Explorations towards Intercultural Accounts of Socio-Cultural Reproduction and Change

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to develop the notion of the ‘intercultural’ suggested in Caging the Rainbow (Merlan 1998), a book which dealt with the situation of Aboriginal people in a north Australian town. I explore possible implications for this notion of work done in the name of structural history; of some of the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu; and of V.N. Voloshinov (and/or M.M. Bakhtin). All these approaches were developed against the background of structuralism, and all struggle with problems of conceptualizing process and the dynamics of interaction. I suggest that especially Voloshinovian notions of the fundamentally dialogical aspects of interaction offer some interesting perspectives for our treatment of central issues of difference, boundedness and change.

A Typology of Indigenous Engagement in Australian Environmental Management: Implications for Knowledge Integration and Social-ecological System Sustainability

“…We utilized these three concepts in our analysis, focusing the "process" dimension onto intercultural purposes, in recognition of the context of Indigenous rights, Indigenous socioeconomic disadvantage, and the distinctive features of Indigenous governance (Porter 2004, Natcher et al 2005, Palmer 2006. Our use of the term "intercultural" draws on recognition of the relational dimensions of social forms that develop through the interaction of Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies, providing opportunities for innovation (Hinkson and Smith 2005, Merlan 2005, Bakker and Bridge 2006, Suchet-Pearson and Howitt 2006.…”

Country, Native Title and Ecology

“…Other authors (such as Merlan, 1998and Hinkson and Smith, 2005 have explicated how it is appropriate to consider the profoundly intercultural aspects of contemporary Aboriginal life. New expressions of Aboriginality are produced through intercultural experiences and, in the Kuninjku case, homelands are an expression of an extremely resilient religious outlook which venerates Ancestral presence in the land as well as considerations of the multiple servicing benefits that derive from the creation of relatively permanent small settlements in close proximity to a town.…”

“…Adaptations to new forms of settlement of their land, new kinds of work effort, and development of new economic opportunities all articulate a concern to nurture this life force at the same time as articulating connections with western or balanda modes of action and thinking. As Merlan (2005) has shown, Aboriginal discourses can serve to reconstruct Aboriginal identity as distinct from western identity in contemporary intercultural contexts. Kuninjku articulate an understanding of their distinctiveness even as they actively engage with these new opportunities.…”

Remembering the mother mission: exploring trauma, cultural heritage values and identity at Mapoon, a former mission village in Western Cape York, Queensland

“…That is they emphasise Aboriginal conscious agency. This way of understanding cultural relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people differs from intercultural forms presented by Merlan (2005Merlan ( , 2013, where to some extent, Aboriginal agency is encapsulated and dominated within the discourse of the State. In my thesis, I investigate if the dynamics of relationships between missionaries and Mapoon people through oral history interviews and archival research has aided in valuing the Mapoon Mission cultural heritage.…”

“…These forms of archaeological practice are well utilised in historical archaeology and social archaeology in Australia and abroad, particularly focusing on former missions and government settlements (Birmingham 1992;David et al 2006;Godwin 2010;Griffin 2010;Lydon 2009b;Majewski and Gaimster 2009;Middleton 2008;Morrison 2010 (Colley 2002:101;Dalley 2004:1, Davidson et al 1995 (2003) and McNiven and Russell (2005). I discuss the relevance of other understandings of identity formation in relation to cultural domains (Trigger, 1985(Trigger, , 1992 and 'intercultural analysis' (Merlan 2005;Hinkson and Smith 2005) …”