Date of Award
2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (College of Arts and Science)
Schools and Centres
Arts & Sciences
First Supervisor
Professor Sandra Wooltorton
Second Supervisor
Professor Victoria Burbank
Third Supervisor
Doctor Vanessa Russ
Abstract
In this study I explored some of the key components of Noongar cultural practice that remain embedded within Noongar society today yet have adapted, changed, and evolved over time and demonstrate that there remains a sense of duty and commitment among Noongar women to follow cultural values and value systems that determine rights, responsibility, and obligation during the practice of disputes.
The target group for this inquiry is Noongar women, The target group is made up of nine Noongar women who shared their personal story, a group of senior Noongar women called the Kookaburra Club who guided me through the politics of Noongar culture in modernity and other senior women who wanted to offer their support for the research, as well as some Noongar men who were with their wives or partners during our discussion about dispute practice among Noongar women today and asked to be included. In Noongar culture senior women travel with their partners and/or husbands who supported the voice of the senior women and asked to be a part of the discussion
therefore I have accounted for their voices in parts of the discussion because the methodology here is reflective of ‘our culture’. Taking an Elders first approach within the methodology means to include men’s voice . Dispute practice among Noongar women is often misunderstood and can be perceived as aggressive, and sometimes violent, to the outsider. It is my observation that Noongar women today sometimes experience conflict between each other, with other family members, and with people outside the family, as they go about their daily business and are encouraged to participate in dispute practice following the notion of a cultural practice that is underpinned by Noongar values and value systems that remain embedded within Noongar society today. The ethnographic method used in the thesis, and the ways I implemented the study, makes an articulate contribution to Noongar cultural knowledge and practice in modernity.
The thesis makes a contribution to the articulation of Noongar cultural philosophy and is inclusive of Noongar values and value systems in today’s context. My understanding of culture was handed down to me through my father and is informed from his understanding of culture. My father’s learning of culture was taught to him through his father and his grandfather and his grandfather’s brother, who was mabarn, passing on knowledge to family members as is the custom of Aboriginal people throughout Australia. This research was initiated because I have ongoing questions about culture, particularly in the practice of disputes. This study explores the use of aggression during the practice of disputes among Noongar women who live in an urban environment and the relationship that this has with their understanding and meaning of their culture.
Publication Details
Bynder, B. (2024). Ngala Kaditjiny ’Our Culture’ [Doctor of Philosophy (College of Arts and Science)]. The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/437