Notes Introduction 1. Shakespeare c.1597, 3.1.51–53. 2. Due to differences in transcription and orthography Alyawarra is also some- times spelled Alyawarre. Further, in some cases Alyawarra(e) is used to refer to both the language and the people while in other cases the final letter (a or e) is dropped to distinguish between the language and the native speak- ers of that language, although not consistently; that is, sometimes Alyawarr is used to refer to the language while Alyawarra(e) is used for the people who speak this language while in other sources this relationship is reversed. (Other identified spellings include; Alyawara, Iliaura, Illiaura, Iljaura, Ilyaura and Ilyowra). While current Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD) convention is to use the spelling ‘Alyawarra’ to refer to this language and the spelling Alyawarr to refer to the group identity associated with this language, for a number of reasons this book will use ‘Alyawarra’ to refer to the lan- guage and the native speakers of this language or people classified as being Alyawarra by ‘descent’ even where their first language is English (or other). The two most important reasons for this are that people in Alpurrurulam use the word ‘Alyawarra’ to refer to identity based on group belonging; for exam- ple, ‘that girl is proper Alyawarra’ and the fact that Alyawarra is the common use (for both language and people) in most source material. In cases where other sources are quoted, original spellings will be retained. 3. ‘Lake Nash’ is sometimes used synonymously with Alpurrurulam to refer to the community. Prior to struggles for land rights the name ‘Alpurrurulam’ was not shared with non-Aboriginal people and hence the name Lake Nash appears, prior to the 1980s, in all the literature. More contemporary sources refer to Lake Nash as a body of water and a pastoralist station while Alpurrurulam is the name of both the community where I did research and the Dreaming sites located near the body of water. In addition Alpurrurulam can also be spelled Ilperrlhelame. In this book the spelling Alpurrurulam will be used to refer to the community where I conducted fieldwork as this was the spelling used by the town when it was founded and is still the official spelling used by the community. In cases where other sources are quoted, original spellings will be retained. 4. Dreaming has different meanings for different Aboriginal peoples. As a term applying to all Aboriginal spirituality it is an imposition of western understandings. For a more detailed discussion of the evolution of the term (including Dreamtime) see Wolfe (1991). Here the term Dreaming is used, in keeping with its use in Alpurrurulam, to refer to a complex set of ideas which relate both to the timeless ‘everywhen’ including creation, important sites and tracks where Dreaming beings interacted and interact with the 165 166 Autobiographical Memory in an Aboriginal Australian Community landscape and also to those beings; many of whom erupt into and interrupt our time in important, creative ways. Dreaming will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 7. 5. McEvoy & Lyon 1994, p. 32. 6. Lyon, Parsons & Memmott 1989, p. 4. 7. Ibid. 8. To protect people’s identities and to respect possible kumunjayi (which is discussed in Chapter 2) pseudonyms are used throughout this book to refer to the residents of Alpurrurulam. 9. The Alyawarra were not historically, by European standards, the original residents of Alpurrurulam, and this has become a point of contention in establishing land claims in this area. However, as Moyle (1986) says of another Alyawarra Dreaming site to the south, if ‘children, regardless of their parent’s Countries, are conceived inside Ntuwirrka Country they would establish a link with that land which, if followed by extended resi- dence there, would eventually give them owner status and they could take over Ntuwirrka’ (p. 45). Moyle (1986) also points out that during his own field work there were ‘reciprocal visits between Lake Nash and Ammaroo for ceremonial purposes’ (p. 24), and goes on to say that ‘for their own part, the Lake Nash people have availed themselves, by means of their children’s affiliations, of at least seven Dreamings passing through or near the settle- ment’ (p. 25). Moyle’s statements highlight the relationship between chil- dren in Alpurrurulam and the Dreaming sites located there. Issues related to children’s connections to the land are often set within a framework of ‘Conception Dreamings’. Anthropologist Francesca Merlan (1986) points out that often these debates in Aboriginal Australia are set in a framework of ‘physiological parentage, especially paternity’ (p. 474). In Alpurrurulam there did not seem to be any confusion about what caused a pregnancy (that is, sex); rather, the distinction which was important in these situa- tions was more an ‘ontological’ concern. In other words, the development of personhood involves an ontological break from non-personhood; a break which is shaped by Dreaming. The specific Dreaming-affinity which each person has is transmitted to a person through an intimate link estab- lished through the place of their birth and also through residence in that place. See also Muecke (1999). 10. Green 1992, p. xi; Moyle 1986, p. 15; Yallop 1977, p. 3; Lyon et al. 1989, p. 10. 11. Rose 1996, p. 7. 12. Green 1992, p. xvi; see also Moyle 1986. 13. Strang 2003, p. 110. 14. McGrath 1987, p. x. 15. Rose 1991. 16. McEvoy & Lyon 1994, p. 32. 17. Ibid. 18. Ibid. 19. Ibid. 20. Lyon & Parsons 1989. Notes 167 21. McEvoy & Lyon 1994, p. 32. 22. Lyon & Parsons 1989, p. 59. 23. According to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 land claims can be made on either unalienated Crown land or land outside a town in which all the estates and interests not held by the Crown are held by, or on behalf of, Aboriginal people. Typically where land is granted following such a claim, the title is held by an Aboriginal Land Trust. However, in addition to the provisions in this legislation the Miscellaneous Act Amendment (Aboriginal Community Living Areas) Act 1989 (NT) provides for the application by certain Aboriginal peoples for an ‘excision’ of com- munity living areas on pastoral properties (alienated land) with a successful application leading to a grant of freehold title over small sections of land to be used as living areas, this is known as an excision. In 1988 free hold title over the community excision at Alpurrurulam was granted (McEvoy & Lyon 1994, p. 32). The struggle for recognition has continued and in 2012 Native Title was recognized over Lake Nash and Georgina Downs pastoral leases. 24. Lyon & Parsons 1989, p. iv. 25. In American English, ‘flashlight’. 26. Harris 1993, p. 8. 27. Turpin n.d. 28. For further discussion, see Harkins 1994 and Sharifian et al. 2004. 29. Atkinson & Hammersley 1994, p. 248. 30. Hammersley & Atkinson 1983. 31. Shweder 1997, p. 153. 32. Krupat 1992, p. 15. 33. Rosaldo 1993, p. 50. 34. As Hammersley & Atkinson (1983) rightly point out in relation to fieldwork, researchers cannot study a social situation in any way but through direct engagement, and hence taking the idea of ‘naturalistic’ study too literally can be deceptive. The presence of the researcher in the field, ‘is not a meth- odological commitment, it is an existential fact’ (p. 15). 35. Atkinson & Hammersley 1994, p. 256. 36. May 2003, p. 134. 37. Sutton 2003, p. 151. 38. Ibid., p. 148. 39. Markus & Kitayama 1991. 40. Triandis 1989. 41. Geertz 1973, p. 6. 42. Ibid., p. 5. 43. Geertz 2000, p. xi. 44. Keesing 1981, p. 68. 45. Geertz 1973, p. 44. 46. Geertz 2000, p. x. 47. McCorquodale 1997, p. 24. 48. Ibid., p. 24–5. 49. Dilthey 1988, p. 95–6. 50. Geertz 1973, p. 82. 168 Autobiographical Memory in an Aboriginal Australian Community 1 Opal’s Stories 1. I have added titles to these stories to aid in referencing them later in the book. Also, in four of these interviews there was another person, besides Opal and myself, present. In the stories titled Little kid an’ all and No tea Stephanie was with us. Stephanie was the granddaughter of one of Opal’s best friends and she often helped me with learning Alyawarra and sometimes sat in on interviews to help me when Opal wanted to speak in Alyawarra rather than Aboriginal English. In the stories Dotty can shoot and We walked up another local woman, Sue, was present for the same reasons. 2 ‘Auto’ Is Not Automatic 1. Eliot 1859, 6.54. 2. Wittgenstein 1974, p. 181. 3. Sutton 2010. 4. Tulving 1972. 5. See, for example, McIlwain & Sutton 2013 and Geeves et al. 2013. 6. Connerton [1989]2004, p. 88. 7. Fivush & Nelson 2004, p. 574; Conway & Rubin 1993. 8. Engel 1999, p. 27. 9. Nelson & Fivush 2004, p. 577. 10. Schacter 1996, p. 300. 11. Fivush & Nelson 2004, p. 537. 12. Nelson & Fivush 2004, p. 489. 13. Fivush & Nelson 2004, p. 575. 14. Nelson & Fivush 2004, p. 506. 15. Fivush & Nelson 2004, p. 576. 16. Nelson 2003. 17. Halbwachs [1945]1992, p. 182. 18. Assmann & Czaplicka 1995, p. 128. 19. Triandis 1989, p. 511. 20. A vast range of terminology has been used to make similar distinctions. Markus & Kitayama (1991) use the term ‘interdependent’ to refer to the personal level of self-construal, stating: ‘we [therefore] call this view the interdependent construal of the self. The same notion has been variously referred to, with somewhat different connotations, as sociocentric, holistic, collective, allocentric, ensembled, constitutive, contextualist, connected, and relational’ (p. 227). In this book I use the term allocentric to keep separate different forms of self-construal and the cultural models with which they are associated (where I use the terms interdependent/independent) for reasons that will be explored more fully in Chapter 3.