Reciprocity In Aboriginal Society
Topic: Reciprocity is an underlying principle expressed throughout Aboriginal societies. Outline and illustrate the importance of this fundamental concept in the economic, social, spiritual and political spheres of Aboriginal life.
Introduction
Reciprocity is a fundamental and inflexible feature of Aboriginal societies of Australia. The importance of the reciprocity and sharing concepts are shown in the economic, social, spiritual and political spheres of Aboriginal life. This paper will first briefing discuss about the meaning of reciprocity in Aboriginal societies, then outline and illustrate how the principle of reciprocity underpin different forms of obligations and individual behaviours in various aspects of Aboriginal societies. …show more content…
The aim of this paper is to give a general understanding of the Aboriginal worldview and therefore improve the understanding of current problem occurring in between mainstream Australian system and Aboriginal societies.
In the Aboriginal society, Pitjantjatjara people refer reciprocity to ngapartji-ngapartji which means “in-return”.
There are systems of rights, obligations and responsibilities based on the reciprocity in the between of individuals, local groups and larger groups in the Aboriginal society. Reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to another, and it extends to the cultural norm of “payback” for wrongdoing. In this meaning, if an individual provide food or a marriage partner to other, they expect to receive something or somebody in return. On the other hand, if a person of a group offends others they can expect retribution in return. Reciprocity can be functioned on an inter-group as well as an intra-group level. The sharing can be extended to outside the home, through marriage, which has strongly reinforced the social relationship within group and individually. This system of balance can be used in maintaining social equilibrium. However, the concept of reciprocity is far more complex than exchanging things or paying back to others for their wrong doing. It is also about the worldview of Aboriginal people towards their land. Reciprocity can also be interpreted as a notion of being connected to everything around you such as environment, working for the benefit and the health of the land. The central meaning of reciprocity is timelessness. It is about the spirit exists both now …show more content…
and in the past, creation is both a historical and current event and the law is always exists as the same. In short, it is about the interconnectedness of all things in the world.
The underlying principle and recognition of reciprocity implicated the certain pattern of behaviors in most aspects of community life. However, the mainstream people in Australia have failed to understand this important concept of aboriginals, as a result, leading to misunderstanding and impairment of maintenance of Aboriginal societies.
Economic
Economically, reciprocity and sharing among Aboriginal people functions at times as an economic levelling mechanism, allowing those in need to draw on the resources of individuals who have surplus. In the traditional aboriginal economy, trade of weapons, tools, medicine and food are some common illustration of the concept of reciprocity. These items were exchanged for other items required. For instance, Aboriginal people would invite other groups to feast and share the meal together when a large mammal such as whale was caught. Reciprocity and sharing is a norm in the Aboriginal societies. Even when the resources are in limited supply, the expectation of Aboriginal people is that they will share until all resources are gone. It is about an equitable distribution of resources, responsibility and capacity. Therefore, people redistribute income, benefit from the land and other resources such as housing in order to achieve social cohesion. It is basically the right of any aboriginals to seek help from other relatives.
In urban communities, borrowing money is a common means of reciprocity to cope with financial strains. Except from cash or day-to-day items like food, vehicles or alcohol, Aboriginal people also seek help from relatives for some irregular large financial expenses such as car repair and purchase, wedding expenses or court fine. During difficult times, it makes good sense to be on the best of terms with neighbours and kin, in order to ensure that one’s generosity in the past will be returned in one’s own times of need. This is an alternative system of a safety net in the Aboriginal societies. Individuals are therefore, able to overcome short-term financial emergencies without having the need to seek help from the government or the banks.
Apart from exchanging daily necessities and seeking financial help from relatives, the concept of reciprocity also involves a relationship between people and their land and other ecological resources. The aboriginal people have formulated a set of land and food management system to control the exploitation of their land, in order to maintain the reciprocity between human and the nature. The system to maintain a sustainable relationship with the land has illustrated the significance of land in Aboriginal thought. In Aboriginal societies, people have a deep and spiritual attachment to the land. They see the land as the extension of self; to damage the land is to damage an aspect of self. Therefore, the Aboriginals lived in a reciprocal arrangement with the land through the systematic migration. The Aboriginals would migrate to different places depending on the seasonal conditions and then move on when the resources was either depleted or have reached a point of prohibition. By eating a large variety of foods in a systematic and sustainable manner Aboriginal food gathering techniques can ensure that no one food source can be over-exploited. Enough seeds are left so that there will always be new growth. The young of any animal species or any female if it is still caring for its offspring are rarely killed. Another example would be the use of fire in the agriculture or farming. The form of firestick farming has assisted to regenerate the nutrition of the soil. During the process of gathering, the environment can also be replenished through the replanting of yams and seeds which could be harvested the next year when they come back the area. Through different forms of systematic management of the land, it showed that the Aboriginal people maintain a good relationship with the land in which is an exhibition of underlying principle of reciprocity.
Social
When sharing takes place, both parties enter into not only an economic transaction, for food, shelter and money etc., but a social transaction in which the social relationship have been reinforced through sharing. For example, providing a meal to cousin who demanded for food creates a bond between two parties and also recognition of the particular relationship between two parties, as people have the responsibility to provide support to each other in the family. Therefore, social reciprocity involved the meaning of social obligations towards others within the group and outside of the group. The concept of generosity and sharing based on the social relatedness, in another word, kinship. In Aboriginal society, each person is clear about their identities and responsibilities. In the Aboriginal society, the relatedness is a key concept that allows each person to know how to act and behave toward other person in the group. The kinship reciprocity extends to people outside of the group, including widows, orphans and outsiders in order to achieve social equilibrium.
The concept of sharing and generosity are highly valued among Aboriginal people. It can be illustrated in the saying that a respected and respectful person is one who ‘share unselfishly and without hesitation, who is generous without making an issue of it or asking for return, who fulfils ritual and kinship obligations without question’. According to Hiatt, the readiness to share with others is the main measure of a man’s goodness, and hospitality and essential source of his self-esteem. In traditional Aboriginal society mutual rights and obligations, deriving principally from kinship obligations, are consistently observed. Rules of obligation and reciprocity create a culture of sharing between family and kinship members. The act of kinship obligation includes act like gift giving arises out of marriage, betrothal or initiation. This is the social obligation of man to make gift including meat to his new wife’s father mother and brother to compensate them for the loss of her services. In this instance, the economic value of the gift was unessential. It was the act of giving that counted, and the reciprocity that reinforce the social bonds.
In most circumstances, generosity is sought or demanded by other parties.
It is referred as the “demanding generosity”, which generosity is not sprung from the recognition of need. Since Aboriginal culture cases generosity as the ‘norm’ where one has the right to seek assistance from one’s kin, it is hard to refuse the demand of generosity from other relatives. Refusal is seen to be inappropriate and unacceptable, while having nothing to share, on the other hand, is not. Refusal of demand is to deny the relationship with another party, not just the material transaction. Therefore, deflecting demands must be strategically handled in order to ensure the relationship between both parties is not damaged.
As mentioned before, the social reciprocity is all about social obligation and responsibility depending on one’s identity and position in the community. Male and female have a very different social role in traditional Aboriginal society. For instance, a man’s role involved skills in hunting, on the other hand, female have the role of providing food and early child rearing. This is an example to show how the two genders reciprocate with each other and distributes obligations differently, based on different natures of male and female in order to maximize the welfare of the
society.
Spiritual
Spiritual reciprocity involved a stewardship of the land. Those who connected to the land most become the steward of the land. Most of the anthologists agree that there is no organized religion in Aboriginal culture. However, it is generally admitted that the Aboriginal culture is built on the strong spirituality, which the concept of reciprocity of the world is encompassed in the person, place, languages, stories, songs and arts. Different from other religions, the Aboriginal spiritually respect the value of living, on the other hand, other religions make promises for life after death or salvation. Aboriginal believe living is full of suffering and joy. Living itself is an expression of deep spirituality and is celebrated. In this sense of spirituality, reciprocity exists in life fundamentally, suffering reciprocates with joy and all things are interconnected.
The reciprocity of the Aboriginal culture also encompasses the law, either civil or natural law. Traditional Aboriginal society does not distinguish between the physical and spiritual universes. There is interconnectedness of all things. Accordingly, there is no distinction between secular and spiritual rules. The Law governs the responsibility and behaviours of each person to ensure each person know their relationship and social obligation towards their kin. People must learn how to take responsibility for relationship with the nature, however, this call for “Aboriginal land right” is often misunderstood by the modern society of the colony as taking advantage from the land. Another difference between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is about their recognition of Aboriginal identity. For Aboriginal people, sharing and generosity is one of the ways to exhibit their identity of Aboriginals. The act of sharing establishes and maintains the connection with the community. In this way, sharing can be seen as a political way to be identified them as different from “the White” and to show their sense of belonging to the Aboriginal community. The reciprocity is a core element to organize the Aboriginal community. They operate in social universe, not in isolation. In this way, the concept of reciprocity and sharing is not only a principle that guides Aboriginals individual behaviour, it is also a way to organize their community, strengthen their sense of belongings and making them a united entity.
Political
Political reciprocity involved tradition and respect. Fire is important in traditional Aboriginal life. It affects most activity and was central to Aboriginal technology. The use of fire has been used as a political tool to symbolise the movement of Aboriginal people. Fire has been widely used as a communication tool as the smoke signals could identify the location of groups and coordinate hunting and gathering activities.
Reciprocity was shown in the burning of fire. When the Aboriginal people burn the country, it was left for few days so the dead people can hunt first. Also, burning of country also release a pleasant smell which was seen to please the god and other human beings. Burning was also a gift to the land. Repeated burning has changed the environment resulting in the survival and flourishing of plant, animals, birds and insects which adapted best to the situation. The use of fire enables the mutual well-being of both human and other parts of the ecological system. However, not everyone had the right to burn the country and the burning location must be chosen strictly. Some lands are burnt but cannot be hunted as that was the spiritual land or burial grounds of ancestors. Lighting fire is the way to determine their place in the world and society and it is a way of bringing past into the future-preserving the Aboriginal tradition.
The aboriginal people perceived themselves as the steward of the land. On the other hand, non-Aboriginal people try to assert power over their land. Aboriginal people respect their land and have their own rules on the exploitation of land resource. However, their rules do not restrict to other non-aboriginal people. Non-aboriginal and the colonist simply want to exploit the resource on this land and get economic value. Neglect of the reciprocity between nature and human has caused the tensed relationship between the tribe and the state. Therefore, the tribe always need to deal with the political pressure from the colony.
Conclusion
Nowadays, generosity is still valued highly today as it was in the traditional life-way of the Aboriginal people. Sharing hunting or harvested food among kin is still an operative force for reservation residents. However, the government agencies are still reluctant to recognize the reciprocity principle of Aboriginal people and fail to include indigenous perspectives in nature resource planning and management. The government should begin to increase understanding and acknowledgement of the Aboriginal worldview. Encouraging the cohesion of both worldview is the only way out to achieve a better relation between both societies.
References
Bradley, John J.. (1995). Fire: emotion and politics . In: Rose, Deborah Bird. Country in Flames : proceedings of the 1994 Symposium on biodiversity and fire in North Australia . Canberra, Darwin : Biodiversity Unit, Dept. of the Environment, Sport and Territories ; North Australia Research Unit, Australian National University. P.127.
Colin Bourke,Eleanor Bourke and Bil Edwards (1998). Aboriginal Australia. Queensland: The University of Queensland Press. p.219-p.222
Francesca Merlan, John Morton and Alan Rumsey (1997). Scholar and Sceptic Australian Aboriginal Studies in Honour of LR Hiatt. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. P.171.
Jon Altman. (1995). The calculus of reciprocity: principles and implications of Aboriginal sharing. The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. 100, p.1-p.20.
Nola Purdie, Pat Dudgeon and Roz Walker (2010). Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice . Barton: Publications ISBN. p.25-p.38.
Stephanie Fryer-Smith (2008). Aboriginal Benchbook for Western Australia Courts . 2nd ed. Melbourne: Australian Institute for Judicial Administration Incorporated. P.2.18.
W.H.Edwards (2004). An introduction to Aboriginal societies. 2nd ed. New South Wales: Social Science Press. p.16-p.33.
W.H.Edwards (1998). Traditional Aboriginal Societies. 2nd ed. South Yarra: Macmillan Publishers Australia PTY LTD.. P.6-P.30.
Introduction
Reciprocity is a fundamental and inflexible feature of Aboriginal societies of Australia. The importance of the reciprocity and sharing concepts are shown in the economic, social, spiritual and political spheres of Aboriginal life. This paper will first briefing discuss about the meaning of reciprocity in Aboriginal societies, then outline and illustrate how the principle of reciprocity underpin different forms of obligations and individual behaviours in various aspects of Aboriginal societies. …show more content…
The aim of this paper is to give a general understanding of the Aboriginal worldview and therefore improve the understanding of current problem occurring in between mainstream Australian system and Aboriginal societies.
In the Aboriginal society, Pitjantjatjara people refer reciprocity to ngapartji-ngapartji which means “in-return”.
There are systems of rights, obligations and responsibilities based on the reciprocity in the between of individuals, local groups and larger groups in the Aboriginal society. Reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to another, and it extends to the cultural norm of “payback” for wrongdoing. In this meaning, if an individual provide food or a marriage partner to other, they expect to receive something or somebody in return. On the other hand, if a person of a group offends others they can expect retribution in return. Reciprocity can be functioned on an inter-group as well as an intra-group level. The sharing can be extended to outside the home, through marriage, which has strongly reinforced the social relationship within group and individually. This system of balance can be used in maintaining social equilibrium. However, the concept of reciprocity is far more complex than exchanging things or paying back to others for their wrong doing. It is also about the worldview of Aboriginal people towards their land. Reciprocity can also be interpreted as a notion of being connected to everything around you such as environment, working for the benefit and the health of the land. The central meaning of reciprocity is timelessness. It is about the spirit exists both now …show more content…
and in the past, creation is both a historical and current event and the law is always exists as the same. In short, it is about the interconnectedness of all things in the world.
The underlying principle and recognition of reciprocity implicated the certain pattern of behaviors in most aspects of community life. However, the mainstream people in Australia have failed to understand this important concept of aboriginals, as a result, leading to misunderstanding and impairment of maintenance of Aboriginal societies.
Economic
Economically, reciprocity and sharing among Aboriginal people functions at times as an economic levelling mechanism, allowing those in need to draw on the resources of individuals who have surplus. In the traditional aboriginal economy, trade of weapons, tools, medicine and food are some common illustration of the concept of reciprocity. These items were exchanged for other items required. For instance, Aboriginal people would invite other groups to feast and share the meal together when a large mammal such as whale was caught. Reciprocity and sharing is a norm in the Aboriginal societies. Even when the resources are in limited supply, the expectation of Aboriginal people is that they will share until all resources are gone. It is about an equitable distribution of resources, responsibility and capacity. Therefore, people redistribute income, benefit from the land and other resources such as housing in order to achieve social cohesion. It is basically the right of any aboriginals to seek help from other relatives.
In urban communities, borrowing money is a common means of reciprocity to cope with financial strains. Except from cash or day-to-day items like food, vehicles or alcohol, Aboriginal people also seek help from relatives for some irregular large financial expenses such as car repair and purchase, wedding expenses or court fine. During difficult times, it makes good sense to be on the best of terms with neighbours and kin, in order to ensure that one’s generosity in the past will be returned in one’s own times of need. This is an alternative system of a safety net in the Aboriginal societies. Individuals are therefore, able to overcome short-term financial emergencies without having the need to seek help from the government or the banks.
Apart from exchanging daily necessities and seeking financial help from relatives, the concept of reciprocity also involves a relationship between people and their land and other ecological resources. The aboriginal people have formulated a set of land and food management system to control the exploitation of their land, in order to maintain the reciprocity between human and the nature. The system to maintain a sustainable relationship with the land has illustrated the significance of land in Aboriginal thought. In Aboriginal societies, people have a deep and spiritual attachment to the land. They see the land as the extension of self; to damage the land is to damage an aspect of self. Therefore, the Aboriginals lived in a reciprocal arrangement with the land through the systematic migration. The Aboriginals would migrate to different places depending on the seasonal conditions and then move on when the resources was either depleted or have reached a point of prohibition. By eating a large variety of foods in a systematic and sustainable manner Aboriginal food gathering techniques can ensure that no one food source can be over-exploited. Enough seeds are left so that there will always be new growth. The young of any animal species or any female if it is still caring for its offspring are rarely killed. Another example would be the use of fire in the agriculture or farming. The form of firestick farming has assisted to regenerate the nutrition of the soil. During the process of gathering, the environment can also be replenished through the replanting of yams and seeds which could be harvested the next year when they come back the area. Through different forms of systematic management of the land, it showed that the Aboriginal people maintain a good relationship with the land in which is an exhibition of underlying principle of reciprocity.
Social
When sharing takes place, both parties enter into not only an economic transaction, for food, shelter and money etc., but a social transaction in which the social relationship have been reinforced through sharing. For example, providing a meal to cousin who demanded for food creates a bond between two parties and also recognition of the particular relationship between two parties, as people have the responsibility to provide support to each other in the family. Therefore, social reciprocity involved the meaning of social obligations towards others within the group and outside of the group. The concept of generosity and sharing based on the social relatedness, in another word, kinship. In Aboriginal society, each person is clear about their identities and responsibilities. In the Aboriginal society, the relatedness is a key concept that allows each person to know how to act and behave toward other person in the group. The kinship reciprocity extends to people outside of the group, including widows, orphans and outsiders in order to achieve social equilibrium.
The concept of sharing and generosity are highly valued among Aboriginal people. It can be illustrated in the saying that a respected and respectful person is one who ‘share unselfishly and without hesitation, who is generous without making an issue of it or asking for return, who fulfils ritual and kinship obligations without question’. According to Hiatt, the readiness to share with others is the main measure of a man’s goodness, and hospitality and essential source of his self-esteem. In traditional Aboriginal society mutual rights and obligations, deriving principally from kinship obligations, are consistently observed. Rules of obligation and reciprocity create a culture of sharing between family and kinship members. The act of kinship obligation includes act like gift giving arises out of marriage, betrothal or initiation. This is the social obligation of man to make gift including meat to his new wife’s father mother and brother to compensate them for the loss of her services. In this instance, the economic value of the gift was unessential. It was the act of giving that counted, and the reciprocity that reinforce the social bonds.
In most circumstances, generosity is sought or demanded by other parties.
It is referred as the “demanding generosity”, which generosity is not sprung from the recognition of need. Since Aboriginal culture cases generosity as the ‘norm’ where one has the right to seek assistance from one’s kin, it is hard to refuse the demand of generosity from other relatives. Refusal is seen to be inappropriate and unacceptable, while having nothing to share, on the other hand, is not. Refusal of demand is to deny the relationship with another party, not just the material transaction. Therefore, deflecting demands must be strategically handled in order to ensure the relationship between both parties is not damaged.
As mentioned before, the social reciprocity is all about social obligation and responsibility depending on one’s identity and position in the community. Male and female have a very different social role in traditional Aboriginal society. For instance, a man’s role involved skills in hunting, on the other hand, female have the role of providing food and early child rearing. This is an example to show how the two genders reciprocate with each other and distributes obligations differently, based on different natures of male and female in order to maximize the welfare of the
society.
Spiritual
Spiritual reciprocity involved a stewardship of the land. Those who connected to the land most become the steward of the land. Most of the anthologists agree that there is no organized religion in Aboriginal culture. However, it is generally admitted that the Aboriginal culture is built on the strong spirituality, which the concept of reciprocity of the world is encompassed in the person, place, languages, stories, songs and arts. Different from other religions, the Aboriginal spiritually respect the value of living, on the other hand, other religions make promises for life after death or salvation. Aboriginal believe living is full of suffering and joy. Living itself is an expression of deep spirituality and is celebrated. In this sense of spirituality, reciprocity exists in life fundamentally, suffering reciprocates with joy and all things are interconnected.
The reciprocity of the Aboriginal culture also encompasses the law, either civil or natural law. Traditional Aboriginal society does not distinguish between the physical and spiritual universes. There is interconnectedness of all things. Accordingly, there is no distinction between secular and spiritual rules. The Law governs the responsibility and behaviours of each person to ensure each person know their relationship and social obligation towards their kin. People must learn how to take responsibility for relationship with the nature, however, this call for “Aboriginal land right” is often misunderstood by the modern society of the colony as taking advantage from the land. Another difference between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is about their recognition of Aboriginal identity. For Aboriginal people, sharing and generosity is one of the ways to exhibit their identity of Aboriginals. The act of sharing establishes and maintains the connection with the community. In this way, sharing can be seen as a political way to be identified them as different from “the White” and to show their sense of belonging to the Aboriginal community. The reciprocity is a core element to organize the Aboriginal community. They operate in social universe, not in isolation. In this way, the concept of reciprocity and sharing is not only a principle that guides Aboriginals individual behaviour, it is also a way to organize their community, strengthen their sense of belongings and making them a united entity.
Political
Political reciprocity involved tradition and respect. Fire is important in traditional Aboriginal life. It affects most activity and was central to Aboriginal technology. The use of fire has been used as a political tool to symbolise the movement of Aboriginal people. Fire has been widely used as a communication tool as the smoke signals could identify the location of groups and coordinate hunting and gathering activities.
Reciprocity was shown in the burning of fire. When the Aboriginal people burn the country, it was left for few days so the dead people can hunt first. Also, burning of country also release a pleasant smell which was seen to please the god and other human beings. Burning was also a gift to the land. Repeated burning has changed the environment resulting in the survival and flourishing of plant, animals, birds and insects which adapted best to the situation. The use of fire enables the mutual well-being of both human and other parts of the ecological system. However, not everyone had the right to burn the country and the burning location must be chosen strictly. Some lands are burnt but cannot be hunted as that was the spiritual land or burial grounds of ancestors. Lighting fire is the way to determine their place in the world and society and it is a way of bringing past into the future-preserving the Aboriginal tradition.
The aboriginal people perceived themselves as the steward of the land. On the other hand, non-Aboriginal people try to assert power over their land. Aboriginal people respect their land and have their own rules on the exploitation of land resource. However, their rules do not restrict to other non-aboriginal people. Non-aboriginal and the colonist simply want to exploit the resource on this land and get economic value. Neglect of the reciprocity between nature and human has caused the tensed relationship between the tribe and the state. Therefore, the tribe always need to deal with the political pressure from the colony.
Conclusion
Nowadays, generosity is still valued highly today as it was in the traditional life-way of the Aboriginal people. Sharing hunting or harvested food among kin is still an operative force for reservation residents. However, the government agencies are still reluctant to recognize the reciprocity principle of Aboriginal people and fail to include indigenous perspectives in nature resource planning and management. The government should begin to increase understanding and acknowledgement of the Aboriginal worldview. Encouraging the cohesion of both worldview is the only way out to achieve a better relation between both societies.
References
Bradley, John J.. (1995). Fire: emotion and politics . In: Rose, Deborah Bird. Country in Flames : proceedings of the 1994 Symposium on biodiversity and fire in North Australia . Canberra, Darwin : Biodiversity Unit, Dept. of the Environment, Sport and Territories ; North Australia Research Unit, Australian National University. P.127.
Colin Bourke,Eleanor Bourke and Bil Edwards (1998). Aboriginal Australia. Queensland: The University of Queensland Press. p.219-p.222
Francesca Merlan, John Morton and Alan Rumsey (1997). Scholar and Sceptic Australian Aboriginal Studies in Honour of LR Hiatt. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. P.171.
Jon Altman. (1995). The calculus of reciprocity: principles and implications of Aboriginal sharing. The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. 100, p.1-p.20.
Nola Purdie, Pat Dudgeon and Roz Walker (2010). Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice . Barton: Publications ISBN. p.25-p.38.
Stephanie Fryer-Smith (2008). Aboriginal Benchbook for Western Australia Courts . 2nd ed. Melbourne: Australian Institute for Judicial Administration Incorporated. P.2.18.
W.H.Edwards (2004). An introduction to Aboriginal societies. 2nd ed. New South Wales: Social Science Press. p.16-p.33.
W.H.Edwards (1998). Traditional Aboriginal Societies. 2nd ed. South Yarra: Macmillan Publishers Australia PTY LTD.. P.6-P.30.