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Re: language, meaning and nature





Michael Dean wrote:

> Dear Bob,
>
> Your reply is very very interesting. These sorts of discussions really get you thinking, and it is one of life's pleasures that we are able to think in these various terms.
>
> What really interests me is the difference in the European and the Aboriginal attitudes. You seem to be closely aquainted with the Pitjantjatjara Aboriginies
> who have a different notion of the self to that of the European and these differences manifest themselves in  their attitudes to exchange, fairness, reciprocity and selfishness.
>
> Please tell me more! The Aborigine has been in Australia for about 40,000 years and has influenced the landscape extensively. Are you able to explain how he interprets the world and in what ways this is different from that of the Europeans?
>
> Mike Dean
>

I don't want to overstate my acquaintance with Aboriginal people - I only have worked briefly with Pitjantjatjara people although I have spent many years (30) working with Aboriginal people in more urban environments. But the persistence of
notions of fairness, generosity and mutual obligation even within groups whose society has been subject to genocidal attack is a measure of their heroic courage in the face of cruel adversity.

Noongar people in Albany who I have lived and worked with for the last 10 odd years constantly challenge me with their generosity. The idea of asking for something ( a coat, the shirt of one's back, a lift somewhere etc.) is usually
misinterpreted by wadjilas (whitefellas) as importunate begging yet amongst Noongar people the request is more often than not acceded to. The giver in fulfilling the request accepts a social obligation to an 'uncle' or 'aunty' or 'brother' or
'sister'. To work 'successfully' with Aboriginal people to my mind involves being willing to step beyond the idea of doing a job and to treat people as members of one's extended family.

Now sometimes these cultural obligations have adverse consequences - selfishness is not unknown amongst Aboriginal people and the cultural sanctions against selfishness have been considerably weakened by capitalism's adulation of what was once
regarded as a sin. Similarly alcohol and jealousy of individual achievements have often despairing effects on the communities cohesion.