Ten Canoes and 1066

This chapter examines the 2006 film Ten Canoes, an acclaimed Aboriginal Australian cross-cultural text in which a ‘Middle Age’ is both invoked and portrayed in an entirely defamiliarizing way. It explores the surprising potential, in the hands of indigenous agents, for invocations of a ‘Middle Age’ that displaces the Western timeline on which the idea of the medieval depends. The chapter raises the question of whether including pre-colonial-contact Aboriginal culture within the scope of world medievalism is an inescapably colonizing gesture that can only reinforce Eurocentric epistemologies, or whether this problem can be offset by bringing perceptions of the global medieval into dialogue with Aboriginal perceptions of time and history. It argues that the complexities of medievalism as a ‘world’ phenomenon are thrown into sharp relief by Ten Canoes as a text that narrates pre-contact time in a way that simultaneously addresses itself to Western and Yolŋu audiences.

Study on Sustainable Development Strategy of Indigenous Tribal Tourism

In recent years, the tribal tourism activities with the theme of aboriginal culture and ecology have been loved by the people of Taiwan, so the issue of sustainable development has been attached great importance. This paper analyzes the empirical research literature on the development of aboriginal cultural tourism and eco-tourism by means of literature review, and summarizes the framework of sustainable development of tribal tourism. After analysis, this study are finds that: 1. The government plays an important role in the process of sustainable development of tribes. 2. The positive impact of tourism development on the economy, society and environment is higher than the negative impact. Based on the above findings, this study puts forward specific suggestions for the sustainable development of tribal tourism in the future.

Mapping aboriginal tourism experiences in Taiwan: A case of the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

Exploring tourist experience through analyzing user-generated content (UGC) has been considered as an appropriate approach for experience studies due to the rich information from the perspective of tourists. Thus, this study identified the conceptual map of individuals’ aboriginal tourism experiences by analyzing UGC, including photos and texts. A total of 206 photos and 278 reviews posted by tourists on TripAdvisor were collected and analyzed. Photo content analysis showed that aboriginal culture emerged as the most indelible experience for visitors. Analysis of text data disclosed key themes: park, tribe, car, garden, and children. Further analysis found different patterns in tourist experiences across numerous travel parties and satisfaction levels. This study explored tourists’ narratives and identified important concepts and themes of their ‘lived experience’ of aboriginal tourism. The findings of this study contribute to expanding theoretical knowledge by introducing innovative analytic techniques. Practically, this study offers a blueprint for designing the aboriginal tourism product, which can optimize the tourist experience. In addition, the differences in tourist experience with regard to travel party and level of satisfaction suggest specific marketing strategies for different segments.

Navigating cultural intimacy in Tasmanian Aboriginal public culture

This article examines the utility of, and embarrassment around, strategic essentialism in Tasmanian Aboriginal public culture. My argument is informed by extensive participant observation in community-led education programs. Australia’s Tasmanian Aboriginal community has historically been defined by outsiders in terms of racial and cultural deficiencies. These judgments preceded and followed their supposed 1876 extinction. These education programs, catering primarily to elementary school students, idealized Tasmanian Aboriginal culture by emphasizing continuity and connection into deep antiquity. They also included moments in which private anxieties about essentialism, deficiency, and what I term their taxonomical fuzziness are made public. The delicate interplay between essentialism and private feelings about loss, appearance, and cultural inferiority is best understood in relation to Herzfeld’s “cultural intimacy.” I argue that approaching public culture through this concept forces researchers to engage with the pervasive fluency of stereotypes through which Native and Indigenous voices regularly must speak in order to be heard.

Understanding how Aboriginal culture can contribute to the resilient future of rangelands – the importance of Aboriginal core values

There are numerous examples illustrating the integration of Aboriginal knowledge and participation in rangelands management. At the 2019 Australian Rangelands Conference we aimed to explore how Aboriginal culture and its core values have something deeper to contribute to rangelands management. We explore this through a Yungadhu (Malleefowl) cultural depiction and story. The depiction and story explain the often cited, but not well understood, concepts of Kinship, Country, Lore, and Dreaming. The story provides insight into Aboriginal people’s world view and is used in this paper to illustrate how well it aligns with current thinking about resilience in rangelands landscapes and communities. Significantly, we explain how the deep wisdom that resides in Aboriginal cultures has something meaningful to contribute to achieving the conditions for resilience.

Representing Australia to the Commonwealth in 1965: Aborigiana and Indigenous Performance

In 1965, the Australian government and Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (AETT) debated which performing arts ensembles should represent Australia at the London Commonwealth Arts Festival. The AETT proposed the newly formed Aboriginal Theatre, comprising songmakers, musicians, and dancers from the Tiwi Islands, northeast Arnhem Land and the Daly River. The government declined, and instead sent the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing works by John Antill and Peter Sculthorpe. In examining the historical context for these negotiations, I demonstrate the direct relationship between the historical promotion of ‘Australianist’ art music composition that claimed to represent Aboriginal culture, and the denial of the right of representation to Aboriginal performers as owners of their musical traditions. Within the framing of Wolfe's settler colonial theory and ‘logic of elimination’, I suggest that appropriative Australian art music has directly sought to replace performances of Aboriginal culture by Aboriginal people, even while Aboriginal people have resisted replacement.

The importance of Aboriginal Education Workers for decolonising and promoting culture in primary schools: an analysis of the longitudinal study of Indigenous children (LSIC)

Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) are utilised by primary and secondary schools to improve components of success for Aboriginal students, liaise with their families and the Aboriginal community and contribute to developing and promoting an Aboriginal pedagogy. Despite the challenging role of decolonising the school environment, the important work undertaken by AEWs can be misunderstood and underappreciated by the Western school system. This paper aims to measure the influence of AEWs on Aboriginal culture within schools using quantitative data from Wave 7K Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Results show that there is a positive impact on Aboriginal culture within schools through having an AEW present all or some of the time. For Aboriginal children to grow up strong, employment of an AEW is important to decolonise the school environment and provide a holistic education.