Land claims in Australia are predicated, among other things, on the assumption that Aborigines can prove continued occupation of that land and the maintenance of traditional customs. But no social group maintains a static culture in this way. Culture is dynamic, changing over time. Aboriginal adaptation to settler culture exemplifies this process, resulting in cultural changes for both Aboriginal people and settlers. Viewed from this perspective, Aborigines have enjoyed a continuous occupation of the land. Failure to acknowledge this occupation is, put simply, racist. This conceptualization of the land rights issue would no doubt trouble many white Australians. It also explains the popularity of the static-fragile conception of tribal society among many white Australians, which, as Denis Byrne explains, constitutes a wishful vision of a precolonial order swept away. - Gregory D. B. Smithers, Reassuring White Australia
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 05:29:09 +0000
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