Paper short abstract:

We focus on processes involved in the articulation between different ontologies. In mapping Yolŋu names in a way that reflects how they remember, what might that ‘map’ look like? We consider what products might fit the dynamic trajectory of Yolngu society in its articulation with the state.

Paper long abstract:

The map produced for the 2005 Blue Mud Bay case led to collaborative project on place names and personal names. The map, as a court document, relied heavily on European traditions of spatial mapping of country. However it was welcomed by the Yolŋu applicants both for its utility as an explanatory tool (to non-Yolŋu) and for its reference to Yolngu ontology conveyed through miny’tji (designs) and manikay (songlines). The ‘Western’ map’s utility is reflected its adaptability to new contexts – such as native title court cases and ranger land and sea-management programs. Moreover, significant changes are occurring in the intergenerational transfer of Yolŋu knowledge, with the adoption of literacy and digital technology as modes of transmission.

In this paper we focus on emergent processes involved in the articulation between different ontologies, which might have the capacity to create new possibilities for both. If we were to map Yolŋu names (yäku), in the contemporary context, in a way that closely reflects how names are remembered and recalled by Yolŋu people, what might that ‘map’ look like? The paper will consider what the tangible products might be, and how they might reflect the dynamic trajectory of Yolngu society in its articulation with the encompassing settler Australian state. Arguably indeed the development of Western topographical mapping has itself been a product of global processes of articulation and cross-cultural communication – processes that have been masked by Western-centric perspectives from modernity.