Aboriginal Narratives Research Articles

Australian Aboriginal techniques for memorization: Translation into a medical and allied health education setting.

Writing and digital storage have largely replaced organic memory for encoding and retrieval of information in the modern era, with a corresponding decrease in emphasis on memorization in Western education. In health professional training, however, there remains a large corpus of information for which memorization is the most efficient means of ensuring: A) that the trainee has the required information readily available; and B) that a foundation of knowledge is laid, upon which the medical trainee builds multiple, complex layers of detailed information during advanced training. The carefully staged progression in early- to late- years' medical training from broad concepts (e.g. gross anatomy and pharmacology) to in-depth, specialised disciplinary knowledge (e.g. surgical interventions and follow-on care post-operatively) has clear parallels to the progression of training and knowledge exposure that Australian Aboriginal youths undergo in their progression from childhood to adulthood to Tribal Elders. As part of the Rural Health curriculum and the undergraduate Nutrition and Dietetics program in the Monash University Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences, we tested Australian Aboriginal techniques of memorization for acquisition and recall of novel word lists by first-year medical students (N = 76). We also examined undergraduate student evaluations (N = 49) of the use of the Australian Aboriginal memory technique for classroom study of foundational biomedical knowledge (the tricarboxylic acid cycle) using qualitative and quantitative analytic methods drawing from Bloom's taxonomy for orders of thinking and learning. Acquisition and recall of word lists were assessed without memory training, or after training in either the memory palace technique or the Australian Aboriginal narrative technique. Both types of memory training improved the number of correctly recalled items and reduced the frequency of specific error types relative to untrained performance. The Australian Aboriginal method resulted in approximately a 3-fold greater probability of improvement to accurate recall of the entire word list (odds ratio = 2.82; 95% c.i. = 1.15-6.90), vs. the memory palace technique (odds ratio = 2.03; 95% c.i. = 0.81-5.06) or no training (odds ratio = 1.5; 95% c.i. = 0.54-4.59) among students who did not correctly recall all list items at baseline. Student responses to learning the Australian Aboriginal memory technique in the context of biomedical science education were overwhelmingly favourable, and students found both the training and the technique enjoyable, interesting, and more useful than rote memorization. Our data indicate that this method has genuine utility and efficacy for study of biomedical sciences and in the foundation years of medical training.

Fantastic Primeval Beings and Their Roles in Reconstructions of Indigenous Colonial Cosmologies from the Eastern Andes of Colombia

Abstract This article addresses the roles of fantastic primeval beings in foundational aboriginal narratives collected in writing by Spanish friars during campaigns of conversion in the Eastern Andes of Colombia during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries CE. This article argues that fantastic creatures are not mere fiction or propaganda. On the contrary, these characters constitute key cultural referents that play essential roles in shaping and bringing into existence society and cosmos in indigenous cosmologies during the colonial period. Foremost, these characters are rendered as necessary to deliver the colonial world into existence.

Australian Aboriginal Narratives and the Politics of Memory in Sally Morgan’s My Place and Kate Grenville’s The Secret River

Australian Aboriginal Narratives and the Politics of Memory in Sally Morgan’s My Place and Kate Grenville’s The Secret River

Marine Transgression, Aboriginal Narratives and the Creation of Yorke Peninsula/Guuranda, South Australia

This paper provides new palaeogeographical reconstructions of the Spencer Gulf and Yorke Peninsula/Guuranda region of South Australia for the period ca. 20,000–6000 cal. BP. The rich complexity of traditional Aboriginal (Narungga) sea-level narratives is also explored. These narratives, which form a highly significant system of knowledge, are considered together by the Narungga and non-Narungga authors of the paper to generate a new dialogue about Aboriginal traditions and scientific data. The dialogue between the Narungga knowledge systems and palaeogeographic mapping reveals a strong concordance for events/time slices inclusive of the onset of marine transgression, the creation of northern Spencer Gulf and the formation of some islands—while also establishing that there are deeper complexities inherent within Narungga narratives that demonstrate layers of meaning at multiple scales. The palaeogeographic reconstructions are also considered in relation to the known archaeology and geomorphology of the region as well as new observations arising from this research. Targets for future underwater (and terrestrial) investigation relating to the periods of marine transgression are also outlined.

Sexy and sovereign? Aboriginal models hit the ‘multicultural mainstream’

ABSTRACTLong argued by post-colonial scholarship, Indigenous sexualities have been variously cast as pathological and abject, or fetishized and exotiziced. In the Australian context, Aboriginal sexualities have never been granted a normalized, agentic visibility in the white Australian imaginary. Since the 1990s, however, there has been an increase of ‘sexy’ Aboriginal ‘stars’ in the Australian media. This newfound visibility invites fresh questions about race, beauty, appropriation and resistance, most particularly in ways that centres Aboriginal narratives: What does it mean to be visible and ‘mainstreamed’ in a media that ‘values diversity’, whilst denying sovereignty for Indigenous people? This question is significant in the Australian context, but also has relevance for rethinking race, sexuality and media representations in colonial contexts internationally. The paper explores this newfound exposure through the voices of two Australian Aboriginal women, Samantha Harris and Magnolia Maymaru. These women have come to national and international fame as celebrated models in a fashion industry priding itself on becoming more inclusive and multicultural. It focuses on their responses to journalists over the course of their careers, as well as how the stories construct beauty and Aboriginality. I draw on Indigenous feminist scholars, particularly the work of Irene Watson, who foreground the subject of sovereignty and remind us that discourses of multiculturalism have a charged meaning for Indigenous people. I also draw on the insights of Elizabeth Povinelli who considers how sexuality intersects with discourses of empire, and how Indigenous people employ ‘creative engagements’ with liberal multiculturalism. Positioning sovereignty and multiculturalism side by side, I reflect on how Samantha and Magnolia enact a sovereign sexuality, and what this might look like. Rather than fix colonial alterity or reproduce multicultural ‘inclusions’, their narratives skirt, sidestep and ‘dance’ with the discourses constructing their lives, attending to race while transcending its colonial limits.

The Aboriginal trauma narrative and Roeg’s Walkabout

ABSTRACTMarshall’s Walkabout and Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of that novel appeared at different points in Aboriginal trauma narrative constructions. Works often appear before a trauma narrative is complete. In this article, I employ an analysis of the imperial gaze as a way of evaluating the two works. I investigate Nicolas Roeg’s 1971 adaptation of the novel in the context of the evolving Australian Aboriginal trauma narrative and also in the context of the Aboriginal narrative being one narrative among many in the larger global civil rights narrative. The source novel is itself the product of a stage in the Aboriginal trauma narrative. As the trauma narrative evolves, it opens up new definitions of the experience represented in the novel. Roeg examines and engages these developments in his adaptation. Roeg revises the racial and domestic logic of the novel, exposing its civil rights ethics as a product of arrested development. His film is best understood if one understands that it exists as part of the building of a larger trauma narrative.

Ten postulates concerning narrative in Aboriginal Australia

This article seeks to identify aspects of narratives in Aboriginal Australia, which are distinctive from narratives typical of non-Indigenous Australia, based on comments which have been made in previous academic publications about these linguistic communities. Anecdotally, people unfamiliar with Aboriginal narratives may comment that a story which a traditional Aboriginal audience will find entertaining and rewarding, appears to them to be unengaging, lacking point, or repetitive. One goal of this article is to uncover some of the expectations that these different audiences have about what constitutes a ‘good’ story. To differentiate traditional Aboriginal narratives from stories encountered in the wider Australian community, ten features distinctive of Aboriginal narrative are proposed.

Towards resilience and playfulness: the negotiation of indigenous Australian identities in twentieth-century Aboriginal narratives

This article looks at the ideological ramifications of the narrative strategies that twentieth-century Aboriginal prose texts use to negotiate indigenous Australian identities. The central thesis is that after a period during which narratives by Aboriginal authors by necessity followed the form of the life histories to detail the actual experiences of oppression under the British settlers and past Australian governments, more recent indigenous Australian narratives are expressive of a regained confidence in playfully asserting Aboriginal identities. One can observe three developments in indigenous Australian narratives of the late twentieth century. First, the mode of fiction gradually increases its prevalence. Second, there has been a movement away from reports of what the colonisers did to indigenous Australians towards the foregrounding of more rebellious Aboriginal characters. Third, one can detect a significant increase in playfulness in narratives by indigenous Australian authors.

Engaging Australian Aboriginal narratives to challenge attitudes and create empathy in health care: a methodological perspective

BackgroundUnconscious bias and negative attitudes towards minority groups have detrimental effects on the way health care is, or is not, provided to these groups. Recognition of racist attitudes and behaviours as well as understanding clients’ experiences of health and health care are pivotal to developing better health care strategies to positively impact on the quality and safety of care provided to Indigenous people.Indigenous research demands inclusive research processes and the use of culturally appropriate methodologies. This paper presents a methodological account of collecting narratives which accurately and respectfully reflect Aboriginal Australians’ experiences with health care in Western Australia. The purpose of these narratives is to provide health students and professionals with an opportunity to ‘walk-in the shoes’ of Aboriginal people where face-to-face interaction is not feasible.MethodsWith the incorporation of Indigenous peoples’ voices being an important link in cultural safety, the project was led by an Indigenous Reference group, who encouraged active participation of Aboriginal people in all areas of the project. Using a phenomenological approach and guided by the Indigenous Reference group, yarning data collection was implemented to collect stories focusing on Aboriginal people’s experiences with health care services. An open-access, on-line website was established to host education resources developed from these “yarns”.ResultsYarning provided a rich source of information on personal experiences and encouraged the story provider to recognise their facilitative role in the research process. While the methodology used in this project was lengthy and labour-intensive it afforded a respectful manner for story collection and highlighted several innate flaws when Western methods are applied to an Indigenous context.ConclusionEngagement of an Indigenous Reference Group was pivotal to designing an appropriate methodology that incorporated the voices of Aboriginal people in a multimedia resource of Aboriginal narratives. However further research is warranted to understand how the resources are being used and integrated into curricula, and their impact on students and health care outcomes.

Oral History On Trial: Recognizing Aboriginal narratives in the courts by Bruce Granville Miller (review)

Oral History On Trial: Recognizing Aboriginal narratives in the courts by Bruce Granville Miller (review)

A new dolphin species, the Burrunan Dolphin Tursiops australis sp. nov., endemic to southern Australian coastal waters.

Small coastal dolphins endemic to south-eastern Australia have variously been assigned to described species Tursiops truncatus, T. aduncus or T. maugeanus; however the specific affinities of these animals is controversial and have recently been questioned. Historically ‘the southern Australian Tursiops’ was identified as unique and was formally named Tursiops maugeanus but was later synonymised with T. truncatus. Morphologically, these coastal dolphins share some characters with both aforementioned recognised Tursiops species, but they also possess unique characters not found in either. Recent mtDNA and microsatellite genetic evidence indicates deep evolutionary divergence between this dolphin and the two currently recognised Tursiops species. However, in accordance with the recommendations of the Workshop on Cetacean Systematics, and the Unified Species Concept the use of molecular evidence alone is inadequate for describing new species. Here we describe the macro-morphological, colouration and cranial characters of these animals, assess the available and new genetic data, and conclude that multiple lines of evidence clearly indicate a new species of dolphin. We demonstrate that the syntype material of T. maugeanus comprises two different species, one of which is the historical ‘southern form of Tursiops’ most similar to T. truncatus, and the other is representative of the new species and requires formal classification. These dolphins are here described as Tursiops australis sp. nov., with the common name of ‘Burrunan Dolphin’ following Australian aboriginal narrative. The recognition of T. australis sp. nov. is particularly significant given the endemism of this new species to a small geographic region of southern and south-eastern Australia, where only two small resident populations in close proximity to a major urban and agricultural centre are known, giving them a high conservation value and making them susceptible to numerous anthropogenic threats.

Maturing Australia through Australian Aboriginal Narrative Law

This essay is a nonlinear narrative that attempts to “unthink” the ways in which Australian Indigenous peoples' identity, sovereignty, and law are discussed. An Australian Aboriginal law narrative and poetry are part of the unthinking language used to discuss these definitions. The essay challenges some of the Australian definitions of Indigenous identity, sovereignty, and law, which come out of a Western epistemology and value system. This challenge includes the role of the United Nations' special rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous peoples and its lack of female representation. The essay goes on to critique Australia's lack of maturity in accepting its geographical location in the Southern Hemisphere. The overall critique, however, is balanced with a suggested alternative governance system based on the classic thinking of Australian Aboriginal senior law persons.

Deconstructing a curriculum of dominance: teacher education, colonial frontier logics, and residential schooling

This article considers the idea of a curriculum of dominance in relation to the colonial logics that have, and continue to, shape the lived experiences and knowledges of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal individuals living in Ontario, Canada. In thinking about the present absence of certain Aboriginal narratives in relation to the ‘fort’ of Canadian history, the authors contemplate the ways in which the circumscribed logics of colonialism limit how we understand historical knowledge of Aboriginal groups not only as curriculum scholars but also as teachers and students who work in and have been educated in colonial public and Catholic schooling systems. Utilizing narrative assemblage as a research and writing methodology we partake in a dialectic wherein we confront the contours of colonial frontier logics. By braiding in our lived experiences, we seek to understand how curricular materials facilitate the silencing of certain Aboriginal narratives like residential schooling, the ways in which filmic representations can serve to re-write and redress lost memories, how one can learn from those who were subject to the violence of colonialism and how, as educators, we can address the violence and historical exclusion in our teacher education programs. Through this process, we suggest that although the continued discursive violence of colonial logics shape popular understandings of Aboriginal experiences in the Canadian nation-state, as socially justice orientated teachers we must continue to challenge the re-inscriptions of a curriculum of dominance within our future classrooms.

Country Music Capital: The Past in Tamworth

Contemporary Australian country music is marked by a fascination with the past — both its own and the nation’s. This paper will examine how that fascination grew with the construction of the NSW regional town of Tamworth as ‘Country Music Capital’ from 1973 to 2010. It will argue that the city — and by extension country music culture — began to see itself as the repository of an authentic Australian rural culture. In particular, Tamworth has sought to preserve what it saw as a stylistically pure and distinctive musical form: the bush ballad. It has done this in a variety of theatres: museums, awards for ‘bush ballads’ and ‘heritage’ songs, halls of fame and in the songs of popular performers.This article will examine how the past has been interpreted by country music in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It will ask whether country music interrogates or celebrates the past. It will also ask whose and what heritage does country music respect. In doing so, it will consider the role of patriotism in country music and the place of alternative narratives, particularly Aboriginal narratives, within this patriotism.This article has been peer reviewed.

Martu Storytellers: Aboriginal Narratives Within the Academy

Abstract The Martu people originate from the Pilbara region in Western Australia. Despite policies of removal, incarceration in prison and the need to leave community fo health services, Martu maintain identity and connection to country. Their narratives have used to inform a wider Australian audience about the history and culture of Aboriginal people. But the stories have also received criticism and been the subject of a Westernised anthropological view. With the emergence of storytelling as method in the academy, a new space is being created for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to find a more robust foothold within the Social Sciences to story our world. This paper is written by three Martu people who position storytelling as transmission and preservation of cultural knowledge and to privilege a voice to speak back to Western academics. Storytelling also brings an opportunity to engage with an Aboriginal worldview, to use narrative as an inquiry into ontology and one's connection to people and place. This brings benefits to all Australians seeking stories of country, connection and identity.

Aboriginal Representation: Conflict or Dialogue in the Academy

Abstract This research begins with the premise that non-Aboriginal students are challenged by much Aboriginal writing and also challenge its representations as they struggle to re-position themselves in relation to possible meanings within Aboriginal writing. Many non-Aboriginal students come to read an Aboriginal narrative against their understanding of what it means to be an Aboriginal Australian, accumulated via their prior reading of Australian history, literature and more contemporary social analysis and popular commentary. Aboriginal writing is confronting when it disturbs the more familiar representations of Aboriginal experience and characterisation previously encountered. The aim of this paper is to provide a more informed basis from which to consider higher education pedagogy for this area of literary studies. A further aim is to contribute to the literary studies discourse on Aboriginal representation in Australian literature.

Rereading David Malouf’s *Fly Away Peter*: The Great War, Aboriginal Dispossession, and the Politics of Remembering

The author’s account of Fly Away Peter is intended ‘to raise the question of the relation between Malouf’s closely intertwined narratives of the Great War and the formation of Australian identity and, on the other hand, Aboriginal narratives of dispossession and self-affirmation.’ This leads to a consideration of the novel’s treatment of the Anzac myth and its role as a settler narrative; and to a discussion of the ‘Ngurrara Canvas’, painted by ‘Great Sandy Desert traditional owners prior to the National Native Title tribunal hearings in 1997’. ‘Rather than pitting one narrative of loss and recovery against another, I hope to suggest some of the heterogenous, perhaps incommensurate elements in relation to which any twenty-first-century narrative of Australian identity must locate itself’ (38-39).

Why Do They Do It?–A Brief Inquiry into the Real Motives of Some of the Participants in the Recording, Transcribing, Translating, Editing, and Publishing of Aboriginal Oral Narrative

This article inquires into the motives of the participants in the recording, transcribing, translating, editing and publishing of Aboriginal narrative. The motivation of Aboriginal communicators, at the outset simple altruism, has evolved onto a pressing need to bear witness to past and present wrongs perpetrated against them by various agents of the dominant society. Social scientists’ motivations are equally complex. Most of the social sciences, and particularly anthropology, practice translation. Anthropology has elaborated translation theories that betray a general unease with how and why anthropologists translate. Anthropological translation differs from that of other disciplines in that when anthropologists translate oral and written “texts,” their ultimate aim is in fact the “translation” of the cultures that produced them. Keywords: anthropology, translation, Aboriginal, oral narrative, cultures.

UFOs, Otherness, and Belonging: Identity in Remote Aboriginal Australia

UFO beliefs exist around the world yet they have been almost exclusively analysed within the context of urban American society. This article seeks to understand the ways in which people from differing social and cultural backgrounds also engage in UFO narratives. In a remote Aboriginal desert community in Central Australia, descriptions of UFOs merge popular and media portrayals of extraterrestrials with elements and themes found in local Aboriginal cosmology. Consequently, Aboriginal narratives regarding extraterrestrial beings are able to both reflect the local social environment of race relations and affirm Aboriginal identity.

Audible in the Silence: Douglas Lockwood, Waipuldanya, and the postwar Aboriginal life narrative

During the period between the end of the Second World War and the appearance in the 1970s of the first indigenous autobiographical narratives, a significant number of texts that attempted to imagine what Australian society looked like through indigenous eyes were published and attained popularity. The majority of these were fictional works; several, however, were ostensible memoirs or autobiographies that claimed to be based closely on reminiscences transmitted orally by their Aboriginal subjects. They were all but entirely ignored by contemporary literary critics, historians, and even by most anthropologists. Through an examination of the most popular of the texts under consideration, Douglas Lockwood’s I, the Aboriginal, this discussion argues that it should be understood as an indicator of an important phase of Australian society’s dialogue with itself. The life story of Waipuldanya—the “I” of the title—while on one level clearly supportive of an assimilationist ethos that reinforces Western cultural norms and assumptions, is construed by the text on another level as an empowering vantage point from which to recuperate Aboriginal values and conceptions. Though he is seen to have attained the state of individualist selfhood valorised by the Western autobiographical tradition, he is also shown to be resistant to full deracination; he exercises his culturally inflected sense of autonomy to choose to remain faithful to his birth culture’s more communal conception of selfhood.