Aboriginal australian kinship are the systems of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional australian aboriginal cultures. Yolngu kinship, beautiful pronouns, and other such wonderful. When yolngu visit relatives, actual or classificatory, the usual yolngu kinship protocols apply. The icrosscultural citizen projectour indigenous world. However, yolngu also have another system of relationships, called gurrutu, where everybody is related. The relationship between the yolngu kinship vocabulary and that of yiryoront people of the west coast of cape york peninsula, whose kinship terminology has a similar form, is as yet unclear, although they. Marriage is a yolngus right according to the sacred law of ngarra in a complex kinship system called gurrutu. Yolngu kinship, beautiful pronouns, and other such. Kinship is a system of social organization based on real or putative family ties, according to encyclopaedia britannica. Schneiders comments contrast strongly with ward goodenoughs observation made about the same time. Mcconnell 1930 first described and attempted to explain an age spiral in australian aboriginal systems of descent, marriage and kinship over eighty years ago.
The south west aboriginal land and sea council swalsc, the native title representative body for the south west of western australia, commissioned dr kingsley palmer to research and prepare this report. Policy research, the australian national university, canberra. Learning yolngumatha may not be for the fainthearted, but the actual mechanics of the language are far from challenging, especially. So what is it when yolngu say, youre our son or, you call me mother. The booklet explains the importance of gurrutu, the yolngu word for kinship or family relationships. Learn more about gurrutu this is a 1p pdf written in 2000. Traditional kinship structures remain important in many indigenous communities today. Charles darwin university and the yolngu of northeast arnhemland michael christie school of education, charles darwin university abstract the yol. An introduction to the ngarra law of arnhem land george pascoe gaymarani this article attempts to describe the ngarra law of arnhem land in order to provide access to the law for interested people, especially white balanda lawyers.
Yolngu kinship everyone has blood relatives such as parents, brothers and sisters. Aboriginal and torres strait islander cultures and dominant western systems. Child welfare systems vary from state to state, but they generally include public agencies such as departments of social services or family and childrens services. Anthropologist robin fox states that the study of kinship is the study of what man does with these basic facts of life mating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, siblingship etc. Australian aboriginal systems of descent, marriage and kinship over eighty years ago. You learn from the moment and draw strength and inspiration from it. The evolution of yolngu and ngarinyin kinship terminologies. To enable this important learning, and to support nonyol. In oceti sakowin culture, kinship systems provide a framework for both individual and group behavior. We anthropologists have assumed that kinship is universal, that all societies have kinship systems.
In other disciplines, kinship may have a different meaning. Kinship is of great important in aboriginal society. A persons position in the kinship system establishes their relationship to others and to the universe, prescribing their responsibilities towards other people, the land and natural resources. Dousset, laurent, 2011, australian aboriginal kinship. The relationship between the yolngu kinship vocabulary and that of yiryoront people of the west coast of cape york peninsula, whose kinship terminology has a similar form, is as yet unclear, although they share perhaps four cognates. In anthropology, kinship refers to the web of social relationships that form an important part of human lives. Garma is an idea that speaks of the place where the saltwater and the freshwater meets and produces an event of such richness that all things are drawn to it and thrive. The unwritten rules of oceti sakowin kinship systems promote harmony, compromise, a sense of order, and group cohesion. Yolngu terms, though with some shifts in meaning mcconvell and keen 2011. Yolngu ngarra law australasian legal information institute. In yolngu life, mulkurr head and djalkiri foot form behavioural norms. This institution establishes relationships between individuals and groups. Ones place in the kinship system also determines ones rights and obligations with respect to other people, country, and.
Kinship is a term with various meanings depending upon the context. Adoption is something that already happens in our kinship system between yolngu. Full text of african systems of kinship and marriage. Yolngu life in the northern territory of australia charles darwin. Pdf mathematics of yolngu aboriginal australians researchgate. Kinship is a term that is used to describe how people relate to one another in different cultures. People are introduced to children in terms of their relation to the child grandmother, uncle, etc, introducing the child to kinship from the beginning. Kinship systems are the glue that holds social groups together. Yolngu program unique in the world charles darwin university. The wangarr beings hunted animals, gathered a variety of vegetable foods, held ceremonies and generally behaved in the same way as yolngu people did at the time of the establishment of a mission at yirrkala in 1935. The law painting referred to in this article shows that yolngu have law, and this law rom is alive and strong and still being practised in many communities. Garma maths curriculum yolngu gali primary school study of gurrutu the yolngu kinship system feb 1122, 1991, yirrkala literature production centre, box 896, nhulunbuy, nt, 0881, australia, 1991.
Yolngu ngarra law customary law painting presentation parliament house, friday 12 august 2011 james gurrwanngu gaykamangu is a dalkarramiri from milingimbi, he has worked in the balanda legal system as a naatiaccredited senior interpreter and mentor to younger interpreters and as an indigenous court liaison officer in katherine. Users guide to essential kinship data kinship care the. This volume presents a novel approach to understanding the genesis of these systems and how and why they change. Kinship terminology, in anthropology, the system of names applied to categories of kin standing in relationship to one another. The editors bring together experts from the disciplines of anthropology and linguistics to explore kinship in societies around the world and to reconstruct kinship in. The significance of community and social capital michael christie and john greatorex the notion of social capital has had wide currency in mainstream social policy debate in recent years, with commonly used definitions emphasising three factors. In aboriginal and torres strait islander cultures, the concept of kinship is complex, and has wide implications in indigenous life and social structure learn more about this from common ground.
Dmg workshop based on gurrutu the yolngu kinship system literature production centre, milingimbi community education centre milingimbi, n. In aboriginal and torres strait islander cultures, the concept of kinship is complex, and has wide implications in indigenous life and social structure. Aboriginal customary law from arnhem land james gurrwanngu gaykamangu this article is for both yolngu aboriginal people and for balanda white people. Yolngu spend much time discussing and reexploring kinship, and refitting newcomers and distant kin into the system. For one thing, the wangarr created through their activities the present features of the landscape and seascape such as rivers, rocks. We try to make our students see exactly how it all works in yolngu society, because its a part of the yolngu system. Kinship learning the intricate pattern of kinship is part of every aboriginal childs education. This system governs fundamental aspects of yolngu life, including responsibilities for ceremony and marriage rules. While each figure of the tapestry has its own history and identity, the figures combine to produce a broader complex in which the group is always prior to the individual. Casey foundation child welfare strategy group has identified several types of data that an agency seeking to understanding their kinship care system should collect. Yolngu came into lasting contact with a belief system which differed from their own when the methodist missions were established in 1934 at yirrkala, then on elcho island in 1942. An introductory handbook with particular emphasis on the western desert, marseille, pacificcredo publications. These state or county agencies often work with private child welfare agencies to provide services for families and children.
Hansen, 1979, pintupiluritja kinship, alice springs, nt, institute for aboriginal development. The possibilities for such nomenclature would seem limitless, but anthropologists have identified a small number of basic systems that are found in all world societies. If the position of the visitor within the kinship structure is unknown, then once it is ascertained, normal. Adoption means offering someone a place within the kinship system by adopting them as one of our family. Nasa images solar system collection ames research center. While the languages and clan names differ between the yolngu, anindilyakwa and nunngubuyu people, the underlying concepts are similar across the region. Kinship is one of the main organizing principles of society. Dmg workshop based on gurrutu the yolngu kinship system.
Yolngu life in the northern territory of australia. All of these relationships have roles and responsibilities attached to them. Radcliffebrown 1964 insisted on the study of a kinship system as a field of rights and obligations and saw it as part of the social structure. This paper uses concepts from yolngu philosophy to explore these factors in three contexts. This chapter expands on that suggestion and presents models of the evolution of two distinct types of australian aboriginal kinship terminology, the first associated with yolngu languages of northeast arnhem land and. People in all societies are bound together by various kinds of bonds.
The system of kinship, that is, the way in which relations between individuals and groups are organised, occupies a central place in all human societies. Yolngu groups are connected by a complex kinship system gurrutu. Since then, ethnographic and theoretical research concerning this matter has been sporadic and inconclusive, with societies that display this feature most often being treated as anomalous. Yolngu kinship, beautiful pronouns, and other such wonderful things. Breakthrough resource to teach whitefellas about reality. Kinship system definition of kinship system by the free. This book is not a complete guide to working with yol.
Innovations and interdisciplinary methods are described by the originators of the new approaches and other leading regional experts. Warwu 2012 by the late gulumbu yunupingu being gurru t u is a fact of life for yol. Learn more about dhuwa and yirritja this is a 1p pdf written in 2000. In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. The system of classes or skins puts everybody in a specific kinship relationship. Yolngu knowledge is socially distributed on the basis of clan membership, age, and gender, with rights of access varying on an individual basis according to these factors and a persons kinship position. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Underlying gurrutu, and anchoring the human groups that are linked by gurrutu to their land and sea estates, is rom. The foundation of the yolngu social system and system of governance is gurrutu the complex networks of kinship that link individuals and groups to each other.
To be outside the kinship system is to be inhuman or nonhuman. A yolngu woman might adopt another as a yapa sister or wawa brother, or waku son or daughter. Breaking the marriage laws of ngarra is seen as dishonoring and can result in harsh punishment such as being taking a spear through the leg. How do oceti sakowin kinship systems help people live well. Kinship is a term that is used to describe how people relate to one other in different cultures. The standard seems to have been natalocal, a system in which each spouse remained with his or her family. Each yolngu person is born into a group called a moiety. Disruption in kinship foster care, adoption and guardianship placements types of kinship data through efforts to help several jurisdictions improve kinship care, the annie e. The adopted person then has kinship links with the whole community. When bloodlines cannot be found to trace kinship, a system of subsections. The family concept and yolngubalanda relations peter lister. It is one of the basic social institutions found in every society. She says yolngu kinship and family connections are critical in helping to prevent more deaths, with solutions embedded.
The editors bring together experts from the disciplines of anthropology and linguistics to explore kinship in societies around the world and to reconstruct kinship in ancient times. Some yolngu knowledge is restricted to certain people or contexts and some knowledge can only be imparted by particular individuals. Traditional kinship structures remain important in. A system of nurturing and caring that covers the lands, the animals, the plants on those lands and the fish in the seas. Saving the yolngu people the sydney morning herald. It is in this sense that anthropologists say that primitive society is, to a large degree, organized and regulated by kinship chagnon, page 142. Workers understanding of the concepts of family and kinship it is important for workers to have an understanding of the concepts of family and kinship as they exist for aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples. As with the macassans from the macassan straits in indonesia, whose culture had influenced yolngu for centuries before, their response was adaptive and creative. The functions, bases, classes and importance of kinship. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Jul 28, 2012 yolngu kinship, beautiful pronouns, and other such wonderful things. Full text of african systems of kinship and marriage see other formats. The complex, asymmetrical yolngu kinship system was the subject of the murngin controversy that occupied much space in anthropological journals in the 1960s see barnes 1967.
Kinship relations are also mapped onto the lands owned by the yolngu through their hereditary estates. The law described is that of the yolngu people who speak the yolngu matha languages yet the article is. Kinship is of great important in aboriginal society, both kinship with the land, its flora and fauna, and with other aboriginal people, a complex system governs kinship, relating to customs, laws and language and determining societal and ceremonial responsibilities and relationships to the land and to others. Because this concept has often been denied by the trajectories in anthropology over the last few decades, kinship systems represents a reassertion of, and advances on, classical kinship theory and methods. Marriage is a yolngu s right according to the sacred law of ngarra in a complex kinship system called gurrutu. A system that is a true system of law that can bring peace and prosperity to the yol. Noongar people, noongar land viii part of the evidence required for proof of native title in a court is an expert anthropological report. Our culture has systems of law structure that are as old as the australian continent itself. In other words, we must rethink at the most basic level, what is kinship.
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