Contemporary Aboriginal Spiritualities Flashcards
The Dreaming encompases
- The origins of the universe
- the inextricable connection to the land
What is meant by “metatemporal”
The dreaming is metatemporal, meaning it encompases the past, present and future simultaneously
What is “Kinship”?
Kinship is the tangible expression of the Dreaming, it determines systems of moral and financial support, it also defines roles, responsibilities and obligations within communities
What are the 3 levels of kinship?
- Moiety- 2 birth groups
- Totems- each person has 4, spiritual emblems from nature
- Skin names- like a surname, indicate bloodline
What is the relation between the land and the dreaming?
The land is considered the physical medium through which the dreaming is lived and communicated, providing foundation for Aboriginal belief, tradition, ritual and law
What is Kanyini?
“Responsibility and unconditional love for all creation”-
Elder Bob Randal, Yankunytjatjara land
Male initiation includes
- Taken from community by male Elders, for example the initiation site of Walpa Gorge
- Learn skin relationships
- Behaviour to females changes
- Circumcision, nose piercing, tooth extraction
Female initiation includes
- Smaller number of people
- First sign of puberty girl is taken to isolated area
- She learns “women’s business”
- In some communities she may be ritually bathed
How is death generally regarded in indigenous culture?
- “Sorry business”
- Not the end of life, but the last ceremony before they return to the eternal life force of the dreaming
What are some customs regarding death in indigenous culture?
- the name of those who have died can not be repeated for 3-4 years
- after this period the eldest son or daughter may pass it on to an infant
- possessions are burnt and destroyed
- Shelters are burnt, and sometimes entire camps may move
When was the protection policy?
1890s-1920s
What did the protection policy involve?
“Smooth the pillow for a dying race” (campaign of the time)
- Separation from the land, entire communities would be moved onto reserves or missions
- Aboriginal people became dependent on handouts of tea, sugar, blankets and so on
When was the assimilation policy?
1920s-1960s
What did the assimilation policy involve?
Stolen generation
- mixed (half-caste) children were forcibly removed from their homes
- paternalistic policy that was ignorant and infantilising
What was Kinchela boy’s home?
A horrific “home” for Aboriginal people built on stolen Dunghutti land
- boys endured physical hardship, sexual abuse, alienation and abuse
What year did Aboriginal people gain the right to vote?
1962
What did the 1967 referendum achieve?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be counted as part of the population
When was the bringing them home report
1997
Quote from Florence Onus
“we’ve suffered a lot of loss through intergenerational trauma”
Why was Kevin Rudd’s 2008 apology speech important?
- reconciliation
- recognised and apologised for the pain and trauma caused by the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families
Quote from Sorry speech:
“righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.”
“Nothing can ease the pain…
it will never leave me” (“We Were Just Little Boys”, narrated by survivors of Kinchela Boys Home”
What are some continuing effects of separation from the land?
- Inability to live out the dreaming–> no sacred sites
- Land is mother, loss of land= loss of spiritual identity
- Disconnected lines
What are some continuing effects of separation from kinship?
- Destroyed identity of aboriginal people
- Interrupting complex systems
- break in obligations
- loss of identity
