Themes
Language, kinship and heritage
Language revitalisation and education
Conference Papers
Session U4: Cultural expression and identity
1. Ray Kelly Between the lines
Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow
Abstract
New South Wales was the first part of Australia to be colonized, written records of Aboriginal languages in this state are over 200 years old. Over that period of time the body of linguistic data that has accumulated is considerable, but it is also extremely irregular both in quality and regional coverage. Are there clues within the data base to overcome and redress these issues of difference? Aboriginal people from many parts of NSW continually have to face the broader Australian perception of having little ongoing traditional cultural background; this positioning can be directly attributed to language loss and the continuation of ongoing cultural practices.
The regular conduct of cultural business (Aboriginal for Aboriginal) by senior clan leaders and other knowledge holders has also seen the decline of other important cultural skills and insights, in particular the traditions of song making, dance creation and the craft of storytelling the ability to contemplate the past, to see the present and to imagine the future. Through the development of a number of artistic theatre workshops and programs I want to assist other Aboriginal people to interpret, reshape and redefine the culturally imagery of Aboriginal people from New South Wales.
The future of the Aboriginal cultural landscape in NSW is dependant upon the manner in which cultural practices are reinvigorated, maintained and protected, whilst it is true that many similarities exist for Aboriginal groups across the nation every group, clan or tribe must begin to understand their own specific language, history and culture.Drawing from language data bases from the middle of the coastline of NSW including Dhanggati, Gaddang, Gumbayngirr and Hunter River & Lake Macquarie, I want to continue working with traditional songs, stories and dances from these historical landscapes, and I want to join others to reestablish the dance grounds, give voice to the songs and to tell the stories that are not told.
Today in Australia the repatriation of traditional languages has Government support; a number of Regional Language Centers are established and many fine linguists are hard at work and for Aboriginal Australians it is imperative that we accept and exhaust all opportunities of support and training, but we can not be the students forever. In 2009, the data base as it stands, is a heritage to be thankful for, Scholars both black and white have gifted this legacy to be proud of. We need to understand the tools of linguistics, and we also need to research, examine and analyze the work of each scholar, anthropologist, archeologist, and linguist. Where are the connections? What are the boundaries and borders between groups, tribes and clans, can they found? I think the information is between the lines.
2. Leah Lui-Chivizhe: The ‘Coming of the Light’: Re-enacting Zulai Wan in urban Australia.
Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow
Abstract
Zulai Wan or the more evocative ‘Coming of the Light’ is the annual celebration of the arrival of Christianity in the Torres Strait islands. Past celebrations have often featured re-enactments of the landing of the very first missionaries on Erub (Darnley Island) on the 1st of July 1871. Having attended re-enactments in both Brisbane and Sydney, including a few on the Brisbane River which incorporated white clad 'missionaries' and semi-naked 'natives', I remain curious about the place of such re-enactments in the constructions of urban Torres Strait Islander spirituality, cultural practices and identity. My paper will examine how and why Zulai Wan continues to capture the collective imagination of urban based Torres Strait Islanders.
Author bio:
Leah has worked at the Koori Centre, University of Sydney since 1998 in both teaching and research roles. She is a Torres Strait Islander who was born and grew up on the mainland after her family moved to western Queensland in the early 1960s. Inspired partly by her father’s experience, her current research examines the history of Torres Strait Islander involvement in the railway industry in northern Australia from the 1950s to the 1970s. Leah has also researched Torres Strait Islander tombstone ceremonies in Townsville (1987-88) and in 2008 she graduated from the University of Sydney with an MSc (Geography). Her thesis was on identity construction and Torres Strait Islanders in Sydney.
3. Stephanie Thompson: The Tribal Warrior Association – reconstructing identities
Full paper 
65Kb| Audio | Video | Slideshow 
621KB
Abstract
Small groups of Aboriginal people living on Darug, Tharawal and Gundungurra country around Sydney, many with connections to other areas of Australia, have been participating in a study of Indigenous identity and Aboriginality, as expressed through the work of contemporary Aboriginal creative and performance artists, researchers, writers, historians, curators, sports people, elders and other members of Indigenous communities.
Participants in the study have been discussing how they give expression to their Indigenous identity through their work and in their daily lives, and how what they do affects them as an Indigenous person.
The study of contemporary Indigenous identity and Aboriginality arising out of historical events and processes questions:
• the extent to which present-day Indigenous communities are able to achieve relative autonomy in constructing their identity and redefining and reclaiming cultural property; and
• the issues for Aboriginal people living in urban areas, where a prevailing western ethos, social structures and laws represent new forms of appropriation and constraints affecting Indigenous cultural property, against and in relation to which Aboriginal people define themselves.
Participants in the study, whose stories contribute to a narrative of present-day Indigenous identity making, include members of the Tribal Warrior Association, a non-profit maritime training company, based in Redfern and operated by Aboriginal elders. The training program aims to help young Aboriginal men and women gain accredited qualifications and work experience which will enable them to make choices in their own lives, rising above the negativity they had previously experienced to ‘a new vision’ of themselves. A tourism arm of the Association links the training to Aboriginal cultural tours on Sydney Harbour, designed to showcase Aboriginal seamanship and to counter public misconceptions about Aboriginality by gaining public recognition of the continuing Aboriginal presence in Sydney.
A landmark event on 9 June 2003 was the triumphant re-entry into Sydney harbour of the Tribal Warrior after a twenty-one months’ voyage around Australia, visiting and conveying ‘Letters of Goodwill’ to 120 Aboriginal coastal communities. The circumnavigation symbolised Aboriginal self-affirmation at many levels: as a form of initiation for the trainees, a reconnection with traditional ways of interacting through the renewal of links with Aboriginal communities around the Australian coastline, and as a flagship for nation-building and reconciliation Australia-wide.
Author Bio:
Stephanie Lindsay Thompson, ANU, is conducting PhD research into Indigenous identity, as expressed through the work of contemporary Aboriginal creative and performance artists, researchers, writers, curators, elders and other members of Indigenous communities in the Sydney region. The research topic was prompted by Indigenous respondents in her MPhil study of Indigenous representation in the small museums of western Sydney. From a non-Aboriginal background, Stephanie became involved in Indigenous issues while working with Aboriginal colleagues on the Children’s Services Program, and for the Human Rights Commission. Her earlier migration research included Lindsay Thompson 1980. Australia Through Italian Eyes: A Study of Settlers Returning from Australia to Italy. Melbourne: OUP. The book won the Oxford Quincentenary Award (1978) and the NSW Premier’s Special Book Award sponsored by the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW (1980).
4. Joe Perry: Racism in sport
Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow 494KB
Abstract
Racism is imbedded and visible in the foundations of the Australian society. Its roots and feelers have spread like weeds to every community and can easily be recognised in each aspect of our social life. It has become an institutional problem within the history of the colonisation and to a supposedly expanding multicultural society. “This racism remains in the social, political and administrative systems of Australian society, albeit now at a residual level. At an individual level, however, Indigenous people are still subject to vilification and there remains a deep hatred against them which is not directed with such vitriol in any other group in our society.”(Keel,2000:40) So why would sport be different to any other aspect of Australian society? Racism has always been apart of Australian sporting culture whenever players of differing nationalities whether domestic or international competed. Indigenous people have contributed greatly to the successful sporting portrait that Australia has created and takes great pride in. Every Indigenous sportsperson has experienced varying levels of racism that has always been evident throughout Australian sporting teams and events. This paper explores a number of questions that relate to racism in Australian sport and Indigenous sportspersons. How has racist attitudes impact on Aboriginal players and their involvement in the game that they excelled and loved to play? When does sport in Australia become a level playing field for all players regardless of the colour of your skin?