Reimagining Kinship Systems and Networks:

Abstract

Aboriginal people in Australia continue to endure the ongoing effects of 250 years of colonisation. However, the social and ontological basis of their Kinship Systems and networks highlights their resilience and resistance against western hierarchies and ideologies. Kinship Systems and networks represent the relationships between culture and nature and do not distinguish between the human and non-human world. The basis of the Kinship Systems and networks extends seamlessly beyond the human into the Ancestral and spiritual realms. As part of the creation process, Land was created first, followed by people and then languages belonging to the Land. Languages are living entities, connecting people with their Country, Ancestors and culture while transmitting intergenerational knowledges within and across thousands of generations. It is impossible to separate one from the other. These entities coexist through and beyond notions of space and time. This inseparable relationship between Land, language, and the rights of Aboriginal People forms the cornerstone of their activism. For example, Aboriginal activists in the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia fight for racial [human] rights and environmental justice consistent with their symbiotic relationship. Drawing on interviews carried out in early 2023 with Aboriginal activists engaged in the revival of languages and Land rights, this paper will examine how the relationships between sustainability, care for Country and language are articulated in and through Kinship systems and networks. It will explain the deep reciprocity, identified by activists, focusing on environmental care and sustainability of Country, language revival and social justice efforts.