Indigenous Law and the Politics of Kincentricity and Orality

This Palgrave Pivot strives to recount and understand Indigenous Law, as set within a remote community in northern Australia. It pays close attention to the realpolitik and high-level political functioning of Indigenous Laws, which inspires a discussion of how this Law models the relational, influences governance and emplaces people in an ordered kincentric lifeworld. The book argues that Indigenous Law can be examined for the ways in which it is a deliberate, stabilizing and powerful force to maintain communal order in relation to Country, a counter framing to popular and ‘soft law or soft power asset’ visions of such Laws often held in the national and international imaginary. It is the latter which too often renders this knowledge esoteric and relinquishes it to a category of lore or folklore. This is an open access book. Foreword The Yanyuwa Authors Acknowledgements Contents About the Authors List of Figures Chapter 1: Conceptualising Indigenous Law The Language of Law Indigenous Law as Ancestral and Kincentric Law as Realpolitik About the Authors Chapter Organisation References Chapter 2: Yanyuwa Law Yanyuwa Country and Colonial Encroachment narnu-Yuwa: Yanyuwa Law, Kinship and Responsibility Kincentric Order: Yanyuwa Politics of Land and Sea Ownership Authority, Spiritual Power and Essence Wunyingu—Names from Country Linginmantharra and Yanyuwangala: Yanyuwa Politics as Negotiation of the Past Yarrambawaja—Ceremony Kujika—Songlines Collective Decision-Making: Yanyuwa Processes of Reaching Consensus Orality and Transmission of Law Aspects of Change: Cultural Shifts and Generational Nuance Chapter Overview References Chapter 3: Testimonies of Yanyuwa Law and Kincentric Order Old Arthur Narnungawurruwurru Old Arthur Narnungawurruwurru’s Telling of Yanyuwa Law Yanyuwa Law and Legislative Land Rights Phillip Timothy Narnungawurruwurru’s Story: Speaking About Law in 2000 A Word on Pushing Orality into Written Forms The Practice of Law Kincentricity Empiricism in Country Through Ngalki The Realpolitik of Law References Chapter 4: More Than Soft Power The Problem with Soft Power The Peril of Stakeholder Status Straightening Things Up Strengths in Political Pluralism References Chapter 5: Conclusion References Index