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Martu Storytellers: Aboriginal Narratives Within the Academy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Craig Somerville ,
Kirra Somerville  and
Frances Wyld
Craig Somerville
Affiliation:
University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia
Kirra Somerville
Affiliation:
University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia
Frances Wyld
Affiliation:
University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia
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Abstract

The Martu people originate from the Pilbara region in Western Australia. Despite policies of removal, incarceration in prison and the need to leave community fo health services, Martu maintain identity and connection to country. Their narratives have used to inform a wider Australian audience about the history and culture of Aboriginal people. But the stories have also received criticism and been the subject of a Westernised anthropological view. With the emergence of storytelling as method in the academy, a new space is being created for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to find a more robust foothold within the Social Sciences to story our world. This paper is written by three Martu people who position storytelling as transmission and preservation of cultural knowledge and to privilege a voice to speak back to Western academics. Storytelling also brings an opportunity to engage with an Aboriginal worldview, to use narrative as an inquiry into ontology and one's connection to people and place. This brings benefits to all Australians seeking stories of country, connection and identity.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 39 , Issue S1: Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Knowledge: Dialogue Or Conflict In The Academy? , 2010 , pp. 96 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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