References

East Arnhem Land     

Natural Wonders in Gove and Arnhem Land. Electronic document. http://www.ealta.org/yolgnupeople.html, accessed December 2, 2012.

Intercontinental Cry    

Indigenous Peoples of the World—The Yolngu. Electronic document. http://intercontinentalcry.org/peoples/yolngu/, accessed December 2, 2012.

Gaymarani, George Pascoe

2011 An Introduction to the Ngarra Law of Arnhem Land. http://www.nswbar.asn.au/circulars/2011/jul/ngarra.pdf, accessed December 2, 2012.

Morphy, Frances

2008 Invisible to the State: Kinship and the Yolngu Moral Order. Electronic document, http://arts.monash.edu.au/ecps/conferences/negotiating-the-sacred/2008/morphy-paper.pdf, accessed December 2, 2012.

Whose governance, for whose good. The Laynhapuy Homelands Association and the neo-assimilationist turn in Indigenous policy: The Yolngu ‘World.’ Australian National University. http://epress.anu.edu.au/caepr_series/no_29/mobile_devices/ch05s03.html, accessed December 2, 2012.

Murdoch, Lindsay

2010 A Preserver and Fighter for Traditional Yolngu Culture. Electronic document. http://www.smh.com.au/national/a-preserver-and-fighter-for-traditional-yolngu-culture-20100125-mukt.html, accessed December 2, 2012.

The Oral History Review

2010 Contesting White Knowledge: Yolngu Stories from World War II. Electronic document. http://ohr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/07/24/ohr.ohq051.full, accessed December 2, 2012.

Saban, Sinem and Damien Curtis

2010 Our Generation Documentary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElW6M0hU7jo, accessed December 2,2012.

Yolngu

Yolngu Matha. Electronic document. http://www.yolngu.net/, accessed December 2, 2012.

Changes

• Just like many other Indigenous groups, the Western culture has crept in and is endangering the Yolngu culture.
• Djambawa Marawili is just one of the numerous Yolngu elders who are trying their hardest to preserve traditions that seem to be disappearing. 
• He was appointed to the Order of Australia, where he hopes to "bridge the divide between their deep-seated culture and that of the balanda (white person)."
• The Western influences have surely changed how the Yolngu live, but Djambawa is trying to fight back, he is trying to keep his beloved culture alive.
• "It is important to stand firm in passing on the stories and also stand up for the Yolngu."

Source & Image: http://www.smh.com.au/national/a-preserver-and-fighter-for-traditional-yolngu-culture-20100125-mukt.html

War

• The popular opinion of the non-Indigenous Australians during the time of the late 1930s and early 1940s, was that in comparison to other indigenous groups in Arnhem Land, the Yolngu were "savages."
• The only information that depicts their war streak is their help in World War II.
• They worked in official and unofficial ways such as manual laborers, scouts, soldiers, and guerrilla patrols.
• They believed they were allies to the war; Australia was their homeland, and this joined the Yolngu and the Commonwealth together.

• Dr. Donald Thomson was responsible for the organization of the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit (NTSRU).

• The majority of the information about WWII and the Yolngu stems from non-Indigenous residents.
• After World War II, the Yolngu were not adequately compensated. 
• It wasn't until 1992 that the Australian government decided to right their wrongs and rightfully compensate those who served in the war.

Source: http://ohr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/07/24/ohr.ohq051.full

Image: http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/indigenous/images/img_historicalProfiles.jpg

Our Indigenous World: Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission:
The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project is a cultural anthropology course-based project meant to raise critical consciousness about the rich cultural diversity in our indigenous world (in our planet). Being totally aware of the limitations of being outsiders, we are a group of multidisciplinary undergraduate students who believe in cross-cultural sensitivity and participatory agency aimed at disseminating information about indigenous realities as accurately as possible.


Vision:
The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project’s vision is to create an online cross-cultural space for students, professionals, and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider student’s perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of a space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place.


Values:

• We value the maximization of benefits to indigenous peoples and vulnerable populations in the world.
• We value the respect for persons all over the world.
• We value the equal treatment of people, and we are against the exploitation of vulnerable groups around the world.
• We value collaborative cross-cultural learning and critical thinking.

Where did they come from?

The Yolgnu live in the Miwatj or Arnhem region. They started off as intermarrying clans that were closely related and spoke similar tongues. They are divided into clans, the mains one being Rirratjingu, Djapu, Marrakulu, Ngaymil and Galpu.

Their first encounter of the outside world was with the Macassan fisherman who came to North Australia in the 18^th century. They continued to visit until fishing trade was banned in 1907. They developed trading and working relationships with the Yolgnu people who would trade them pearl shells, turtle shells and timber. They were also given goods such as tobacco, cloth, axes, steel knives, and canoes.

In the late nineteenth century, white Australians began to open up Arnhem Land for cattle grazing. A series of battles between Yolŋu and Balanda started. Yolngu were more warrior-like than other Indigenous Australians because they had had to defend their northern shoreline for many years. There were also many massacres.

An incident where Yolngu were fed poisoned horse meat after they killed and ate some cattle. Many people died as a result of that incident.

A massacre ten years later occurred after some Yolngu took a small amount of barbed wire from a huge roll to build fishing spears. Men, women and children were chased by mounted police and men from the Eastern and African Cold Storage Company and shot.

In 1932 some Japanese soldiers were speared by Yolngu men after their mothers had been allegedly raped by the Japanese.This came to be known as the Caledon Bay crisis. Several Yolngu were imprisoned.

Donald Thomson, a young anthropologist went to live with the Yolŋu and collected the facts of the case.

Thomson lived with the Yolngu for several years and made some photographic and written records of their way of life at that time. These have become important historical documents for both Yolngu and European Australians.

Language

The language of the Yolngu people is also known as “Yolngu matha”. It is spoken mostly in a large part of Australia’s Northern territories such as the Arnhem Land. It is a member of the Pama-Nyungan language family. It is spoken by over 2,000 different people.  There are 12 different dialects with very different variations between each one. It shares many similar features and sounds of the other languages spoken in Australia. 

Yolgnu itself means “man” or “person” and is mostly used to refer to the people of the Yolgnu community. It is, however, divided into several different mutually intelligible languages. 

During the 1930’s many missionary groups became interested in this group and tried to write down the language. It’s still used today, but there is no real standard spelling system.

Some Yolngu Phrases

Nhäma (goodbye) 
Nhäma yalala (see you later) 
Nhäma godarr' (see you tomorrow)

Nhamirri nhe? (how are you?) 
Manymak bay' (good) 
Nhamirri manda? (how are you two?) 
Yaka manymak (not good) 
Nhamirri walala? (how are they?) 

Märr-gangga/Latju (not too bad/they are good) 

Image from: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/yolngu.php

Sources:

http://www.yolngu.net/

http://www.ealta.org/yolgnupeople.html

Subsistence

The Yolngu are described as hunters and gatherers. They also practice slash-and-burn as a form of land management. They hunt fish and bush animals, and gather seasonal bush foods. The Yolngu identify six different seasons in the year and they adapt by using different types of food and resources depending on the availability of the resource, the environment and the period. The Yolngu's way of life have remained intact to this day because of the people's will to fight to retain their culture and identity. Today, the Yolngu's preserved arts help them earn a living. Beautifully woven Pandanus leaf baskets and painted bark canvases are examples of the Yolngu's artistic products.

Image from www.filmaustraliaceremony.com.au/images/370_history.jpg

Pandanus Coil Baskets. Image from Flickr by Smallest Forest.

Source: http://intercontinentalcry.org/peoples/yolngu/

Geographic Location

The Yolngu people are located in the Northeast of the Arnhem Land in the Northern Territories of Australia. According to FilmAustraliaCeremony.com.au, their region covers more than 40,000 square kilometers of the Arnhem Land and there are more than 50 Yolngu clans located in the area. EALTA.org states that the Yolngu have occupied their lands for at least 50,000 years, which was recorded through their paintings, dances and songs. This land is aboriginal land and visitors need a permit to travel there.

The Gove Peninsula has two main settlements--Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy. Yirrkala is a small indigenous town with a population of 800. On the other hand, Nhulunbuy is a mining town constructed in the 1970's to help develop an open-cut bauxite mine. The town is now the fourth largest town in the Northern Territory.

Image from http://www.filmaustraliaceremony.com.au/s1_2.htm

Image from http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/nhulunbuy_2005_12.dx

Sources:

• http://www.filmaustraliaceremony.com.au/s1.htm
• http://www.ealta.org/yolgnupeople.html

Our Generation

Our Generation is a film documentary that takes a deeper look into the lives of indigenous Australians whom are threatened by the governments power. We have seen this similar political issues between native peoples. In this case, the government does not acknowledge the rights of these indigenous people and have even taken away their land. As a group of people who survive mostly off of the natural resources around them, taking away their land puts their existence at risk.

                          Our Generation

Reference: 

YouTube

      Saban, Sinem and Damien Curtis. Our Generation documentary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElW6M0hU7jo. 2010.

Yolngu Gender Issues and Differences

       The Yolngu people do not have many issues concerning gender differences. Women and men share some of the same roles and social status. However there are some minor differences. In a family, usually, the oldest son or male will have the superior authority and leadership role but since there is not a strict separation between the two sexes, birth order is also taken into account and power can be shown in the oldest daughter.

       The is a custom practiced by the Yolngu people called mirrirri which is a type of avoidance behavior between certain relationships for example a wife has to avoid her brother.  Any sexuality references made toward or around the brother about his sister or sisters is prohibited. These are also a part of the Ngarra law which again, comes with its harsh punishments if broken.

       In public, men are more likely to show authority but that does not mean women are excluded from power, influence, and leadership positions. The only time when these positions are not available to women are during certain ceremonies that men are responsible for and hold all the power for. During public meetings, although women have to sit on the outskirts among the other people at the meeting, senior women are allowed to interject and comment if needed. Women show the most power and authority in education.

Special Occasion - Gender roles switch for "comic relief"

Reference:

Morphy, Frances.

               Whose gevernance, for whose good. The Laynhapuy Homelands Association and the neo-assimilationist turn in Indigenous policy: The Yolngu ‘World.’ Australian National University. http://epress.anu.edu.au/caepr_series/no_29/mobile_devices/ch05s03.html

Gaymarani, George Pascoe

                2011, An Introduction to the Ngarra law of Arnhem Land. http://www.nswbar.asn.au/circulars/2011/jul/ngarra.pdf

Marriage and Kinship

Marriage is a Yolngu’s right according to the sacred law of Ngarra in a complex kinship system called Gurrutu. Breaking the marriage laws of Ngarra is seen as dishonoring and can result in harsh punishment such as being taking a spear through the leg. Girls as young as 13 to 16 are arranged to be married by their parents to a man between 40 to 50 years of age and is most likely a cousin from her father’s side just like men marry a cousin from their mother’s side. Although these marriages are arranged, the girls are not expected to marry until they are sexual mature. The Yolngu people are divided into two moieties, or two groups divided into other sub parts within, the Dhuwa and Yirritja. Marriage usually stays within the same moiety. Polygamy is also permitted and socially acceptable and preferred in the Yolngu culture. These marriages allow for moieties to interlink and create alliances.