Social Identifications in Aboriginal Australia

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This project involves the research of a cultural anthropologist studying the social identities of Australian Aborigines as they are influenced by the Australian government's and legal system's attempt to reincorporate them into a multi-cultural state. Using techniques of legal-case analysis and socio-linguistic and narrative analysis, as well as participant observation, the investigator will study how national ex-colonial systems of law impact upon `traditional` subordinate peoples, reshaping the very identities of subordinate peoples as they try to incorporate them into a more representative socio-political system. The specific focus of the study is the Australian `Native Title Act` which attempted to provide native titles for unalienated lands, so long as the claimants could demonstrate `traditional` native identity. The project will analyze how native people cope with, resist and reshape state programs which attempt to redefine the natives into the dominant society's image. This research is important because it addresses a significant issue in our time, that of the relationship between state power and local identity. Advances in our understanding of the effects of well-meaning programs such as the Australian land title program on the cultural identities of the focus populations can help clarify issues in comparable programs such as affirmative action programs in the US, or linguistic-cultural rights issues in Canada.