iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

That a good project! In many of the remote communities in Aboriginal Australia the problems are more than just books however... poor attendance, poor nutrition (thus poor concentration for example) etc. etc.

What I'm trying to grapple with is what good does "mainstream education" have on indigenous kids when there's no follow-up programs leading to further education, jobs and training, community capacity-building? Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with schools and education per se, but from what I've seen there's nothing after that and kids just fall into inertia so to speak... no jobs, nothing to do, few prospects for the future. It might sound like a conspiracy but I feel that what governments at all levels want is control of land. Give the people some things to keep their hopes up whilst eroding their rights and their tenure on land. Why land? One word: mineral resources.

Guan

Hmmmm... this is from a few years back... is this still what you see, Guan? That maybe the government thinking is, if things are made hard enough, for long enough, everyone will be forced to relocate to the cities, and give up their ancestral land?

Can you envision the kinds of 'jobs', or the kind of socio-economic structure that would be healthy for, say, Ramingining? The answer would probably apply to many parts of the world. Maybe all parts of the world.
:/
Cindy

Oh wait, this is NOT from a few years back, but only from last March. Looking at too many posts...

Funny thing is, the problems you describe are a variant of a problem that exists all over... here in the US, you can't get a decent job without 'an education', which requires you to go into debt to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, or more. Then after you get the education, there STILL aren't the jobs out there. You have the debt, but not the job - so the debt is forever, and so is your poverty.

So what's going on in Arnhem Land is a microcosm of a much bigger problem. And some really smart people are going to have to figure out... what makes a thriving economy/culture??

Hi CindyinMaine,
I'm Hawk and I live in Maine also~a little further downeast...

Did you see a recent episode of 20/20 titled: Hidden America-Children of the Plains ?
It chronicles the lives of several young Lakota children who live at Pine Ridge. Their lives are impacted by
alcohol/drugs, extreme poverty, abuse of various kinds, lack of proper academic necessities...the list is long. I think what makes their plight similar to that of the Yolngu and other indigenous folks in Australia is the origin of these conditions~
Colonialism had and continues to have unhealthy impact on indigenous Lifeways but as mentioned the desire to obtain minerals and control of the land I believe is more detrimental...
This youtube video is part one of Children of the Plains-







Follow this link to the ABC website where the rest of the show is ~

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/hidden-america-children-plains-robert-crumbling-trailer-dreams-2020-14742304

Hi, Hawk! Nice to see another Mainer!

I don't watch TV, and so miss some good things, I guess. The video is very affecting, and it has definitely occurred to me that the problems facing the Yolngu are not so different from those facing other indigenous folks, including in my own state of Maine... I knew a young Passamaquoddy guy, years ago. He drove me crazy, because he was a sort of unwelcome apartment-mate, and also a heroin addict, but he did teach me a thing or two about what it meant to be Passamaquoddy, in the past and now.

Does the name 'Hawk' mean you are indigenous American? And what do you think... colonialism cannot be undone. How can cultures keep their identity, and thrive in the modern world? And you know, the question really is how can ANY of us thrive, even if our cultural identity is a bit murky.
:/
Cindy

Hi Cindy,

Wow the internet sure is something ennit... Here we are on a website devoted to the preservation of indigenous People from Australia and we're practically neighbors~Cool!
Cindy I am Nipmuc~Nipmuc loosely translated means the Freshwater People. We are from the central part of Mass and Northern RI and Conn. We're algonquin (language) people and related to the Peoples here in the north. In southern new england all the Peoples call ourselves Wampanoag and in the north (as you're aware) it's Wabanaki. These mean "Dawn Greeters" or "those who invite the Light"...

I agree colonialism cannot be undone~ you ask a great question (not easy to anser here) but I believe it is possible to maintain identity and thrive in our world today. First we must know who we are and i think that comes from the knowledge of our ancestors AND the knowledge of the Land/Water and those things that live in those places ~ these too are our ancestors and relatives. I mean this very literally~having knowledge of what we live with and how to relate to it keeps tradition living. With knowledge our reltionship can be healthier...

It's easy to get caught up in the trappings of our world~I am in front of a computer with lights on food in the fridge and a pile of wood waiting for it to get cold

When our children were babies we decided it would be important to live closer to the "world" (nature) so we bought a tipi. Now those are not traditional Wabanaki dwellings but it worked. We lived in it for three years. While it would take too much writing to explain the details of how if affected my family I can say it was the best move we could have made.

We froze in the winter and learned how to stay warm~by the 3rd year only a sweatshirt or light jacket during the cold. We learned how to give each other privacy, we learned how to live with Fire. When it got dark we slept, when the light came we were up~In short we re- aquired a living way that was in synch with the "World". Now when we loose power it's no big deal or if we need medicine while in the woods we "know" it...

I think we all can thrive if we are willing to examine and change our priorities. Maybe redefine sucess, learn or remember Old Knowledge~All Peoples have this knowledge in our history....

Hi, Hawk! Well, I guess it's not surprising that we are on the same forum, and share some interests (or values) too... I live in Portland now (got a few of the same problems as the Yolngu, alas) but have also lived very rural here in Maine, and even now am always bringing cicadas and seed pods into the office... some people live with nature by looking at the grandeur of the mountains, but for some reason I have always been more interested in the stuff on the ground, or under the rock. I think sowbugs are my totem animal! They can smell water so far underground, and they look like trilobites.

I know what you mean about the teepee. I spent large parts of a summer in a friend's teepee, tho not the winter - but I do remember the winter of 1998 when there was a huge ice storm, and we lost power at my ancient farmhouse (which I miss) for almost three weeks. At first I was freaking out, missing email mainly - but after we got into the rhythms of the quiet, everyone with their own oil lamp for reading, no sound - not even a refrigerator! hauling water up the long, steep driveway, being extra-attentive to the wood stove... well, when the power came back on, I actually cried. And I am not a cryer. We had lost something that we had briefly gained.

So yes, redefine success - and definitely value and learn from old knowledge - European-style knowledge is given WAY too much attention by my own culture, if it can even be defined as a culture...
:/
Cindy

Ahh I remember that storm well! It was quite nice to not hear or feel the buzz of electricity! Our home is quite small and we only have a woodstove for heat so we were set. Also loved using oil lamps and candles at night. I build and play flutes (among aother things) so the house late at night with none of the usual distractions ie computer (wait-we didn't have one then), tv, lights, made for a nice playing atmosphere...

Our daughters who are 22-24 have developed a wonderful relationship with the "world". They don't hesitate to wake us if cercropia (a huge moth) is outdoors late at night~I better not start boasting about my daughters....

Ya know Cindy the Old european knowledge is not much different than the indigenous knowledge of any place. We ALL share similar understanding and relationship with this Earth. In remembering we might alter how we live and how we relate to others...

Cecropia!!! I am a special fan of moths, and was lucky enough to have outdoor lights on my big picture windows, which I turned on all through May and June, to bring the moths... it did also bring the bats, and I would lie on the ground under them and be troubled by the combination of thrill and sadness, the bats swooping and happy, but my moths, my moths... then I bat-sat for a friend's injured little brown bat for a month or so. I miss living up in Waldo County!!

Ya, Hawk, you are right about the 'old' European knowledge. But the problem is the newer so-called 'knowledge', and that's a problem for Yolngu, Wabanaki, and all of us. But the sweep of history, it's always interesting, and it's always changing... so lettuce hope - and also your daughters sound awesome!

Cindy

Glad to hear you had bat's! there is a fungus that has effected the brown bat population. Numbers have been down...
We also had polyphemus (sp?) this year!! Moths are incredible!

I was just in Portland a few weeks ago playing at a new church...I'll let you know when I am down that way if you're interested. I'll bring along my mbira, new Djalu yidaki and maybe my kora....

I was about to say that we have taken this thread out to left field but on second thought our discussion might be what this is all about

Nice chatting with you. Off to get some rest but seeing as you're always on the computer (I read your first post on the forum) I'll see you in the a.m.

Yah, this poor little bat was maybe 10 years ago, and no vet would treat her because of rabies fears. From what I have read, bats are not really carriers, and get sick and die quickly from rabies, and it was very plain what was wrong with this youngster - she had been peeled from the grille of my friend's truck, and had a broken bone in her wing. She was a sweet little creature, and would nibble your fingernail to let you know she wanted another mealworm or cricket... we contemplated various home surgeries, but then his crazy girlfriend killed her with a thrown coffee mug. It's true - rural Maine is not so different from any troubled community.

I don't (yet) know what a mbira or a kora is, but I sure know what a yidaki by Djalu is, and it would be great to meet! And agreed, this thread is maybe pertinent, off the track as it is. And I am always on the computer, true, but not so much tomorrow because I will be at work. Sigh...

Cindy

Ha! Looking up the mbira and kora... I don't know them, but I did used to have a Masai milk gourd that was really cool! I asked for it for Christmas. It was a big dried gourd, with the top attached by a leather strap, and the whole business decorated with tiny glass beads and cowrie shells. And best of all, it had a smell of sour milk inside!! I think that the Masai curdle a combination of cow milk and cow blood (obtained by a blocked arrow into a neck artery) with a touch of urine.

Okay, off to bed...

Yummie...

Hey ! You two have found yourselves here !
Let's hope it's the beginning of a Real-Life friendship and musical gigs under the moonlight !
And yes, your discussion has nothing to do with the topic on first glance... but interesting as it is, it does fit in well on second glance.

I'm not living in a teepee yet (our dwarf-president has set a law to ban teepees, yourts and other nomadic homes here in France !) but have recently moved from a crowded, urbanised and touristic place (French Riviera) to a remote, natural and ancient place (Périgord... where all the oldest European rock-art caves are). And I do understand your point.

Cheers !

Oh yeah, your forum ID used to say Antibes (whoa, the guy lives in Antibes...), and now it says Périgord! It sounds fantastic!