Paper short abstract:

This paper explores emotional 'states of colonialism' in South Australia's agricultural landscapes, by examining the materiality of Aboriginal 'archaeological' stone artefacts.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores emotional 'states of colonialism' in South Australia's agricultural landscapes, by examining the materiality of Aboriginal 'archaeological' stone artefacts. The study is set within the farmlands of Yorke Peninsula, an area that hosts some of the State's oldest farming families. The peninsula is also the ancestral country of the Narungga people, who have been on their country for thousands of years. Tensions between the two groups often revolve around differing notions of belonging, attachment and ownership of land and the places/objects within it. Drawing on theoretical developments in new materialism, affect and emotion, I explore the various, sometimes unsettling, ways that rural non-Aboriginal people come to terms with the tangible Aboriginal artefacts they find within their territories. These objects—seemingly innocuous, small and stony—are at times embodied with great power. They may be hidden or displayed, collected or reassembled, safeguarded or destroyed. In some cases, intimate or uneasy attachments may form to these appropriated objects; attachments which are neither Indigenous nor archaeological in identity, yet often influenced by both. The research highlights how emotional states of colonialism in rural landscapes are, of course, never black and white. Instead, they are cultural and political, but also personal, intimate and specific to the individuals involved. A greater understanding of these sensitivities is essential, if shifting states are to come to bear in farmland regions where the colonial unpacking process has barely begun.