Social Identifications in Aboriginal Australia

这个项目涉及一位文化人类学家的研究，他研究了澳大利亚原住民的社会身份，因为他们受到澳大利亚政府和法律制度试图将他们重新纳入一个多元文化国家的影响。调查员将利用法律案例分析、社会语言和叙事分析以及参与者观察等技术，研究国家前殖民法律制度如何影响“传统的”从属民族，在他们试图将其纳入更具代表性的社会政治制度时，重塑从属民族的身份。这项研究的具体重点是澳大利亚的“土著产权法案”，该法案试图为未转让的土地提供土著所有权，只要申索者能够证明“传统的”土著身份。该项目将分析当地人如何应对、抵制和重塑试图将当地人重新定义为主导社会形象的国家计划。这项研究之所以重要，是因为它解决了我们这个时代的一个重要问题，即国家权力和地方身份之间的关系。我们对澳大利亚土地所有权计划等善意计划对重点人群文化身份的影响的理解取得进展，有助于澄清类似计划中的问题，如美国的平权行动计划，或加拿大的语言文化权利问题。

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.