Cultural Anthropology on Aborigines of Australia - Case Study Example

Cultural Anthropology on Aborigines of Australia A civilization is marked by its traditions, beliefs, concepts, history, grandeur, and customs that it possesses. It is not a mere representation of the invasions it went through famous heroic talents or through power; but it is its richness and the fertility in its belief that keeps the civilization and its people continue to exist even after centuries of evolution. Similar is the example of the Aborigines of Australia, who continued to fight for their existence on the mere behalf of their own unity and faith that even today, after thousands of century’s remittances, their civilization continue to exist. The first Aboriginals are believed to have arrived in this unique and isolated piece of land some 50,000 years ago, when they migrated from the South Pole as the sea levels generally fell and the last Ice Age saw its end. Experts believe that the race then traveled on canoes and rafts across the ocean in search of a peaceful land (Barnard, 1996). The activities of aboriginals of the area remained secret and restricted to its own lands, until outsiders from around the world intruded their territories for political, economical, and anthropological purposes. Before the invasion of the British into Australia, (first invasion 1788), about 200 years ago, there were about 300,000 inhabitants living in the area, which constituted of 500 tribes using 200 distinct languages amongst each other, of which most of them are found extinct now; with each dialect defining each tribe that occupied a definite area in the continent. Whereas, lands owned by no tribal form were left arid and unoccupied, under the title of ‘no man’s land.’ (Bartlett, 2002). Though the Aboriginals vary abundantly from their appearance due to the diversity seen between their groups; however, some of the common features that all of them share are their dark brown skin with wavy hair, developed onto slender bodies which are erect showing their hardworking capabilities. Anthropologists believe that variations in their appearances are due to their migrations at different points of time in history. Whereas some critics to this opinion believe in ‘homogeneity’ of the aboriginals, whereas any variations in them might be due to variation in diet and the environment they lived in, while as a whole, they lived in isolation from rest of the world (Ashley, 2009). This paper discusses the isolation of the Aborigines of Australia form the rest of the world; as when development and technology were taking the world up by storm, they remained a loaf of this progress and continued living their lives upon their religious beliefs, faith, traditional knowledge, and customs that they had been following through generations. Moreover, this study will also look through for different aspects of their cultural civilization, which were so strong and influential that it kept them bounded together unaffected by the evolution that encompassed the world. It is noted that they molded their lives, creating a new cultural regime, which joined them to the rhythm of nature, affecting every action of their lives. This strength of the aboriginals of Australia was so strong and intimidating that it developed and created their attitudes and that of their generations to follow them, giving them a balance between man and his environment. Simplest actions in their lives such as food collection to the large-scale ones, which involved social activities, were all decided by their religious customs (Lang, 2009). In general, these tribesmen related themselves with others through common ancestors, who brought pre-existing spirits to the region where they were later born. This is the reason why they thought that they were bound spiritually to their own territory, inhabited by their ancestors who had super natural powers and controlled the nature according to their whims. Thus, such believes bound them even more distinctly to their land and its environment, leaving them ignorant of the world’s happenings. The time at which the Aborigines arrived in Australia, the global society had already started evolving, using stone tools, lived lives of nomads, hunting and looking for game. In addition, of what experts know of world present today, began only about 5,000 years ago, when the idea of specialization and the skills of delicate craftsmanship were developed, giving rise to surplus food and the origin of metals for sophisticated works. However, the Aborigines did not develop in such fields and continued living their lives as hunters, and users of stone, bone, shell, and wooden utensils. Historians quantify this to their isolation from rest of the world and the environment in which they were growing. Australia does not support animals such as cattle, sheep, goats nor horses, which were being used by rest of the world as livestock. The barren land had no fertile fields, which could be brought into cultivation, and in addition, they completely denied any form of contact from the developing countries across their piece of land. Thus, they were left completely on hands of nature and so were constantly on the move in search of food supply and water (Thomas, 1943). Nature also has its mysterious ways of working, as a land will not continue producing the same crop without being tended to, so there was never a dense population of people. The few who did survive the harsh circumstances preferred to live their lives in isolation from the foreigners, with a population density ranging being one person between 10 to 15 square miles of an area (Cherry, 1993). Due to the varying environments and distances between the tribes, life mottled significantly around the continent. They usually lived in small groups known as hordes consisting of not more than 50 people, who had been moving along since generations, going around the country like nomads. Each horde had its senior members forming a decent group called clan, who were bound together in religious ties, carrying the secrets of their ancestors. They also had a spiritual home in their original territories, to which this group acted as a ceremonial guardians. A horde could freely roam around the country, had the permission to enter the areas of other tribes, and even utilize their resources. This did not mean that they exploited their country in a random and disorganized method, but their movements according to them was designed by nature, which has been interpreted as the forces of supply of food and water in the area (Groves, 2009). The religion practiced by these aborigines, very strictly defined their attitudes and behavior, which functioned as collaboration between rhythm, patterns and the constitution of nature. These tribes lived lives of the Stone Age men, unaware and isolate from the technological advancements, which were quickly encompassing the entire world within themselves. They were individuals ignorant of metal works, the arts and skill of agriculture and even to the basic physiology, which turned around reproduction. For them reproduction was a process by which the infants body was taken over by an ancestral spirit (Kym, 2009). The aborigines also practiced a classification system of kinship that established their relations even outside their tribe. There was about fourteen to thirty two number of classes, which had a defined code of behavior for each relative. This also was followed by obligations and responsibilities, for example sharing of the hunter’s food, with a positive feedback coming in from the other end. These kinships were further divided into two halves or moieties, depending on the inheritance from the paternal or maternal side. This division into a moiety affected a person’s entire life, from marriage, inheritance, settlements, even to the activities they were involved in. Moreover, each moiety also had its own myths, sacred rituals, songs and dances; with each member bound to his moiety with sacred responsibilities. (Cherry, 1993) Aborigines believed in totemic (an object or an animal which is respected a praised by a tribe) relations, which they established with animals, birds, and plants, forming their social and religious life. For example, many tribes took a kangaroo as a totem, making it his brother, thus killing a kangaroo was religiously forbidden, in addition its race was to be protected, its habitats cared for and ceremonies to beheld for its prosperity. A person could have several totems such as eagle hawk, the land he was born to or maybe even a dream he cherishes (Kym, 2009). The aborigines of Australia solemnly believed in the supernatural, and the work of their ancestral spirits and their guidance in their lives. They also believed in the term, ‘dreamtime,’ the period when the earth came into existence and when their ancestors, who lived with them in the world, established their particular lifestyle. They reckoned that the ancestors, went wandering around land, and perform such marvels that erected gigantic landscapes, skies, seasons, and even plants and animals (Withnell, 1965). In addition, via this mystical way were formed the very first aborigines, their religion, laws, customs, songs and dances. The routes that the ancestors followed were traced with sacred monuments, and when they died, it was thought that their physical elements flew off to the sky, or the ground; while their spiritual being continued t exist in the world. The dreamtime, for them was scared and it was their duty to cherish it, thus the elder of a tribe communicated with their ancestors through their magical powers, asking them to keep them lands fertile and surplus as they were at the dreamtime (Lang, 2009). Thus, they were diligent in performing their ceremonies and rituals, without any alteration, as for them it was their connection with the past and the future, their beliefs so strong and intimidating that they would not allow any for of change to speculate them from their ancestors. This entire process was known as dreaming. Along with the beliefs were also the established myths to the ancestors, songs and complex religious rituals, which were framed out of sacred words, which meant heroism and sacred attributes of their ancestors, also leading to a track to them. Many of these rites were established to keep the fertility of the land; the one, which had been initially created with perfection, was called as the ‘principle.’ These rituals sometimes continued for months, as the aborigines believed that their accurate performance was crucial for the very existence of the nature, and thus of man, and if they were ignored then the reproducing species would dwindle and eventually die off, leading to the extinction of humankind. The aborigines never claimed property rights to a piece of land, but as they believed that their spirit had taken life in it, thus they found it their duty to cleanse it for his country and the people. Thus, it was these beliefs of this race, which bound them to their land, socially, economically as well as religiously, binding him in an intimate dependant connection with the nature, dictating his way of life as well as his laws. With this way of life, it was impossible to separate magic and religion from each other. When religion was proving them answers and reasons for death, illness, birth and famine, with magic they averted control over the super powers. Cure to illnesses were in the power of ‘clever men,’ of a tribe; while belief in white and black magic both was so strong that nobody in the society doubted the doom and raise of any specie through it. The use of symbolism was replicable in their crafts and arts, thus it also depicted their strong ties to religion and the magical practices. When they formed objects or crafts, ancient rituals and symbols were drawn on it to give it dreamtime powers. The religious rites also made use of a piece of carved wood, named as Tjuringa, or different head dresses made out of twigs, feathers and grass, carved poles about 15 to 25 feet in altitude, and many songs and dances. These performers usually painted themselves with yellow or red dyes, charcoal, or even feathers and drops of blood to make it more powerful. They might even paint the area where the dance was to take place, this can be proven though the rock paintings found all around Australia, which prove their practices. The artistic distinction was the language as well as the grammar of their visual signs (Thomas, 1943). The aborigines believed in confound solitary amongst their own groups and that around them, as it was the only means of their survival. However, if a fight amongst them spread then it was bound for destruction of the entire tribe, due to the strong bounds, the entire group had to its members, and there was no judicial system to prevent them. Even in fights, which involved high magnitude, there was a sagacity of prudence and self-pride, and were not made so austere that the members suffered handicap or serious injuries. The aborigines were the tribes, which were oblivious and impassive by material wealth, luxuries, comfort or even conquest. They did not possess any lust or desire to attain beauty or other items of comfort; but for them what was important was keeping themselves joint to the religious practices of their ancestors, establishing the link between the nature and their lives; and to serve the land through their ceremonies and rituals. Thus, for them what material comforts the invaders brought with themselves, their want to take over their land, and to treat them as slaves was ignored. As they continued to live upon their faith, which had, been established and laid out for them for centuries, nothing as soft as an invasion could vacillate them from it. Historians and anthropologists dictate that Australia was colonized based on legal fiction, as the aborigines were only nomads or hunters, not in any literary terms improving the land or even owning it. Their ancestors spiritually assigned the terror tries to the clans, had no mode of legitimate succession, and did not have any exclusion right (Barnard, 1996). However, the contact with the Europeans no matter brought the new and modernized lifestyles to the rich soils of the country, but it also paved away the classical form of culture and its traditions though it. The phenomena, which were widely acknowledged as ‘pacification,’ lead to the extinction of the original tribes through new diseases brought by the foreigners, economic marginalization, loss of political leadership, and massive migrations around the world. By the 1940s the situation was seem to have worsened by when the Australians were left unpaid, treated as secondary citizens with their legal rights reserved, illiterate and their children given off to foreigners in order to increase local integration between the two systems (Groves, 2009). The Aborigines found in Australia today though extinct but still live their lives according to the rules and ways assigned to them by their ancestors, no matter their race has been torn down by the gunshots of the invaders infiltrating their lands. Scientists had initially agreed to place them in the category of the most uncivilized human beings to wander the earth. However, recent studies prove that they have the most remarkable sense of nature and its signs, possess a complex social system, and live upon a high moral integrity, which is in true sense evaporating from the so-called civilized world. For the aborigines, the world was depicted by the form it took from nature, explained by the limited knowledge and traditions that were passed to them. Thus, their lives were weaved upon the myths and legends that surrounded them, which made them inseparable from the nature and its magical form of evolution. (Bartlett, 2002). However, what can be concluded through the study of the Aborigines customs and their isolation from the rest of the world was that their strong ties to their religion and their beliefs were too intimate to be broken by any form of foreign invasion or revolution. No matter they were in many ways, uncivilized, ill equipped and illiterate to the changes, their rituals indifferent to the values of the Europeans who believed in more of a competitive and practical world. For them to understand the philosophy of the aborigines of the land was impossible and thus, could not eventually appreciate their customs which led to the destruction of the weaker tribes. Conclusively, the paper has discussed some of the significant aspects of Aborigines of Australia in an anthropological manner. It is hoped that the paper will be beneficial for students, teachers, and professionals in better understanding of the topic. References Ashley, Foley M. (2009). Terra Nullius: The Aborigines in Australia. Retrieved on July 24, 2009: http://escholar.salve.edu/pell_theses/33 Barnard, Alan. (1996). Encyclopedia of social and cultural Anthropology. Taylor & Francis. Bartlett, Anne. (2002). the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia. Lemer Publications. Charlesworth, Maxwell John. (2005). Aboriginal religions in Australia. Ashgate Publishing. Cherry, Ron. (1993). Australian Aborigines. Retrieved on July 24, 2009 from http://www.bugbios.com/ced1/aust_abor.html Groves, Colin. (2009). Australia for the Australians. Retrieved on July 24, 2009 from http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-June-2002/groves.html Kym, Hills. (2009). Aboriginal Dreaming and Sacred Sites. Retrieved on July 24, 2009 from http://australian-indigenous-peoples.suite101.com/article.cfm/aboriginal_dreaming_and_sacred_sites Lang, Gideon S. (2009). The Aborigines of Australia. BiblioBazaar, LLC. Thomas, W. J. (1943). Some Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines. Whitecombe & Tombs. Withnell, John G. (1965). the Customs and traditions of the Aboriginal Natives of Morth Western Australia. Libraries Board of South Australia. Read More