The cultural dynamics of adaptation in remote Aboriginal communities: Policy, values and the state's unmet expectations

Abstract:

Using examples drawn from the Mardu, a Western Desert people, we seek to illustrate the incommensurability of remote Aboriginal and mainstream Australian cultures, including their opposed constructions of politics. Although there is ample evidence of Aboriginal people like the Mardu having adapted to their changed circumstances, deep differences persist. Kin-based authority and regulation of behaviour have been weakened and are often ineffective, but no viable civil society has emerged; this gap between Mardu and Western values and customs results in cultural clashes and the elusiveness of mutual accommodation. We emphasize elements of difference and difficulty that stem largely from the contrast in how these two kinds of societies deal with the tension between autonomy and relatedness.