permaculture

[BOb Howard <rmhoward@omninet.net.au>]

Michael Dean wrote:

> Dear Bob,
>
> Your reply is very very interesting. These sorts of discussions really get 
> you thinking, and it is one of life's pleasures that we are able to think 
> in these various terms.
>
> What really interests me is the difference in the European and the 
> Aboriginal attitudes. You seem to be closely aquainted with the 
> Pitjantjatjara Aboriginies
> who have a different notion of the self to that of the European and these 
> differences manifest themselves in  their attitudes to exchange, fairness, 
> reciprocity and selfishness.
>
> Please tell me more! The Aborigine has been in Australia for about 40,000 
> years and has influenced the landscape extensively. Are you able to explain 
> how he interprets the world and in what ways this is different from that of 
> the Europeans?
>
> Mike Dean
>

I don't want to overstate my acquaintance with Aboriginal people - I only 
have worked briefly with Pitjantjatjara people although I have spent many 
years (30) working with Aboriginal people in more urban environments. But the 
persistence of
notions of fairness, generosity and mutual obligation even within groups 
whose society has been subject to genocidal attack is a measure of their 
heroic courage in the face of cruel adversity.

Noongar people in Albany who I have lived and worked with for the last 10 odd 
years constantly challenge me with their generosity. The idea of asking for 
something ( a coat, the shirt of one's back, a lift somewhere etc.) is usually
misinterpreted by wadjilas (whitefellas) as importunate begging yet amongst 
Noongar people the request is more often than not acceded to. The giver in 
fulfilling the request accepts a social obligation to an 'uncle' or 'aunty' 
or 'brother' or
'sister'. To work 'successfully' with Aboriginal people to my mind involves 
being willing to step beyond the idea of doing a job and to treat people as 
members of one's extended family.

Now sometimes these cultural obligations have adverse consequences - 
selfishness is not unknown amongst Aboriginal people and the cultural 
sanctions against selfishness have been considerably weakened by capitalism's 
adulation of what was once
regarded as a sin. Similarly alcohol and jealousy of individual achievements 
have often despairing effects on the communities cohesion.

From a traditional point of view, everybody and everything is related. 
Initially the world is divided into a shade side and a sun side. In Noongar 
these are known as Manichmat and Wardangmat - the cockatoo and the crow 
sides. In other parts of
Australia the eagle is used instead of the crow. The substitution in the 
south west is due to the presence of little corella's (white cockatoos) in 
large numbers often intermixed with crows. Manitch and Wardang carry other 
meanings - manitch
means manager and was used as slang for policeman; wardang means watcher. The 
doer and the watcher. The owner and the manager of land or sacred sites. All 
land based ceremony takes place under the auspices of the owner of a site and 
it's
manager.

Critically one always takes one's wife or husband from the opposite moiety. 
One's children may inherit their moeity from either their father or their 
mother depending upon the local custom.

Within this tao like division their can be further subdivisions. In the south 
Tondarup, Didaruk, and others that may alternate with generations or be 
inherited directly. A little thought reveals that the owner and the manager 
then manifest as
one's mother's brother and as oneself.

In the desert, this scheme is elaborated into the 8 'skin' (or section) 
system used amongst the Pitjantjatjara, Pintubi, Walpiri and others or the 
six skins system of the Nganatjara. These elaborations have spread in recent 
years and been
adopted by tribes who previously had 4 skin systems.

Everyone who works in a desert community is given a skin name soon after 
arrival and fitted into the scheme. Old people will deal with Aboriginal 
strangers from other parts of the country by first enquiring as to their 
local skin and then after
much discussion work out what the appropriate skin is within the local 
community.

Once your skin is ascertained then one 1/8 of the people are your 
classificatory mothers and mother's brothers and sisters, 1/8th are your 
sisters and brothers, 1/8th are your potential spouses, 1/8th are your son in 
law or mother in-law who
you should not speak to but regularly offer gifts and presents to.

I'm really skimming the surface here but this is a taste of what's involved.

There is an ongoing debate about whether Aboriginal culture/people are really 
like the rest of us or are really different. This debate is commonly heard in 
racist circles. IMHO the cultural differences between Aboriginal and European 
culture
are profound and constantly downplayed because of the poor reflection that 
they cast upon the cultural habits of Europeans.

But hey that's another story.

Regards

Bob Howard