Australian Aboriginal kinship

Main article: Kinship and descent

Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Australian Aboriginal culture. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Australia.

The subsection system

Subsection systems are a unique social structure that divide all of Australian Aboriginal society into a number of groups, each of which combines particular sets of kin. In Central Australian Aboriginal English vernacular, subsections are widely known as "skins". Each subsection is given a name that can be used to refer to individual members of that group. Skin is passed down by a person's parents to their children.

The name of the groups can vary. There are systems with two such groupings (these are known as 'moieties' in kinship studies), systems with four (sections), six and eight (subsection systems). Some language groups extend this by having distinct male and female forms, giving a total of sixteen skin names, for example the Pintupi (listed below) and Warlpiri. While membership in skin groups is ideally based on blood relations, Australian Aboriginal subsection systems are classificatory, meaning that even people who are not actual blood relations are assigned to a subsection. They are also universal, meaning that every member of the society is assigned a position in the system.

Subsection systems are found in Aboriginal societies across much of Central, Western and Northern Australia. On the basis of detailed analysis and comparison of the various subsection systems and their terminologies, and in particular the apparent prefix /j-/ for male and /n-/ for female, it has been identified as a social innovation originally from the Daly River region of the Northern Territory, which then spread rapidly southwards to other groups.[1]

Systems with two groupings (moieties)

Yolngu

The Yolŋu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land divide society (and much of the natural world) into two moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups (each with their own lands, languages and philosophies) through their hereditary estates – so many things are either Yirritja or Dhuwa:

Skin name Clan groups
Yirritja Gumatj, Gupapuyngu, Wangurri, Ritharrngu, Mangalili,
Munyuku, Madarrpa, Warramiri, Dhalwangu, Liyalanmirri.
Dhuwa Rirratjingu, Galpu, Djambarrpuyngu, Golumala, Marrakulu,
Marrangu, Djapu, Datiwuy, Ngaymil, Djarrwark.

Fish, stone, river, sea etc., belongs to one or the other moiety. Things that are not either Dhuwa or Yirritja are called wakinŋu. Yolŋu also have a kinship system with eight subsections (four Dhuwa and four Yirritja which is what creates moiety).

Systems with four sections

Martuthunira

The Martuthunira language group from the Pilbara region of Western Australia have a four section system.[2] (The spelling l.y indicates that the letters represent two distinct phonemes, and are not a digraph).

Section name (female) Marries (male) Children
Karimarra Panaka Pal.yarri
Panaka Karimarra Purungu
Pal.yarri Purungu Karimarra
Purungu Pal.yarri Panaka

Similar systems are found across most language groups in the Pilbara, though with some variation in the forms of the names. For example, speakers of Ngarla use Milangka where Martuthunira use Pal.yarri.

Alyawarra

The Alyawarre language group from Central Australia also have a four section system, but use different terms from the Martuthunira.[3]

Section name (female) Marries (male) Children
Kngwarriya Upurla Kimarra
Upurla Kngwarriya Pitjarra
Pitjarra Kimarra Upurla
Kimarra Pitjarra Kngwarriya

Systems with eight groups (subsection systems)

Lardil

The Lardil of Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria have eight subsection groups, shown here with some of their totems:

Subsection group Totems May marry only
subsection group
Children will be
Balyarriny Black tiger shark,
sea turtle
Kamarrangi Buranyi
Bangariny Brown shark, turtle Yakimarr Ngarrijbalangi
Buranyi Crane, salt water,
sleeping turtle
Kangal Balyarriny
Burrarangi Lightning, rough sea,
black dingo
Ngarrijbalangi Kamarrangi
Kamarrangi Rock, pelican, brolga,
red dingo
Balyarriny Burrarangi
Kangal Barramundi,
grey shark
Buranyi Yakimarr
Ngarrijbalangi Rainbird, shooting star,
egret
Burrarangi Bangariny
Yakimarr Seagull, barramundi,
grey shark
Bangariny Kangal

Each Lardil person belongs to one of these groups. Their paternal grandfather's subsection determines their own; so a Balyarriny man or woman will have a Balyarriny grandfather. Members of each group may only marry members of one other, specified, group.

Once a person's subsection group is known, their relationship to any other Lardil can be determined. A Ngarrijbalangi is a 'father' to a Bangariny, a 'father-in-law' to a Yakimarr and a 'son' to another Bangariny, either in a social sense or purely through linearship.

The mechanics of the Lardil skin system means that generations of males cycle back and forth between two subsections. Ngarrijbalangi is father to Bangariny and Bangariny is father to Ngarrijbalangi and similarly for the three other pairs of subsections. Generations of women, however, cycle through four subsections before arriving back at the starting point. This means that a woman has the same subsection name as her (matrilineal) great-great-grandmother.

Pintupi

The Pintupi of the Western Desert also have an eight subsection system, made more complex by distinct forms for male and female subsection names; male forms begin with "Tj", the female forms with "N". The Warlpiri system is almost the same:

Gender Subsection name First marriage
preference
Children will be
Male Tjapaltjarri Nakamarra Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi
Female Napaltjarri Tjakamarra Tjupurrula, Napurrula
Male Tjapangati Nampitjinpa Tjapanangka, Napanangka
Female Napangati Tjampitjinpa Tjangala, Nangala
Male Tjakamarra Napaltjarri Tjupurrula, Napurrula
Female Nakamarra Tjapaltjarri Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi
Male Tjampitjinpa Napangati Tjangala, Nangala
Female Nampitjinpa Tjapangati Tjapanangka, Napanangka
Male Tjapanangka Napurrula Tjapangati, Napangati
Female Napanangka Tjupurrula Tjakamarra, Nakamarra
Male Tjungurrayi Nangala Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri
Female Nungurrayi Tjangala Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa
Male Tjupurrula Napanangka Tjakamarra, Nakamarra
Female Napurrula Tjapanangka Tjapangati, Napangati
Male Tjangala Nungurrayi Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa
Female Nangala Tjungarayi Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri

Each person therefore has a patrimoiety and a matrimoiety, a father's and a mother's subsection group.

Extension of the system to non-relatives

Outsiders who have significant interaction with such groups may be given a 'skin name', commonly based on the people they have interacted with and the types of interaction.

Some common kinship terms used in Aboriginal English

The variety of English used by many Australian Aboriginal people employs kinship terms in ways that are based on their equivalents in Australian Aboriginal languages.

See also

References

  1. McConvell, Patrick (1996). "Backtracking to Babel: the chronology of Pama–Nyungan expansion in Australia". Archaeology in Oceania 31: 125–144.
  2. Sharp, Janet; Nicholas Thieberger (1992). Bilybara: Aboriginal languages of the Pilbara region. Port Hedland, Western Australia: Wangka Maya, The Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre. ISBN 0-646-10711-9.
  3. Wafer, Jim (1982). A Simple Introduction to Central Australian Kinship Systems. Institute for Aboriginal Development, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

Further reading

External links

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