Kinship Introduction
You'll learn:
- about the Dhuwa and Yirritja moiety social system of two halves
- to understand the different family relationship structures and roles in Yolngu society
- how a Western understanding of parenting and family roles contrasts and at times contradicts the traditional Australian family systems
- why understanding this kinship system is of utmost importance to cross-cultural communications and relations
- how to begin to work and communicate with Yolngu based on their moiety system.
Chapter 1 Description
The Yolngu kinship system is highly structured and multi-layered, and involves naming and relationship protocols that will be completely unfamiliar to most non-Yolngu people.
Here Richard calls upon over three decades of teaching about Yolngu kinship structures in workshops and seminars, to unpack this very complex system in a way that makes sense.
Understanding the Yolngu kinship structure is integral to comprehending the basis of the Yolngu economic, legal and social systems and engaging in successful cross-cultural relationship building and communications.
Historically, a similar system would have stretched across the entire continent of Australia before colonisation. Despite its demise, elements of it still exist in many different groups today. Confusion regarding the importance of kinship structures can affect relationships between Yolngu people and mainstream Australians.
The importance of learning about kinship structures when working with other Indigenous groups will become clear while working through the content of these Kinship chapters.
The Kinship Course includes two other chapters:
Chapter 2 details Kinship Connection relationships.
Chapter 3 explores the reasons behind Kinship Avoidances.