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Abstract
This paper reflects on the emotional geography of a place; one part of the Yanyuwa people's Indigenous homelands in northern Australia. It offers a biography of a Yanyuwa place that is deemed ‘too strong to ever not be there’. There is no discreet past or present chapter in the story of this place, rather there is a continual narrative that exists right here and now, one that is embodied in emotional engagements drawn from people's connections to the spirit ancestors, the ‘old people’, today's youth, land rights, language and education. It is understood as somewhere of great strength, endurance and power, because such traits are revealed through the very name Manankurra. This is the power of a place name. Manankurra remains in memory, despite colonial actions enforcing a physical alienation from this place. Exile and physical estrangement from homelands are too familiar in colonial settings. Despite this, the cultural engagements and emotional geographies that demarcate Yanyuwa homelands, specifically Manankurra, by way of narrative, knowledge and memory were never lost, nor disembodied from the emotional experience of homelands. They surge back to life again and again, across generations, because of triggers in individual and group remembering.
Cet article se penche sur la géographie affective d'un lieu. Il s'agit d'une terre ancestrale des Yanyuma, peuple aborigène du nord de l'Australie. Ce lieu Yanyuwa est désigné comme étant «trop puissant pour ne jamais être là». L'histoire de ce lieu, présentée sous forme biographique, ne permet pas de distinguer l'histoire passée et présente. Au contraire, il existe un récit continu et ancré dans le présent qui s'incarne au travers de mobilisations affectives reposant sur les liens qu'entretient le peuple avec les esprits des anciens, les «ainés», les jeunes d'aujourd'hui, les droits territoriaux, la langue et l'éducation. La référence à Manankurra indique à quel point ce lieu est associé à une grande force, à l'endurance et au pouvoir. Ceci fait ressortir la puissance de la toponymie. Manankurra reste dans les souvenirs, malgré les actions déployées par les colonisateurs pour provoquer la rupture physique avec ce lieu. Dans ce contexte colonialiste, l'exile et le déracinement sont monnaies courantes. En dépit de cela, les mobilisations culturelles et les géographies affectives qui délimitent les terres ancestrales Yanyuwa, en particulier le Manankurra, par le biais du récit, des connaissances et des souvenirs, n'ont été ni perdues ni désincarnées de l'expérience affective vécue sur les terres ancestrales. C'est à travers les générations qu'elles reviennent sans cesse en vie, en raison des souvenirs évoqués par les individus de même qu'au sein du groupe.
Este papel reflexiona sobre la geografía afectiva de un lugar; una parte de la tierra natal del pueblo Yanyuwa en el norte de Australia. El papel ofrece una biografía del lugar de los Yanyuwa, considerado ‘demasiado potente como para abandonarlo’. No hay un capítulo discreto en la historia de este lugar, ni en el pasado ni en el presente, sino una narrativa contínua que existe en este mismo momento y lugar, una narrativa que está encarnada en las interacciones afectivas procedentes de las conexiones que tiene el pueblo con los espíritus de los antepasados, los ‘ancianos’, los jóvenes de hoy en día, derechos terrotoriales, lenguaje y enseñanza. Es considerado un lugar de gran fuerza, resistencia y potencia, porque el mismo nombre del lugar, Manankurra, revela estas características. Este es el poder del nombre del lugar. Manankurra queda grabada en la memoria a pesar de los actos colonialistas que imponen un distanciamiento físico de este lugar. El exilio y el alejamiento físico de tierras natales son demasiado frecuentes en sitios colonizados. No obstante, las interacciones culturales y las geografías afectivas que demarcan la tierra natal de los Yanyuwa, en particular Manankurra, por medio de la narrativa, el conocimiento y la memoria, nunca han sido olvidadas y nunca han sido desencarnadas de la experiencia afectiva de la tierra natal. Surgen resucitadas una y otra vez, a través de las generaciones, provocadas por la remembranza colectiva o individual.
Acknowledgements
We owe considerable thanks to the li-Yanyuwa wirdiwalangu Elders who have, for many years, graciously allowed us to share in their knowledge and their lives. Sadly so many of them have now passed away and to their predecessors and young people we extend our gratitude and respect for all things Yanyuwa country.
Notes
1 Amanda Kearney is an anthropologist who has spent the last eight years working with Yanyuwa families, in particular women and younger generations, to document the ways in which people maintain emotional connections to their homelands in the face of massive colonial pressures. John Bradley's connection to the Yanyuwa community began some thirty years ago and has been integral to the collaborative recording of the Yanyuwa language, ancestral narratives and songlines. He has also worked with the Yanyuwa in the fight for land rights.
2 In the Yanyuwa language, wirrimalaru means something of great importance or power. Governments and their various departments are considered to have wirrimalaru; as are Ancestral Beings, sacred objects, certain songs, words and sites upon the land and their associated narratives (Bradley Citation1988a: 32).
3 Annie Karrakayn, in J. Bradley, ‘Ethnographic fieldnotes’, 1988.
4 Dinny McDinny Nyilba, in J. Bradley, ‘Ethnographic fieldnotes’, 2002.
5 The current lessees of Manangoora pastoral station are a family of mixed Aboriginal and European descent. The lease has been held by the same family since 1964. There are complexities in this arrangement that see both distance and closeness characterising the relationship between lessees and the Aboriginal traditional owners of the area. This distance and closeness is symptomatic of complex Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations and shared histories in northern Australia.
6 Yanyuwa elders consider it such, because his mother was a Yanyuwa woman. As such, through maternal descent he acquires certain rights and responsibilities to parts of Yanyuwa homelands.
7 An ownership that is held by those in the appropriate kinship relationship to this place and those who hold knowledge of ancestral narratives linked to Manankurra and embody a willingness to maintain and manage Manankurra on terms that pertain to Yanyuwa Law and ancestral narrative.
8 For the Yanyuwa, their lives, society and land are held by what they classify as narnu-Yuwa, the Law or the Way. This Law originates from the actions of the Spirit Ancestors, and structures all life and meaning (Bradley Citation1997: 145–146).
9 The cycad fruit has extremely toxic and carcinogenic qualities (see Beaton Citation1977; Hooper Citation1978; Whiting Citation1963) and meticulous labour-intensive methods are required to prepare it for eating. The songs referred to in this quote relate to the ‘power songs’ that carry healing capacities for those who may have eaten untreated cycad fruit, or drunk of the water in which still toxic cycad nuts had been soaking (Bradley Citation2006).
10 Minnie Wulbulinimara, in J. Bradley, ‘Ethnographic fieldnotes’, 1980.
11 In recent years, the Yanyuwa have developed an important new way of re-engaging with Manankurra and other powerful places across their homelands. This has taken the form of an emerging artistic movement in bold-style acrylic painting, that depicts such places as well as individuals and narratives linked to place. Yanyuwa woman, Nancy McDinny, the daughter of Eileen McDinny a-Manankurrmara, is a nationally renowned artist who frequently paints to reflect her personal understanding of Manankurra and the narratives told to her by her mother.
12 Annie Karrakayn, in A. Kearney, ‘Ethnographic fieldnotes’, 2004.
13 Journey East/Buwarrala Akarriya, Marndaa Productions in association with the Yanyuwa Community, 1989. Producer: Debbie Sonnenberg; script: Jan Wositzky.
14 Wuwari has no actual translation, in a general sense it means guardian for one's mother's country', this translation however belies the obligations and duties inherent in the role. Ultimately it is a highly emotive role as the link between an individual and their mother's country is one of intimacy and responsibility.
15 Bushnames, referred to as na-wunyingu in Yanyuwa language, are names given to individuals, and are derived from one's father's and father's father's country. These names intimately link a person to a place and are seen as a part of the heritage of any one place. As demonstrated in the text a women whose father's and father's father's country is Manankurra can be given the bushname a-Manankurrmara, which translates as ‘one who is activated by the country of Manankurra’. In Yanyuwa tradition, only women can be named after specific country names such as Manankurra.