Autonomy and the intercultural: interpreting the history of Australian Aboriginal water management in the Roper River catchment, Northern Territory

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Author(s)
Barber, Marcus
Jackson, Sue
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2014
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Integrated discussions of the multi-valency of objects and the use and appropriation of natural resources in colonial contexts are uncommon. By combining previously scattered historical, legal, and ethnographic sources, this article examines Australian Aboriginal dam and weir construction along the Roper River, focusing on the repeated re-purposing, re-contextualization and reinterpretation of the structures over time by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal protagonists. Through that process, it contributes to contemporary theoretical debates about intercultural colonial relations and about the relative autonomy of indigenous ...
View more >Integrated discussions of the multi-valency of objects and the use and appropriation of natural resources in colonial contexts are uncommon. By combining previously scattered historical, legal, and ethnographic sources, this article examines Australian Aboriginal dam and weir construction along the Roper River, focusing on the repeated re-purposing, re-contextualization and reinterpretation of the structures over time by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal protagonists. Through that process, it contributes to contemporary theoretical debates about intercultural colonial relations and about the relative autonomy of indigenous peoples within colonizing societies. In particular, the article highlights the historical evolution of constraints on local autonomy in colonial contexts and the role of individual agency in constituting and/or recon?guring intercultural relations. Previously little known, these temporary water regulation structures are now the best historically documented instance of Aboriginal water management in Australia, enabling a diverse array of interpretations and the critical evaluation of key contemporary social-theoretical concepts.
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View more >Integrated discussions of the multi-valency of objects and the use and appropriation of natural resources in colonial contexts are uncommon. By combining previously scattered historical, legal, and ethnographic sources, this article examines Australian Aboriginal dam and weir construction along the Roper River, focusing on the repeated re-purposing, re-contextualization and reinterpretation of the structures over time by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal protagonists. Through that process, it contributes to contemporary theoretical debates about intercultural colonial relations and about the relative autonomy of indigenous peoples within colonizing societies. In particular, the article highlights the historical evolution of constraints on local autonomy in colonial contexts and the role of individual agency in constituting and/or recon?guring intercultural relations. Previously little known, these temporary water regulation structures are now the best historically documented instance of Aboriginal water management in Australia, enabling a diverse array of interpretations and the critical evaluation of key contemporary social-theoretical concepts.
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Journal Title
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Volume
20
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Royal Anthropological Institute. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Autonomy and the intercultural: interpreting the history of Australian Aboriginal water management in the Roper River catchment, Northern Territory, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 20(4), 2014, pp. 670-693, which has been published in final form at dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12129.
Subject
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental knowledges
Anthropology
Archaeology
Heritage, archive and museum studies