Native Title in Australia: An Ethnographic Perspective

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 13
Introduction......Page 15
The legislative background......Page 16
The approach......Page 19
Themes......Page 20
INTRODUCTION......Page 27
Primary and secondary rights; unmediated and mediated rights......Page 30
Group succession: from neighbourly interests to insider rights?......Page 31
Presumptive and subsidiary rights; potential, actual and inchoate rights......Page 35
Ranking of connections and rights......Page 36
CORE AND CONTINGENT RIGHTS......Page 38
Transmission of rights......Page 40
Generic and specific rights......Page 43
Rights of ‘traditional owners’ versus those of ‘historical people’......Page 44
Do you need to know and enact a right in order to have it?......Page 45
THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ABORIGINAL COUNTRY AS PROPERTY......Page 47
USE OF COUNTRY, ACCESS TO COUNTRY......Page 49
THE RIGHT TO EXCLUDE......Page 51
WHAT ARE RIGHTS?......Page 52
Individual and collective rights......Page 53
Hunting, fishing, gathering?......Page 55
COEXISTENT RIGHTS: THE CASE OF PASTORALISM......Page 58
2 Local organisation before the land claims era......Page 64
HOWITT AND FISON......Page 65
The early Radcliffe-Brown......Page 70
The later Radcliffe-Brown......Page 72
CONTRA RADCLIFFE-BROWN......Page 75
Hiatt’s critique......Page 76
Hiatt’s counter-argument and the enduring consensus......Page 77
Nicolas Peterson and the band perspective......Page 78
INDIGENOUS COUNTRY GROUPS AND THE COMMUNITY OF NATIVE TITLE HOLDERS......Page 80
Levels of resolution......Page 84
Words and things: labels, groups and territories......Page 85
Identity and action: similarity versus connection......Page 89
Individuals, sites and countries......Page 92
Sub-estate country......Page 93
Estates......Page 94
Estate sets: non-contiguous......Page 96
Estate sets: contiguous......Page 99
LINGUISTIC IDENTITIES AND TERRITORIES......Page 101
Language groups and native title applications......Page 102
‘Patrilects’......Page 104
Language group size......Page 105
The difficulty of simple generalisations......Page 106
Can rights-holders be definitively listed?......Page 107
4 Atomism versus collectivism......Page 111
MEETINGS AND FIELDWORK: STARTING RESEARCH ON A CLAIM......Page 113
SLICING THE PIE......Page 114
THE REGIONAL BASIS OF LOCAL ENTITLEMENTS......Page 115
REGIONS AND ‘NATIONS’......Page 116
THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ABORIGINAL REGIONS......Page 118
NINETEENTH- AND EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY REGIONAL STUDIES......Page 120
THE REJECTION OF ‘NATIONS’......Page 123
ABORIGINAL ‘COMMUNITIES’......Page 124
The ‘community’ of Meggitt’s Walbiri (Warlpiri)......Page 125
The ‘community’ of Hiatt’s Gidjingali......Page 130
Gumbert’s ‘community’ as a model for legal recognition......Page 133
Povinelli’s challenge to the culture/economy divide......Page 134
THE ASSIGNING OF TITLES......Page 135
5 Underlying and proximate customary titles......Page 137
ABORIGINAL LAW AND LAWS......Page 138
‘Laws and customs’ derived from a set of wider living principles......Page 139
UNDERLYING TITLES AND PROXIMATE ENTITLEMENTS......Page 142
Continuity of underlying title during processes of succession......Page 147
The distinction between public and private lands or sites......Page 148
The role of regional elders in validating proximate entitlements......Page 149
The possibility of the divestment of proximate entitlements......Page 151
The relative stability of geographic units of land tenure......Page 152
The linguistic evidence......Page 154
HOW AUTONOMOUS CAN LOCAL LAND-OWNING GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS BE?......Page 156
INTRODUCTION......Page 161
THE SYSTEM QUESTION......Page 163
THE FLUIDITY PROBLEM: THE WESTERN DESERT VERSUS THE REST?......Page 166
SOMETHING OF THE TIMES......Page 170
DARWIN FRINGE-DWELLERS......Page 172
RULES VERSUS ACTION: THE CASE OF PRESCRIPTIVE MARRIAGE SYSTEMS......Page 174
NORTH EAST ARNHEM LAND: PATRIFILIAL GROUPS......Page 177
NO CORPORATIONS VERSUS CORPORATIONS......Page 179
PRODUCTION, REPRODUCTION, REPETITION......Page 184
‘The wisdom of these organic provisions’......Page 185
How stable have Aboriginal country groups been?......Page 186
The stability of the Wik......Page 191
How continuous was serial patrifiliation on the lower Daly River?......Page 193
THE KINSHIP POLITY......Page 199
Was kinship the polity?......Page 204
Visual symbols......Page 205
Kin term semantics......Page 208
Actual and classificatory kin......Page 210
Primary and extended meanings......Page 211
Ego and propositus......Page 212
Parentage and gender......Page 213
Filiation......Page 214
Descent......Page 215
Descent and filiation in Australian land claims......Page 217
Complementary filiation......Page 220
Mother’s side, father’s side......Page 222
Parallel versus cross kin and marriage......Page 225
Matriliny versus matrifiliation......Page 226
Direct matrifilial classes......Page 227
Indirect matrifilial classes......Page 229
Generation moieties......Page 231
INTRODUCTION......Page 232
Families......Page 234
POST-CLASSICAL ABORIGINAL SOCIAL ORGANISATION......Page 235
The families......Page 238
Tribal membership......Page 239
Freedom of choice......Page 240
Cognatic group structure......Page 243
MORE ON COGNATIC DESCENT GROUPS......Page 245
Transformations in local organisation......Page 248
Stratification......Page 250
Surname groups......Page 251
Post-classical kinship, personal address and reference......Page 252
Future directions......Page 254
INTRODUCTION......Page 258
1 KINDS OF RIGHTS IN COUNTRY......Page 259
2 LOCAL ORGANISATION BEFORE THE LAND CLAIMS ERA......Page 261
3 ABORIGINAL COUNTRY GROUPS......Page 263
4 ATOMISM VERSUS COLLECTIVISM......Page 267
5 UNDERLYING AND PROXIMATE CUSTOMARY TITLES......Page 269
6 THE SYSTEM QUESTION......Page 271
7 KINSHIP, FILIATION AND ABORIGINAL LAND TENURE......Page 274
8 FAMILIES OF POLITY......Page 277
References......Page 279
Index......Page 300