Diaspora as a Repercussion of Colonization in the Kim Scott’s ‘Benang’

Colonization created upheavals around the world. The worlds of Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals which were unaware of the other world that existed were shattered and scattered by the colonial rule. The indigenous people were subjected to cruel treatment at the hands of colonizers. In the Americas the mass killings of the natives took place by intentional spreading of the epidemics. Same incidents took place in Australia. The colonial rule always invented novel ways to destroy the native people, culture and their society. For instance, the policy of Doctrine of lapse which was introduced in India destroyed the local rulers and the princely states. Due to this many princely states in India came under the rule of British. In Australia to eliminate aboriginals the white government came up with the idea of assimilation policy. Assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing aboriginal people onto white society through the process of removing children from their aboriginal families forcefully. The ultimate intent of the policy was the destruction of Aboriginal society. The protagonist of the novel Benang is the victim of this process. He also goes through the diasporic experiences of alienation, isolation and loss of identity. This paper analyses the diaspora as a repercussion of colonization in the novel Benang.

Aboriginal Worlds and Australian Capitalism

Australia has a fairly established literature that seeks to explain, on one hand, the pre-colonial Aboriginal society and economy and, on the other, the relationship that emerged between the First Peoples’ economic system and society, and the settler economy. Most of this relies on theoretical frameworks that narrate traditional worlds dissolving. At best, these narratives see First Peoples subsumed into the workforce, retaining minimal cultural residue. In this paper, I argue against these narratives, showing the ways Aboriginal people have disrupted, or implicitly questioned and challenged dominant forms of Australian capitalism. I have sought to write not within the earlier framework of what is called Aboriginal History that often concentrated on the governance of Aborigines rather than responses to governance. In doing this, I seek to bring into view a history of Aboriginal strategies within a capitalist world that sought to maintain the most treasured elements of social life - generosity, equality, relatedness, minimal possessions, and a rich and pervasive ceremonial life.

The language of space and ownership in rural New South Wales in the mid-nineteenth-century: rural workers

Language used in depositions in colonial New South Wales shows a mobile non-Aboriginal society of close surveillance, rumour and informing. This derived from the convict system. In response to this there was considerable play with marking and markers, including the widespread use of nicknames and emphasis on personal space. Outside of this was the dreamlike realm of entertainment to be had in public houses, Aboriginal camps and Chinese tents at the diggings. Aboriginal politics was present at all of these places but Aboriginal camps were also places of considerable danger.

THE WATERFINDERS. A cultural history of the Australian dingo

For thousands of years, the water-finding abilities of the Australian dingo ( Canis dingo), has assisted human survival in one of the most extreme, arid environments on earth. In addition to their contribution to Traditional Aboriginal society as a guardian, living blanket, hunting assistant and companion, the dingo’s role as intermediary between the earth’s surface and the river systems that flow beneath the continent is legendary. Both the ancestral/mythical dingo and the contemporary dingo are attributed with having assisted people in the location of aquifers, billabongs, inland lakes. They guided people safely across hundreds of kilometers of desert, locating the places where water sources reach up closest to the earth’s surface from the underground lakes and waterways that flow beneath the continent. The dingo’s status in Aboriginal culture is celebrated in the naming of waterholes, soaks, river systems and aquifers. This paper follows the path of the ancient dingo, tracing how, as a cultural keystone species, dingoes have shaped human society and belief systems, encouraging cultures of reciprocity and laws of protection for vital resources. Post-colonization, these traditions have not been recognized outside of Aboriginal communities, and this loss of cultural heritage comes at great cost to the Australian environment, biodiversity and the health and preservation of vital resources.

Survival, Social Cohesion and Rock Art: The Painted Hands of Western Arnhem Land, Australia

This paper explores the complex story of a particular style of rock art in western Arnhem Land known as ‘Painted Hands’. Using new evidence from recent fieldwork, we present a definition for their style, distribution and place in the stylistic chronologies of this region. We argue these motifs played an important cultural role in Aboriginal society during the period of European settlement in the region. We explore the complex messages embedded in the design features of the Painted Hands, arguing that they are more than simply hand stencils or markers of individuality. We suggest that these figures represent stylized and intensely encoded motifs with the power to communicate a high level of personal, clan and ceremonial identity at a time when all aspects of Aboriginal cultural identity were under threat.

The extinct Calusa tribe as the hegemon of the South Florida in the XVI-XVII centuries: reasons for its military leadership among other aborigines of Florida

The result of this work was the identification and designation of several cornerstones in the deep thousand-years history of the aboriginal society of South Florida - the Calusa Indians, who led this people to the leader position in the region. The results of the study combined and used numerous of old written sources that mention various points of contact between Spaniards and disappeared civilizations, as well as new documents - books and dissertations, thesis of leading professors of Florida and the United States, dedicated to the extinct peoples of the Florida region. In addition, artefacts and reconstructions of local life in South Florida were investigated, studying them during numerous visits to Florida museums by the author. It has been hypothesized that there is an important link between the creation of large dwellings among the Calusa people and their way of life as a fishing-hunting-gathering society with the mobile organization of the armed forces and the mobility of the entire community in the face of annual Florida natural disasters. The result of the work was also an elimination of the white spot in the Soviet and Russian scientific literature about a fairly ancient and atypical settled people of fishermen-hunter-gatherers when covering the events of the era of great discoveries and the collision of two worlds during the Spanish conquest.