B. BLAKEMAN THESIS OVERVIEW 2015    

“Blakeman is a first-class researcher who is a good observer with an eye for micro-level social interaction. If there are three aspects to any project of ethnographic research – the ethnography, the theory, and the connecting of the two - Blakeman has done all of them adequately, with the ethnographic aspect being the most excellent.”

“Her ‘thesis’ is sound, probing, and original enough to be a genuine contribution to the field, and I think also to humanity more generally. To the extent that her analyses provide a window into highly successful ways of being human that are not so common in modern non-Indigenous life, the study provides the best sort of contribution that anthropology is able to make to human self-understanding.”

“In sum, it is an outstanding study with some flaws, but it is for certain that it will be widely read, and I hope emulated.’ – Anon reviewer * “This thesis represents an original piece of research that makes a substantial contribution to the literature, vastly expanding our understanding of 'demand sharing' in novel and important ways in the Yolngu context. I can see some excellent research papers emerging from this scholarship.” – Anon reviewer * “With a series of ethnographic case studies Ms Blakeman describes with clarity and precision the emotional dimension characterising social exchanges, an aspect so pervasive that often escapes close scrutiny and in-depth analysis.”

“Ms Blakeman presents an interesting and rich ethnography that shows an intense field participation and presence able to capture everyday 'ordinary affects" (Stewart 2007) as modes of attending to others that maintain and renew all social interaction.” – Anon reviewer

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An ethnography of emotion and morality

Toward a local Indigenous theory of value and social exchange on the Yolŋu Homelands in remote north-east Arnhem Land,

Australia.

Drawing on the key body of terms and concepts associated with affect and emotion in

Yolŋu-matha, this thesis explores the way Yolŋu people of North-East Arnhem Land

consider morality and value in everyday relations.

This material suggests that Yolŋu conceive of and consider persons to be

fundamentally and necessarily interdependent rather than intrinsically autonomous.

On a socio-centric level the relationship between groups is referred to as raki’ (strings

[of relatedness]). The normative ideal relationship between groups is when raki’ are

manapan-mirri (joined, connected, linked [together to each other]), and the groups

thus waŋgany-ŋura ([at] one). Proper practice and conduct is to malthun ŋhanŋu raki’

(follow [up] the string), while upset, disequilibrium, or conflict is said to threaten to

gulk’thun ŋhanŋu raki’ (cut or sever the string). This is paralleled on an interpersonal

level by ŋayaŋu (state or sense of feeling [among and between people]), the basic

concept of affect/emotion and ground of moral evaluation. Balance and equilibrium is

denoted by the normative ideal of ŋayaŋu waŋgany (one state or sense of feeling).

Proper behaviour and moral conduct is said to be ŋayaŋu-yu (through ŋayaŋu), while

moral transgressions register as ŋayaŋu wutthuna-mirri rom (law or manner of doing

things that affronts or assaults the state of feeling).

I analyse a series of case studies from different aspects of everyday life to show that

this body of terms and concepts - and the shared understandings comprising them -

motivate and shape forms and patterns of sociality and exchange in significant,

culturally specific ways. This description and my findings depart from prevailing

models of Aboriginal sociality and exchange in Australia, which are strongly

influenced by approaches that foreground a tension between contrasting values of

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autonomy and relatedness. Rather than either autonomy or relatedness, it is a

particular state of the relationship between people that is significant for Yolŋu; social

equilibrium, balance, and value are relative to a particular, culturally recognised state

of the relationship between people and groups, rather than contrasting values of

autonomy and relatedness. This key point of difference allows for a unique analysis of

Yolŋu sociality and exchange.

As with Kenneth Liberman’s description of social consensus in the Western Desert,

we see that the ‘orderliness’ that exists in Yolŋu society is the collaborative product

of a great deal of social and moral work. In what is effectively an example of non-

State sociality – largely unmediated by the market and bureaucratic relations - the

relative distribution of energy, intelligence and social concern is geared towards the

realisation and maintenance of social order. The primary and paramount value is -

ŋayaŋu waŋgany; ŋayaŋu waŋgany is the paramount value in both material and non-

material exchange, and sociality is characterised by the culturally specific strategies to

maintain it.

I conclude by arguing that the local interplay of forms, material conditions, and social

relations of exchange can justly be considered a local theory of value and exchange in

its own right. As such it sheds light upon prevailing anthropological models of

exchange as well as current anthropological theories of value.