Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 Difference within Identity : Recognition, Growth and the Circularity of Indigenous Knowledge
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The concept of circular thinking is readily attributed to patterns of Indigenous knowledge, characterised as distinct from the supposed linearity of Western epistemology; to approach epistemology through this metaphor is to anticipate identity by difference and underscore the autonomy of knowledge within bounded cultural coordinates. In seeking a more nuanced appreciation of the interwoven contours of human knowing, I consider some leading Indigenous Australian thinkers who understand cultural identities to be consolidated through creative repetition and recognised within dynamic relationality. These explorations include Mandawuy Yunupiŋu’s interpretation of Yolŋu thought as a process of making “new connections and new separations”; the performance of manikay (public ceremonial song) by Wägilak singer Daniel Wilfred; Tyson Yunkaporta’s conceptualisation of “turnaround”; Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu’s framework of ngurra-kurlu (home-having); and Stan Grant’s interpretation of an Indigenous Voice to the Australian Parliament. In contrast to the circular demarcation of identity by difference, these voices demonstrate how difference within identity can give impetus to mutual formation and growth, suggesting a Hegelian twist on notions of circularity in which critical differentiation generates an expanding gyre of recognition and meaning.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Journal of Australian Studies vol. 47 no. 3 2023 26981613 2023 periodical issue

    'This issue of the Journal of Australian Studies takes us across times, places, knowledges and identities, from Australia’s atomic history to the carceral world of Manus Island, to the profound relationality within Indigenous epistemology, and diverse experiences of cultural marginality and remaking in Australia.' (Editorial introduction)

    2023
    pg. 547-555
Last amended 10 Oct 2023 11:31:57
547-555 Difference within Identity : Recognition, Growth and the Circularity of Indigenous Knowledgesmall AustLit logo Journal of Australian Studies
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