the language group which again Ppt):

Have their own area of land, and
Are distinguished from other dialect group by variations in the language used.

So, for example, the Warlpiri were further divided into 4 sub-groups, again with each occupying its own territory and with (fairly minor) differences in language. So � people who would identify themselves as Warlpiri would also identify themselves as Walmalla, Ngalia, Waneiga or Yalpari.

Ppt): In NSW the Biripi peoples were one of two dialect groups of the Kattang Language Group (the other was the Worimi).

Residential groups

Language groups did not normally live together as a single community. They were usually much too large to be able to live together for very long (they would quickly use up the local resources). For most of the year, people would actually live in much smaller �residential groups� usually made up people who were closely related to one another � extended family groups, in fact. These groups vary in size and composition depending on weather, seasons, etc. Sometimes groups lived together in quite large extended families; sometimes they would disperse into much smaller groups, closer to our nuclear families. Terms such as “Local group” “Bands” have been used to describe these groups.

Totemic groups

Groups of people who share a common ancestor are referred to as �totemic groups�, or sometimes ‘Clans� – but this terminology can be a bit messy, with these terms being used differently by different people. Totemic groups or clans did not usually live together � but more about this later.

How did these large language groups (between 500 – 1000 people) organize themselves socially?

Kinship Systems

We can begin by looking at one of the most pervasive systems for organizing these relationships � the kinship system. We are all familiar with the concept of �kinship� � within western society it describes how we interact with our relatives – people we are biologically related to (brothers & sisters, parents, cousins, aunts), or related to through marriage (spouses, mothers-in-law). Within western societies the rules which govern how we are supposed to relate to each of these groups are generally fairly vague.

The following diagram illustrates one way that anthropologists go about charting kinship relationships Ppt):

SHAPE  \* MERGEFORMAT

Each generation is in a separate line.
Males are shown as triangles, females as circles. Gender neutral terms (such as cousin) are shown as squares.
The diagram starts with the referent individual, or Ego (shown as a square).

However, Ppt):

These are all defined by specific biological relationships � Ego has a biological link to everybody in the diagram. (Although, of course, if we start including uncles & aunts spouses, Ego would have no direct biological relationship with them).
Each generation is shown on a separate line.

This is a standard European kinship system.  But kinship relationships in classical Indigenous cultures are very different. There are two important differences Ppt):

Everybody had a lot more relations and as we will see, everybody was in a formal kinship relationship to everybody else within the language group, and
The rules governing how you related to particular groups of relations were very formal and specific 

Although there are a variety of different kinds of kinship structures across Australian Indigenous communities we will describe some general principles involved.  To do this we need to introduce the concept of �Classificatory Kinships Systems�.  In these systems, the kinship terms, such as �brother�, �sister�, �father� �mother� or �mother-in-law� are extended to include people who may not be in a direct biological relationship with you at all and the major principle which underlies this system is Ppt):

“Equivalence of same-sex siblings”

All people who are on the same sibling line and of the same sex are considered to be essentially equal (that is, in an equivalent relationship to you).

SHAPE  \* MERGEFORMAT

For example Ppt):

All your father�s brothers are same-sex siblings, and are in the same generation line, so they are considered equivalent. They are all then classified as your fathers (not your uncles).
All your mother�s sisters are same-sex siblings, and are in the same generation line, they are also considered equivalent, so they are all classified as your mothers (not your aunts).
But your father�s sisters are not same sex siblings, so they are your aunts
Your mother�s brothers are not same-sex siblings, so they are classified as your uncles.

Ppt): Kinship structures and regulates the politics and economics in Aboriginal society, as it organises and defines behaviour, rights and duties. Hence, kinship has been conceived as one of the dominant organising institutions in Aboriginal Australia Language groups and have often been termed “kin-based societies”.

Ppt): Moieties

In addition to the classificatory kinship system, a second set of structuring mechanisms were also operating. 

All language groups divide their population into two halves or moieties. The whole community is divided into two halves, with every member of the society being either one or the other moiety Ppt):

For instance, in north east Arnhem Land, Yolngu clans are divided into moieties called Yirritja and Dhuwa, each of which owns distinct lands and descends from different Creation Ancestors. If a man is Dhuwa, then his wife is Yirritja, and vice versa.

As this quote suggests, the moiety system determines who you are allowed to marry � marriage would normally occur across moiety lines � each person is expected to marry somebody from the opposite moiety. That is moiety groups are exogamous (marriage occurs outside the groups) � as contrasted with the language groups, which are typically endogamous (marriage occurs within the group). In most communities, you inherit your moiety either from your mother (in which case this is a matrilineal system) or from your father in which case it is a patrilineal system).

Yolngu kinship systems
There are two moieties Dhuwa and Yirritja and everyone and everything is either Dhuwa or Yirritja Ppt):

Dhuwa people are related to, and sing about Dhuwa things like rocks, plants, animals, winds, ancestors, creators and Yirritja people are related to Yirritja things like rocks, plants, animals, winds, ancestors and creators.
A Yirritja person must always marry a Dhuwa person and Dhuwa must marry a Yirritja person.
If a man or a woman is Dhuwa, their mother will be Yirritja and Dhuwa land can have another piece of land nearby which is its mother (Yirritja).
Everywhere in the culture we find the mother and the child, not only when we see people, but when we see land.
This relationship is commonly referred to a Yothu Yindi (which you will all recognize as the name of the band Yothu-Yindi) and Yindi (mother) is always considered to be the mother of the Yothu (child) even if we are talking about two men, or two pieces of land.

Readings: Week 5
Edwards, W H 2005, (Chapter 4) �Relating to others socially�, in An introduction to Aboriginal societies, second edition, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne.
Edwards, W H 2005, (Chapter 5) �Relating to others politically�, in An introduction to Aboriginal societies, second edition, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne.
Munyarryun, Daisy Wulumu et al 1995, Environmental management: A matter of kinship, Ngoonjook: Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, No.11 (May 1995), pp.7-19
Fryer-smith, S 2008, (Chapter 2) Aspects of traditional Aboriginal Australia
HYPERLINK “http://aija.org.au/Aboriginal%20Benchbook%202nd%20Ed/Chapter%202.pdf” http://aija.org.au/Aboriginal%20Benchbook%202nd%20Ed/Chapter%202.pdf

William the Fourth by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King Defender of the Faith To all to Whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas by an Act of Parliament passed in the fifth year of our Reign entitled “An Act to empower His Majesty to erect South Australia into a British Province or Provinces and to provide for the Colonization and Government thereof” After writing that, that part of Australia which lies between the Meridians of the one hundred and thirty second and one hundred and forty first Degrees of East Longitude and between the Southern Ocean and twenty six Degrees of South Latitude together with the Islands adjacent thereto consists of Waste and unoccupied Lands which are supposed to be fit for the purposes of Colonization And that divers of our Subjects possessing amongst them considerable Property are desirous to embark for the said part of Australia And that it is highly expedient that our said Subjects should be enabled to carry their said laudable purpose into effect  It is Enacted that it shall and may be lawful for Us with the advice of our Privy Council to erect within that part of Australia which lies between the Meridians of the one hundred and thirty second and one hundred and forty first Degrees of East Longitude and between the Southern Ocean and the twenty-six Degrees of South Latitude together with all and every the Islands adjacent thereto and the Bays and Gulfs thereof with the advice of our Privy Council to Establish one or more Provinces and to fix the respective Boundaries of such Provinces Now Know Ye that with the advice of Our Privy Council and in pursuance and exercise of the powers in Us in that behalf vested by the said recited Act of Parliament We do hereby Erect and Establish one Province to be called the Province of South Australia—And we do hereby fix the Boundaries of the said Province in manner following (that is to say) On the North the twenty sixth Degree of South Latitude On the South the Southern Ocean—On the West the one hundred and thirty second Degree of East Longitude— And on the East the one hundred and forty first Degree of East Longitude including therein all and every the Bays and Gulfs thereof together with the Island called Kangaroo Island and all and every the Islands adjacent to the said last mentioned Island or to that part of the main Land of the said Province Provided Always that nothing in those our Letters Patent contained shall affect or be construed to affect the rights of any Aboriginal Natives of the said Province to the actual occupation or enjoyment in their own Persons or in the Persons of their Descendants of any Lands therein now actually occupied or enjoyed by such Natives In Witness whereof We have caused these our Letters to be made Patent Witness Ourself at Westminster the Nineteenth day of February in the sixth year of our Reign. By Writ of Privy Seal Edmunds

Readings: Week 4
Neidjie, B; Davis, S & Fox, A 1986, �Law�, in Australia�s Kakadu man, Resource Managers, Darwin
Watson, I 1997, Indigenous law-ways: survival against the colonial state, Australian Feminist Law Journal, Vol. 8, March 1997, pp.39-58
Rigney, D; Hemming, S & Berg, S 2008, �Letters Patent, Native Title and the Crown in South Australia�, in Indigenous Australians and the Law (Second edition), Johnson, E, Hinton, M & Rigney, D (Eds.), Routledge-Cavendish

Week 4: Tutorial
18/3/2013
Law Never Changes
Please read the following descriptions associated with the role of Law in Aboriginal societies. You will notice that each excerpt provides a similar description and understanding of the connections between the role of law, relationships to land, education and ways of learning in Aboriginal societies in very definite ways and indicates the holistic and interconnected nature of their worldviews.
***NB: The Burarrwanga excerpt gives an excellent indication of the role of different modes of experience as central to Aboriginal learning processes
Burarrwanga, Laklak: Enough for All Together: A Handbook for Learning about Sustainability (2012)
So, many things change for us, but the underlying things stay the same. The Law, our Rom (what you may know as Dreaming), that stays the same. Our connections with each other and the land are always there, never changing. Our responsibilities – they are enduring. We care for the land, the sea, the water, we look after the trees. We use the land when people go out hunting. All that knowledge is in the land. That’s why the old people paint. That art, that’s the story about the land. It’s like a book, a dictionary that tells about the land. In Canberra, all the politicians have to stand in one place. There the government can change their laws. But our law, our constitution, is on our land. It never changes, for generations and generations to use. I can’t change it; it will be the same until the day I die and for all the generations. These things never change. (P.6)
So you are at Bawaka (Yolngu Homeland, North East Arnhem Land) and learning about Bawaka, walking on our ragi, our beach. Can you feel the white sand oozing through your toes as you walk? Do you sense the peace, the healing and the learning that can take place here? Do you hear the sand speaking to you as your toes squeak through the fine grains? That is good because our Yolngu way of learning is not through the pen and the book but by doing and feeling. We learn through the land and the landscape. We learn through experiencing rather than reading, questioning and answering. The land and everything in it are our teachers.
Pat Dodson Giant Jigsaw Puzzle (1988)
Our connection with a specific area is based in what we call the Law. By that we mean Aboriginal law: our spirituality, our songs and teachings are connected to the secrets of initiation and to the education of young people to adulthood. They are related and you have to learn all these disciplines over a period of years.
Elders teach you but the knowledge is also imbedded in the landforms. It emanates from the land. Law governs and regulates behaviour between individuals, groups and the land. The sea, hills, grass, wind, clouds, trees, birds, insects and rivers all speak a meaning that helps unravel the mystery of creation and existence. As human beings we stand in the middle and are essential to all things. In traditional Aboriginal society no one person was more important than another – all were parts of a whole. Growth and stature were measured by contribution, participation, responsibility and accountability. These things are integrated with the Law, the community and the land. It’s a complex interwoven tapestry of meaning. You don’t have that in Western society. Your value is in terms of what you can make, the number of degrees you’ve got or how much you own.
DiscussionHowever, in the Burarrwanga excerpt the author (Laklak Burarrwanga) suggests that the government (in Canberra) can change their laws and then goes on to say, But our law, our constitution, is on our land. It never changes, for generations and generations to use. I can t change it; it will be the same until the day I die and for all the generations. These things never change
In a similar way Bill Neidjie (Reading 4.01) also argues that the Law never changes and the question that arises in this context is that in many different areas Aboriginal peoples are developing new ideas, roles regarding education, sustainability, natural resource management, governance, self-determination.
Also, as you may remember from last week s tutorial, it was suggested that central to western social systems are ideas such as change, progress and development. This is particularly evident in the economic sphere whereby the growth of the economy has such a high profile and continues to be of extraordinary concern in much of the media on a daily basis. This is opposed to the perception that Indigenous societies remain static and unchanging (as illustrated in the idea that the Law never changes) and that societies such as this are societies that are static and unchanging and as such primitive and backward looking.
Questions for discussion and comment:What do you see as the function of Law in social systems?
How is Law transmitted from generation to generation in Aboriginal societies and western cultural systems?
Which of the two social systems are more likely to live within their ecological limits? And why?
How do you think we might explain the disparity between the ways in which the law is seen as never changing, and the growth and developmental process that are obviously going on in many different Indigenous lives and communities?
Do you think that constant change is inherently progressive in nature?
Resources:
Burarrwanga, L; Ganambarr, M; Ganambarr, B; Suchet, S; & Wright, S 2012, Enough for All Together: a Handbook for Learning about Sustainability,  Murray, J; Cawthorne, G; Dey, C & Andrew. C (Eds.), Common Ground
Dodson, P 1988, A Giant Jigsaw Puzzle, New Internationalist, Issue 186, August 1988
Neidjie, B; Davis, S & Fox, A 1986, Law , in Australia s Kakadu man, Bill Neidjie, Resources Managers, Darwin

Aboriginal cultures
Lecture: Week 4
18/3/2013

Ppt): Law and society

As we saw in Week 3 �The Dreaming� provides the basis for the structure of Indigenous societies and included the ethical and moral principles for how people interact � how they behave towards each other, and how the society was structured to provide everybody with a sense of identity, positionality and belonging within the group. However, as I have mentioned a number of times the term Dreaming is an English construct and it should be noted that many Aboriginal peoples actually prefer and use the term �the Law� to express this concept rather than using the English term.

What do you think we mean or how do we define Law?

Some definitions include Ppt):

A body of rules and principles governing the affairs of a community (enforced by a political authority) which contribute to the structures of social order, social control and justice
Rules of conduct established by custom, agreement, or authority

However, it should be clear that these definitions do not necessarily give an understanding of what underpins the rules and principles (both formal and informal � touch on the concepts of custom and agreement as opposed to authority) and this is obviously the values, ideas and belief systems of a society. In other words worldviews!!!

These ideas, values and belief systems are not necessarily fixed and there is an interactive relationship between these beliefs and the principles of law, morals and ethics that continue to develop within a framework of basic understandings of issues that we have mentioned before such as Ppt):

Ways of seeing the world – assumptions, expectations, values
Ways of thinking – language, world-views
Ways of being �  identity (self-construal), positionality
Ways of behaving – norms, expectations

In thinking about this we also need to differentiate between the ways that different societies transmit the customs, rules and principles that are seen as central to social cohesion. What are some examples of this???

Aboriginal law is founded on the Dreaming and Rose (cited in Stockton 1995, p.61) suggests that for the Yarralin peoples Ppt):

Aboriginal law is based on the concept that the whole cosmos is a closed self-reproducing, self-regulating system of life�It is a living system in which all the parts are:
Alive
Conscious, that is capable of knowing and acting
Related to each other

*(Connectedness: Kanyini)

Watson (2002) also argues that Ppt):

Aboriginal law enshrines principles and codes of behaviour. One of them is respect. Respect law is for all things in the universe – not just humanity but the total ecology – trees, birds, animals, air and water the entire wholeness and oneness of creation. The law is old and the ancestors knew the law; there was no need to write it down. Law lived in the practice of it, in the singing and in the ceremonies. Songs are a constant reminder of the law, as they are an act of reliving and being in law.

This gives us a good idea of what might be called the vehicle or vehicles for the transmission of Aboriginal law and they are stories, Songs, Art, Dance and Ceremony (more about this in the next few weeks)

In reading 1.5 Bill Neidjie outlines some of the central aspects of the Law in his book Australia�s Kakadu man when discussing the law (note that it is written in what we might call a poetic form rather than the usual format we are used to when looking at information or knowledge and this follows the tradition of the) Ppt):

The law never changes (Discuss)
Important to keep it going as an obligation to the sustainability of country species and peoples.
Aboriginal law provides a different way of learning (Holistic)
Law against wastage�could be fatal to the survival of the group
Food taboo also for the sustainability of the group and how to share food
Obligation to keep the stories going, to protect sites and ensure the environment continues to be well managed.

(Law and law: Relationships)

Relationships to land (Country) Ppt):

The land is our mother, and is both nurturer and teacher, from which all life grows. Law, land and people are inseparably linked: law has a strong relationship to the land; its people, spirit, ancestors, and the universe, it holds this world together. (Watson 2002, p.25)

The land is central to Indigenous worldviews and is the physical link between humans and the unseen and eternal spiritual world.  Ambelin Kwaymullina (2005, p.1) writes Ppt):

For Aboriginal peoples, country is more that a place. Rock, tree, river, hill, animal, human � all were formed from the same substance by the ancestors who continue to live in land, water, sky. Country is filled with relations speaking language and following law, no matter whether the shape of that relation is human, rock, crow, wattle. Country is loved, needed, and cared for, and country loves, needs, and cares for her peoples in turn. Country is family, culture, identity. Country is self (Kwaymullina 2005, p.1)

Let us now look at some of the central principles derived from this holistic worldview. Reciprocity Ppt):

Reciprocity can be defined as mutual dependence or a mutual exchange of rights and obligations and can be seen a moral principle of action which we would all recognize as:

�Treat others as you would like to be treated�

This principle has many forms in various ethical and cultural systems. For example:

Ppt): Ancient Greek philosophy: �Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing� (Thales)

Christianity: �So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you� (Mathew 7:12)

Confucian: �Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself�

However, on one of the things to notice about these versions is that it tends to assume that these inter-relationships are only between people whereas in the Aboriginal worldview this principle is a fundamental aspect of all that is.

Reciprocal responsibility in Aboriginal systems consists of acting according to the moral principles as laid out in the Dreaming and as Rose argues in one such example Ppt):

The Yarralin people spend a great deal their time maintaining their own portion of the system � arranging marriages, growing people from childhood to maturity, teaching younger people, managing birth and death, feeding themselves, taking care of their country, and performing those ceremonies through which cosmic life is regenerated.

(Moral social relationships)

In this sense all relationships involve mutual nurturance and as she points out the Yarralin peoples believe that all other species (which includes what non-Aboriginal peoples generally see as dead matter) are doing much the same thing Ppt):

These are all moral activities aimed at reproducing human life, the relationships among humans, and those between humans and other life forms. Ultimately then, they aim at nurturing the cosmos.

Ppt): When the brolgas dance, they too are performing ceremonies that regenerate the cosmos. When flying foxes tell the Rainbow Snake to bring rain they are helping to keep the Sun in balance, and thus to nurture life.

Identity and the Law

In one of the later readings (10.2) the anthropologist Gaynor Macdonald argues there are 3 key cultural principles which define the Wiradjuri people who she has been working with.  As you will see from these principles each person and their sense of identity are embedded in both land, Law, and the continuing transmission of cultural values and traditions as key aspects of social and spiritual identity Ppt):

A Kinship system, through which their relations to the ancestors and to each other are articulated in a principle of direct descent, and which ensures succession.
The continuing identification of this community of descent with their geographical region, within which these social relations are constituted, and through which landedness itself is constituted.
The body of moral law, belief and custom which are able to be expressed and maintained through the pathways that are provided by kinship and landedness for the practice and transmission of cultural traditions.

Interestingly the present or contemporary definition of Aboriginal identity was established in 1981 as a working definition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for various administrative purposes and this:
An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is a person of:
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who
Identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait and
Is accepted as such by the community in which she or he lives