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Making connections: Hearing and sharing M acassan‐ Y olηu stories
Author(s) -
Bilous Rebecca H.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/apv.12092
Subject(s) - indonesian , storytelling , tourism , sociology , media studies , gender studies , history , visual arts , linguistics , narrative , literature , archaeology , art , philosophy
Abstract Y olŋu people living in northeast A rnhem L and regularly celebrate their connections with the M acassan trepangers from Indonesian Sulawesi in storytelling, art and music. The history of this contact is well known in academic literature, and these stories of M acassan contact are told regularly by Y olŋu people to tourists visiting northeast A rnhem L and. This paper explores the impact that hearing stories about the M acassans from one Y olŋu family's tourism business had on a group of Australian Indonesian language teachers, visiting as part of an E ndeavour L anguage T eaching F ellowship. It draws on ideas related to telling and hearing stories and argues that these particular stories enabled the teachers to make powerful connections: with each other and with A ustralia's histories and geographies. The paper also explores the ways in which the teachers went on to become storytellers themselves, using stories to make connections in their students' learning.