Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key"

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Revision as of 00:34, 22 September 2006

Australian Aboriginal kinship refers to the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Aboriginal culture. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Australia.

The main element is the division of clans within the same language group into skin groups, or moieties. The simplest system involves division into two skin groups. There can be four divisions, while more complex systems are divided into eight groups.

The system dicates who may marry whom – it is always taboo to marry into your own skin group – creating strong incest avoidance laws and strong bonds across clans through exogamous relations. It is often determined at birth who will marry whom. This can prove invaluable during drought or lack of resources, having cousins and skin sisters and brothers in other clans. It also creates obligations to care for those people in their time of need.

Each skin group has certain totems associated with it. Some Aboriginal groups, such as the Yolngu, include plants, animals and all aspects of the environment, as part of their respective skin groups.

A person of the same skin group, of the same generation, is called "brother" or "sister". There are also names for maternal aunts and uncles and paternal aunts and uncles. Additionally, there are strong avoidance relationships that need to be observed based on this system.

The skin group classification is cyclical in nature, changing with each generation. Non-Aboriginal people are often confounded to hear Aborigines refer to their great-grandmother as their daughter, or their great-grandaughter their mother. They are actually referring to the fact that those relatives are in the same skin group.

For traditional Aborigines, this system is a major foundation of their existence and way of viewing the world. As such, if a non-Aboriginal person is around their culture for any extended period, they must be adopted so they may be assigned a skin name and interact in the "proper way" with the group, knowing whom to avoid, whom to call sister, etc.

Many Aboriginal groups, particularly in the southeast of Australia, have lost this knowledge due to their forced removal to missions and children's homes, where many language groups mixed with each other, and Aboriginal language was forbidden.

Below are a few examples of different kinship systems from across Australia:

Systems with two skin groups

Pitjantjatjara

The Pitjantjatjara of northern South Australia have two moiety groups:

ngana nt arka (lit. we-bone) 'our side'
tjanamilytjan (lit. they flesh) 'their side'

However, they do not use skin names.

Yolŋu

For the Yolŋu of north-east Arnhem Land, life is divided into two skin groups: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups, each with their own lands, languages and philosophies:

Skin name Clan groups
Yirritja Gumatj, Gupapuyngu, Wangurri, Ritharrngu, Mangalili,
Munyuku, Madarrpa, Warramiri, Dhalwangu, Liyalanmirri.
Dhuwa Rirratjingu, Galpu, Djambarrpuyngu, Golumala, Marrakulu,
Marrangu, Djapu, Datiwuy, Ngaymil, Djarrwark.

A Yirritja person must always marry a Dhuwa person and vice versa. If a man or woman is Dhuwa, their mother will be Yirritja.

Kinship relations are also mapped onto the lands owned by the Yolngu through their hereditary estates – so everything is either Yirritja or Dhuwa – every fish, stone, river, etc, belongs to one or the other moiety.

Systems with eight skin groups

Pintupi

The Pintupi of the Western Desert have a complex kinship system, made more so by distinct prefixes for male and female skin names; "Tj" for males, "N" for females. The Warlpiri system is almost the same:

Template:Incomplete list

Gender Skin name Can only mary Children will be
Male Tjapaltjarri Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi
Female Napaltjarri
Male Tjapangati Nampitjinpa Tjapanangka, Napanangka
Female Napangati Tjampitjinpa Tjangala, Nangala
Male Tjakamarra Tjangala, Nangala
Female Nakamarra
Male Tjampitjinpa Napangati Tjangala, Nangala
Female Nampitjinpa Tjapangati
Male Tjapanangka Tjapangati, Napangati
Female Napanangka
Male Tjungurrayi Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri
Female Nungurrayi
Male Tjupurrula Tjakamarra, Nakamarra
Female Napurrula
Male Tjangala Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa
Female Nangala

Lardiil

The Lardiil of Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria also have eight skin groups, shown here with some of their totems: Template:Incomplete list

Male skin group Totems Can only mary
female skin group
Children will be
Ngarrijbalangi Rainbird, shooting star,
egret
Burrarangi Bangariny
Bangariny Brown hark, turtle Yakimarr Ngarrijbalangi
Buranyi Crane, salt water,
sleeping turtle
Kangal
Balyarriny Black tiger shark,
sea turtle
Kamarrangi
Burrarangi Lightning, rough sea,
black dingo
Ngarrijbalangi
Yakimarr Seagull, barramundi,
grey shark
Bangariny
Kangal Barramundi,
grey shark
Buranyi
Kamarrangi Rock, pelican, brolga,
red dingo
Balyarriny

Each Lardiil person belongs to one of these groups. Their paternal grandfather's skin group determines their own; so a Balyarriny man or woman will have a Balyarriny grandfather. A Ngarrijbalangi person can only marry a Burrarangi, a Bangariny a Yakimarr, a Buranyi a Kangal and a Balyarriny a Kamarrangi, and vice versa for each.

Once a person's skin group is known, their relationship to any other Lardiil can be determined. A Ngarrijbalangi is a 'father' to a Bangariny, a 'father-in-law' to a Yakimarr and a 'son' to another Bangariny, either in a social sense or purely through linearship

See also

References

  • Binnion, Joan (1979) The Lardil People of Mornington Island (Student Handbook), Aboriginal Community College, Port Adelaide.
  • Hansen, Kenneth C. and Lesley E. Hansen, 1979, Pintupi/Luritja kinship, Alice Springs, NT, Institute for Aboriginal Development.
  • Ausanthrop kinship tutorial
  • Ausanthrop
  • Central Land Council