DOCSLIB.ORG

Burning Questions: Shaping Landscapes with Aboriginal Fire ·~· Interview with Professer Marcia Langton

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Burning Questions: Shaping Landscapes with Aboriginal Fire ·~· Interview with Professer Marcia Langton l!liJ ENTRETIEN Burning questions: shaping landscapes with aboriginal fire ·~· Interview with Professer Marcia Langton By DouGLAS NAKASHIMA * Nous avons souhaité nous entretenir avec Marcia Langton qui, se fondant sur des données historiques, écologiques, paléontologiques, anthropologiques, montre J'im­ portance de la gestion aborigène par le jeu avant la colonisation, les désastres écolo­ giques entraÎnés par l'arrêt de ces pratiques, enfin leur réintégration aujourd'hui dans les Parcs nationaux et régionaux. Les recherches récentes battent en brèche les idées reçues sur la nature. Les paysages " naturels " ont été forgés par les hommes bien plus tôt et de façon beaucoup plus systématique qu'on ne le croyait. La gestion par Je jeu des sociétés traditionnelles avait, sur de nombreux continents, permis de créer des mosaïques d'écosystèmes favorisant une diversité biologique propice à l'exploi­ tation. Marcia Langton en tire la conclusion que seul le maintien des aborigènes sur leurs terres et la réhabilitation de leurs savoirjaire permettra une gestion durable de ces régions. PR MARCIA lANGTON DN - As bath a trained anthropologist and an aboriginal, individuals put forward by sorne. Soon after contact, Diredor, Centre for you bring a very unique perspective to the issues that 1 however, smallpox, influenza and measles epidemies lndigenous Natural and would like to discuss with you today- the role of aboriginal took an enormous toll, followed by rampant frontier Cultural Heritage peoples in managing ecological diversity in contemporary violence. In southern Australia, especially in the Northern Territory University, southeast, these frontier impacts led to the collapse of Darwin, Australia Australia. ln your recent book Burning Questions: emerging environ mental issues for indigenous peoples in northern aboriginal societies and with that, the interruption of DouGLAS NAKASHIMA, Australia (Langton 7998), you accuse contemporary traditional tire management regimes. In the absence of Coastal Regions and small conservationists of perpetrating 'science fictions· by aboriginal burning, the pastoral ideal - beautiful plains Islands Unit, UNESCO applying the term 'wilderness· to large tracts of aboriginal with sparse forests - encountered by early British colo­ 1, rue Miollis, lands. ln so doing, they deny the long and continuous nists became, over the next two hundred years, dense 75732 Paris cedex 15, France [email protected] presence of aboriginal peoples on the land, and ignore their forests. profound role in shaping the landscape particularly With the birth of the conservationist movement in through the traditional application offire. You describe this the twentieth century, people naively took these to be as a form of ecological imperialism, a modern-day equiva­ 'virgin' forests. Non-aboriginal families who have lived lent of the legal mythology of 'terra nullius' which the colo­ on the land for severa! generations know that this is nial powers used to their advantage by declaring Australia not the case. They know that the contemporary land­ an 'empty land', devoid of human in habitants, and there­ scape is quite different from that which their grandfa­ fore free for the taking. Today, the concept of 'wilderness· thers and great-grandfathers first settled. There were accomplishes a similar task, opening the wayfor the estab­ not the dense forests th at conservationists chain them­ lishment of national parks and other protected a reas. These selves to today, but open rolling hills with sparse are provocative ideas, underlining the persistence of colo­ clerical forests. nial attitudes th at change form but never seem togo away. The interruption of aboriginal fire management also With this in mind, perhaps you could begin by briefly describ­ had another outcome. Since the nineteenth century, ing how Australian landscapes have been transformed by massive bush fires have occurred in Australia, sorne of the processes of colonisation that disrupted aboriginal which have been truly devastating. The image of sett­ societies and the ir traditional fire management regimes. Iers fleeing the notorious 'Black Thursday' fire that occurred in the 1800s has been immortalized in a • Cet entretien a été réalisé durant la Conférence ML - Examining the history of contact, we can trace renowned oil painting. Another iconic fire is the 'Ash mondiale sur la science changes in the Australian landscape and the accompa­ Wednesday' fire. These bush fires were of regular (Budapest, du 26 juin au nying shifts in the perception of land by European colo­ occurrence. During Christmas of 1894, there were 1er juillet 1999). Voir aussi nists. Demographers, basing their work on the histo­ massive fires outside of New South Wales. The 1894 dans ce même numéro le rical record, have recently calculated that in 1788 the fires burned out almost the entire area of the present­ compte-rendu de la session • La science et les autres aboriginal population of Australia would have been at day Royal National Park south of Sydney. systèmes de savoirs " !east one million. This is substantially more than In ali of the areas where the settler relationship with par Marie Roué previous estimates of only three hundred thousand the environment has become supreme, ali fire is NSS. 2000. vol. 8, no 1. 50-56 1 © 2000 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. Tous droits réservés who see forested areas as an idyllic habitat, build their houses in forests with insufficient tire breaks because they think that this practice is environmentally dam­ aging. Within a ten-year period they are sitting in the middle of a tinderbox. lnevitably, they will be the victims of a bush tire. These bush tires are pretty much uncontrollable. Bush tire brigades can go in and protect people and property to an extent. However, you basically have to wait for rain or for the wind to change direction or for the tire to burn out of its own accord. These tires can be atomic in proportion. We have witnessed this same phenomenon in more recent decades in the desert. Here, aboriginal people have been moved off their ancestral lands and An aboriginal woman and trained anthropologist, into settlements only since the 1950s. Without Professor Marcia Langton is the Director of the aboriginal people burning the desert, however, Centre for lndigenous Natural and Cultural Spinifex - a low prickly bush that is full of highly flam­ Resource Management, Northern Territory mable adhesive gum - spreads quickly, providing University, where she also holds the Ranger Chair ample fuel for devastating tires. There have been at of the Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait least two of which 1 know. ln the 1970s, twenty years lslander Studies. She has more than 28 years of after the aboriginal peoples were removed, an atomic experience in Aboriginal Affairs. tire burned out hundreds of thousands of hectares in Professor Langton has published widely on the central desert. contemporary social issues in Aboriginal Affairs, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and lndustrial including land, resource and social impact Research Organization) has now begun to satellite­ concerns, as weil as reports to the Royal map the desert. They have begun to replicate tradi­ Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and tional aboriginal burning patterns by using aerial tire to Aboriginal Land Councils. ln 1993, Marcia bombing in order to create a fire-induced habitat Langton was awarded an AM (General Member of mosaic. Also they are constantly monitoring the the Order of Australia) for services to anthropology desert to ensure that there are no more Spinifex wild and the advocacy of Aboriginal Rights. tires which basically destroy the pockets of non­ spinifex areas that small mammal populations in the desert depend upon. There is still a lot more work and research to be done. The Uluru and Kakadu plans of REFERENCES management state very clearly that research on tradi­ tional burning is to be commissioned in that area. The Langton, M. 1989. Aboriginal Australia, in : UNESCO Review Australia, emerging information on traditional practices are No.17, November, 15-19. supplementing the CSIRO-designed tire plan and that Langton, M. 1993. Weill saw il on the radio and 1heard il on the television ... : is a project in progress. an essay for the Australian Film Commission on the politics of film ln the wet-dry tropics, the monsoon areas, we making by and about aboriginal people and things, Australian Film know much more because of excellent research. lt is Commission, Sydney, 75-80. the converging evidence from research by Russel­ Langton, M. 1995. What do we mean by the term wildemess?, Reconciling Australia, ABC Radio, Sydney. Smith (1996), a very interesting multi-disciplinary team including traditional owners, by David Bowman (forth­ Langton, M. 1996. Art, Wilderness and Terra Nullius, ln : Sultan et al, Ecopolitics IX Conference; Perspedives on lndigenous Peoples coming), Chaloupka (1993), Peter Whitehead and Management of the Environment Resources, Darwin 1995. many others, including the commonwealth agency Northern Land Council, Darwin. which manages the Kakadu National Park, that is now Langton, M. 1997. Estate of Mind: the growing cooperation between indige· leading to the explicit recognition that aboriginal nous and mainstream managers of north Australian landscapes and the burning regimes are an essential part of the preserva­ challenge for educators and researchers, in : Northern Analyst, the tion of biodiversity. This growing recognition
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Indigenous Exceptionalism and the Constitutional 'Race Power'
    Langton.x_Langton.x 1/02/13 9:31 AM Page 1 Indigenous Exceptionalism and the Constitutional ‘Race Power’ Marcia Langton Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is a fraught topic, presenting legal as well as moral challenges, and involves a large set of issues beyond my scope here. I want to explore in this chapter the problem of how to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution, a matter given much thought by the members of the Expert Panel appointed by Prime Minister Gillard in December 2010. Upon the release of the Expert Panel Report in January 2012, some commentators made extraordinary and mistaken claims about its recommendations and findings. One person contended that Aboriginal child bride practices would be legalised, should the government accept these recommendations. Another claim was that it was a racist attack on Australians. None of this is the case, of course, but the hysterical response to the propositions of the Expert Panel, well founded in constitutional law and history, tells us something. Most Australians know very little about our Constitution; few have read it, and even fewer understand it. The main challenge for those who agree with our findings is the poorly understood friction between bring- ing Indigenous Australians firmly into the national polity, and maintaining their exceptionalist status as inexorably different. I hope to suggest a solution to this dilemma; it is not original, 1 SPACE PLACE & CULTURE Langton.x_Langton.x 1/02/13 9:31 AM Page 2 INDIGENOUS EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL ‘RACE POWER’ but is a new synthesis of a powerful idea drawn from human rights theory and the Expert Panel’s work.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Aboriginal Art
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals online Australian Aboriginal Art Patrick Hutchings To attack one’s neighbours, to pass or to crush and subdue more remote peoples without provocation and solely for the thirst for dominion—what is one to call it but brigandage on a grand scale?1 The City of God, St Augustine of Hippo, IV Ch 6 ‘The natives are extremely fond of painting and often sit hours by me when at work’ 2 Thomas Watling The Australians and the British began their relationship by ‘dancing together’, so writes Inge Clendinnen in her multi-voiced Dancing With Strangers 3 which weaves contemporary narratives of Sydney Cove in 1788. The event of dancing is witnessed to by a watercolour by Lieutenant William Bradley, ‘View in Broken Bay New South Wales March 1788’, which is reproduced by Clendinnen as both a plate and a dustcover.4 By ‘The Australians’ Clendinnen means the Aboriginal pop- ulation. But, of course, Aboriginality is not an Aboriginal concept but an Imperial one. As Sonja Kurtzer writes: ‘The concept of Aboriginality did not even exist before the coming of the European’.5 And as for the terra nullius to which the British came, it was always a legal fiction. All this taken in, one sees why Clendinnen calls the First People ‘The Australians’, leaving most of those with the current passport very much Second People. But: winner has taken, almost, all. The Eddie Mabo case6 exploded terra nullius, but most of the ‘nobody’s land’ now still belongs to the Second People.
    [Show full text]
  • A Community-Based Approach to Indigenous Self-Determination
    POWER FROM THE PEOPLE: A COMMUNITY-BASED APPROACH TO INDIGENOUS SELF-DETERMINATION LARISSA BEHRENDTt Elliott Johnston impresses me most not because of his involvement with the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody but for his continued conviction about the rightness of social justice despite political climate and personal cost. His membership of the Communist Party no doubt cost him earlier appointment to silk and, as the first Chairperson of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, formalised a long commitment to Indigenous social justice and criminal justice issues. He was, is and remains a practitioner and a judge, admired for his acute legal mind and his ability to mix the right legal reasons with the right moral reasons; something that can be found only in the best legal minds. I would like to talk across a few themes tonight. I want to begin by canvassing the current political landscape to identify the challenges to Indigenous rights and their protection. I would then like to talk about the shortcomings of 'practical reconciliation' and the limitations of current government policy on Indigenous issues at the federal level. I would then like to discuss how this direction has marginalised the rights agenda and impoverished debate on the policy options we have. I will argue that the way forward combines short term solutions with long term goals and that this includes an understanding of the relationship between rights, economic development and governance. As part of that discussion, I would then like to canvas a few areas where increased vision would assist in the protection of Indigenous rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Emerging Environmental Issues for Indigenous Peoples in Northern Australia - Marcia Langton
    QUALITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES: GENDER AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES – Emerging Environmental Issues For Indigenous Peoples In Northern Australia - Marcia Langton EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA Marcia Langton School of Anthropology, University of Melbourne, Australia Keywords: indigenous peoples and environmental issues, Aboriginal impact, people in landscapes Contents 1. Introduction 2. Science Fictions 2.1. Wilderness 2.2. The Nature of Aboriginal Land 2.3. Changes in the Nature of Aboriginal Land Use 3. Pre-settlement Aboriginal Environmental Impact 3.1. Fire and Human Shaping of the Landscape 3.2. Fire: the Recent Debates 4. Re-implicating Aboriginal People in Landscapes 4.1. Dhimurru Aboriginal Land Management Corporation 4.2. Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation 4.3. Arafura Wetlands 5. Conclusion Bibliography Biographical Sketch 1. Introduction The quest for environmental justice for Australian indigenous people requires, among other things, a critical examination of historical assumptions, which shape arguments concerning the role of Aboriginal people and their traditional environmental knowledge in the management of their cultural and physical landscapes. This paper surveys some recent literature and indigenous conservation developments that provide evidence of the re-implication of Aboriginal people in the management of tropical northern Australia. For 205UNESCO years the legal fiction of terra – nullius EOLSS rendered native title, Aboriginal Land Law And Aboriginal Persons As Land Owners Under That
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous Strategy Highlights 2017–2019 Contents
    Indigenous strategy highlights 2017–2019 Contents Place 6 Community 14 Education 18 Discovery 32 Global 40 Indigenous Strategy Highlights 2017–2019 provides a snapshot of just some of the University of Melbourne’s recent and extensive work with respect to our Indigenous strategic priorities. Categorised under five themes, of central importance in all our highlighted activities is our commitment to ‘Leadership for Change’. Through this commitment the University seeks to create positive social impact and foster a healthier, more inclusive and fairer society. In the Australian context, this involves the development and recognition of Indigenous leadership and the recognition and advancement of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. Addressing the themes of: Place, Community, Education, Discovery and Global, the flagship Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity Program and the Melbourne Poche Leadership Fellows Program are two of our most innovative and exciting programs. Driven by Indigenous people and informed by Indigenous perspectives, both prioritise Indigenous agency and will contribute to a transformative change agenda. The University of Melbourne acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campuses are situated. • Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples Parkville, Southbank, Werribee and Burnley campuses • Yorta Yorta Nation, Shepparton and Dookie campuses • Dja Dja Wurrung people, Creswick campus We recognise the unique place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold as the original custodians of the lands and waterways across the Australian continent with histories of continuous connection dating back more than 60 000 years. We also acknowledge and respect our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, staff, Elders and collaborators, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who visit our campuses from across Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Information Technology and Indigenous Communities Dedicated to Tony Boxall (1957–2012) Information Technology and Indigenous Communities
    Information Technology and Indigenous Communities Dedicated to Tony Boxall (1957–2012) Information Technology and Indigenous Communities Edited by Lyndon Ormond-Parker, Aaron Corn, Cressida Fforde, Kazuko Obata and Sandy O’Sullivan Developed from papers presented at the 2009 AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference and the 2010 symposium Information Technologies and Indigenous Communities First published in 2013 by AIATSIS Research Publications © Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2013 © in individual chapters is held by the authors, 2013 All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act), no part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Act also allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied or distributed digitally by any educational institution for its educational purposes, provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) GPO Box 553, Canberra ACT 2601 Phone: (61 2) 6246 1111 Fax: (61 2) 6261 4285 Email: [email protected] Web: www.aiatsis.gov.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Title: Information technology and indigenous communities / Lyndon Ormond-Parker, Aaron Corn, Kazuko Obata and Sandy O’Sullivan (eds).
    [Show full text]
  • 30 Years On: Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Recommendations Remain Unimplemented T
    30 YEARS ON: ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY RECOMMENDATIONS REMAIN UNIMPLEMENTED T. ANTHONY, K. JORDAN, T. WALSH, F. MARKHAM, AND M. WILLIAMS Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences CAEPR WORKING PAPER NO. 140/2021 Series note The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) undertakes high-quality, independent research to further the social and economic development and empowerment of Indigenous people throughout Australia. For more than 30 years, CAEPR has aimed to combine academic and teaching excellence on Indigenous economic and social development and public policy with realism, objectivity and relevance. CAEPR maintains a substantial publications program, including Research Monographs, Discussion Papers, Working Papers and Topical Issues. The CAEPR Working Paper series exists to disseminate preliminary research findings, to share ideas about a topic, or to elicit discussion and feedback. All Working Papers are subject to internal peer review. All CAEPR publications are available in electronic format for free download from CAEPR’s website: caepr.cass.anu.edu.au CAEPR is located within the Research School of Social Sciences in the College of Arts & Social Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU). The Centre is funded from a range of sources, including ANU, the Australian Research Council, industry and philanthropic partners, and Australian state and territory governments. As with all CAEPR publications, the views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not reflect any official CAEPR position. Professor Tony Dreise Director, CAEPR Research School of Social Sciences College of Arts & Social Sciences Australian National University, April 2021 Front cover image: Terry Ngamandarra Wilson, Gulach (detail), painting on bark, private collection © Terry Ngamandarra, licensed by Viscopy, 2016 Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research caepr.cass.anu.edu.au Working Paper No.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Rewriting Ethnographic Photography Reuse Of
    REWRITING ETHNOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHY REUSE OF ETHNOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS ARTISTS by Marina Amber Eldh Tyquiengco Bachelor of Arts, University of Virginia, 2011 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2016 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of History of Art and Architecture Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Pittsburgh 2016 1 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This thesis was presented by Marina Tyquiengco It was defended on January 2015 and approved by Dr. Joshua Ellenbogen, Director of Graduate Studies, History of Art and Architecture Thesis Director: Dr. Terence Smith, Andrew W. Mellon Professr of Contemporary Art History and Theory, History of Art and Architecture 2 Copyright © by Marina Tyquiengco 2016 3 REWRITING ETHNOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHY Marina Tyquiengco, M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2016 For over thirty years, artists from all over the world have recycled, reworked and repurposed visual imagery from popular and commercial cultures, both those contemporary with them, and those from past periods. The postmodern practice was known as “appropriation,” and attracted controversy from those who expected art to be original, and those who valued the temporal authenticity of imagery. Within this context, particular Indigenous artists have used this approach as a means to articulate the complexities of Indigenous identity-formation. They deliberately reuse images of their people, or of their direct ancestors, that were taken by non- Indigenous anthropologists, official recorders, or commercial photographers. Through these processes of artistic transformation, they inflect them with new connotations, above all those that attribute agency to the person or people depicted, or those that manifest the contemporary artist’s own agency.
    [Show full text]
  • Aboriginal History and Identity
    LIBRARY HOT TOPICS ABORIGINAL HISTORY AND IDENTITY The biggest estate on earth: how Dark emu: black seeds: Aborigines made Australia by Bill agriculture or accident? by Gammage. Crows Nest, NSW: Bruce Pascoe. [Tullamarine, Allen & Unwin, 2012. 305.89 GAM Victoria]: Bolinda Audio, [2017] CD 305.89 PAS “Across Australia, early Europeans commented again and again that the land Audiobook. Read by the author. 5 discs. looked like a park. With extensive grassy patches and pathways, open woodlands Growing up Aboriginal in and abundant wildlife, it evoked a country estate in England. Australia edited by Anita Heiss. Bill Gammage has discovered this was because Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and Carlton, Vic: Schwartz Publishing, scientific fashion than we have ever realised.” – Back cover. 2018. 305.89 GRO Constitutional recognition: First “Accounts from well-known authors and high- Peoples and the Australian settler profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the state by Dylan Lino; foreword, contributors speak from the heart – Professor Megan Davis. Annandale, sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging NSW: The Federation Press, 2018. stereotypes, always demanding respect. This groundbreaking 305.89 LIN collection will enlighten, inspire and educate about the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia today.” – Publisher website. “With First Peoples continuing to press for the recognition of their sovereignty and peoplehood, this book will Hidden in plain view: the be a definitive reference point for scholars, advocates, policy- Aboriginal people of coastal makers and the interested public. Dr Dylan Lino, Constitutional Sydney by Paul Irish.
    [Show full text]
  • Treaty! Let’S Get It Right! by ADEN RIDGEWAY, SARAH PRITCHARD, SHELLEY REYS, JASON FIELD, JOHN HOWARD, JACK BEETSON and TONY MCAVOY
    ! TREATY TALKS Talks given at the ESORA and NAIDOC Week Forums Treaty! Let’s Get It Right! by ADEN RIDGEWAY, SARAH PRITCHARD, SHELLEY REYS, JASON FIELD, JOHN HOWARD, JACK BEETSON AND TONY MCAVOY WITH MARCIA LANGTON’S INAUGURAL PROFESSORIAL LECTURE Foreword by LINDA BURNEY, MP Published by ESORA Eastern Suburbs Organisation for Reconciling Australia ESORA Eastern Suburbs Organisation for Reconciling Australia Copyright © Linda Burney, Aden Ridgeway, Sarah Pritchard, Shelley Reys, Jason Field, John Howard, Jack Beetson, Tony McAvoy, Marcia Langton and ESORA 2006/2020 First published 2006 2nd Printing 2006 2nd (online) Edition 2020 (published in association with ANTaR) All rights reserved. No part of this publication will be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Enquiries should be made to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Treaty talks : talks given at the ESORA and NAIDOC Week forums : Treaty! : let's get it right! Bibliography. ISBN 0 646 45473 0. 1. Aboriginal Australians - Treaties. 2. Aboriginal Australians - Government policy. 3. Aboriginal Australians - Government relations. 4. Australia - Politics and government. I. Ridgeway, Aden, 1962- . II. Burney, L. (Linda). III. Eastern Suburbs Organisation for Reconciling Australia. IV. National Aborigines' Day Observance Committee (Australia). V. NAIDOC Week (2001). 341.37 Co-ordination with NSW State Reconciliation Council and Funding: John Lennis, Indigenous
    [Show full text]
  • Case Studies Into the Invisible Presence of Aboriginal People
    School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry Faculty of Humanities Connecting the Dots: Case Studies into the ‘Invisible Presence’ of Aboriginal People Living in Victoria Jessi Coyle This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University January 2019 To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgement is made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signed: Date: 15 January 2019 ABSTRACT Aboriginal Victorians have been rendered as an ‘invisible presence’ by the various discourses of race and culture that emerged in 19th-century forms of colonialism, which remain influential today. This thesis demonstrates how (white) belonging is constructed within national narratives by drawing on case study analyses of contemporary Victoria’s central and western goldfields districts, and of Aboriginal Victorian participation in Australian (Rules) Football. Semi-structured interviews were conducted across two case studies, with 28 Aboriginal participants and four non- Aboriginal participants. Interviews were analysed using a grounded theory framework, which prioritises culturally respectful and transparent research by positioning the research around participant testimony rather than the 19th-century colonial research conventions that are still influential and popular today. Working within critical theory, this thesis draws on race and settler colonialism to position the invisible presence of Aboriginal people within the ‘(white) settler colonial psyche’. A central feature of the (white) settler colonial psyche is the maintenance of settler sovereignty, as imagined through (white) belonging.
    [Show full text]
  • Mediating Aboriginality: the Politics and Aesthetics of Australian Reconciliation
    Mediating Aboriginality: The Politics and Aesthetics of Australian Reconciliation Submitted by: Kelsey Brannan November 22, 2011 Georgetown University This is a revised version of the paper to be read at the 2011 CSAA: Cultural ReOrientations and Comparative Colonialities Conference on November 22 at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. Keywords: Reconciliation, aboriginality, art, identity politics, tourism, media literacy, colonialism 1 “As a foreigner, it has been hard to locate Aborigines on any level, least of all in person. Yet, when one becomes aware of their absence, suddenly in a way they are present.”1 - Marcia Langton Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies at Melbourne University At Reconciliation Place in Canberra, Australia, voices sing and Aboriginal songs play when people walk past motion-sensor sandstone monuments (Figure 1). As a visitor from the United States, I find that other tourists like myself visit these sites of commemoration and leave with the impression that indigenous reconciliation is set in stone. Up the road from these commemorative sites, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy remains a site of protest for indigenous communities (Figure 2). The visual and ideological disparity between the celebration of a shared journey at Reconciliation Place and the anger that remains at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy reveals the gaps in Australia’s recuperative official rhetoric. There is a need for a reexamination of the relationship between these cultural sites to the social inequalities that still exist in Australia today.2 Rethinking contemporary Indigenous identity means critically analyzing the way in which the definition of “Aboriginality” is reoriented through reconciliation media and discourse.
    [Show full text]