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Mabo and Museums: ‘The Indigenous (Re)Appropriation of Indigenous Things’
Author(s) -
Pannell Sandra
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1994.tb02486.x
Subject(s) - indigenous , appropriation , argument (complex analysis) , legislation , identity (music) , cultural appropriation , ethnology , sociology , indigenous rights , museology , environmental ethics , political science , anthropology , law , aesthetics , history , art , archaeology , philosophy , epistemology , ecology , biochemistry , chemistry , biology
In this paper I extend upon the categories of appropriation identified by Beings, land and people. Using the work of Nancy Munn (1984) and Annette Weiner (1992), I argue that the relationship between objects, place, Beings and people is of a consubstantial and inalienable nature. Following on from this argument, I propose that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights and interests in land or waters, as defined by the recent Native Title legislation, cannot be alienated from rights and interests in other cultural possessions. These other cultural forms include tjurunga , as well as songs, ceremonies and paintings. As this suggests, in the post‐Mabo landscape museums represent important collecting sites for indigenous people; a somewhat different identity to the former status of museums as sites of indigenous collections.