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The University of New South Wales, one of Australia's top schools, has told it's professors to stop saying that the Aborigines arrived on the continent 40-60 thousand years ago, as this conflicts with traditional beliefs.
Quote:
The document suggests it is “more appropriate” to say Aborigines have been here “since the beginning of the Dreaming/s” *because this “reflects the beliefs of many Indigenous Australians that they have always been in Australia, from the beginning of time, and came from the land’’. ..
“Scientists can potentially damage the standing of the elders, or the right to land claims, should our findings contradict the oral traditions.”
The elders will just have to sort it out, just like Christian ministers have had to. I remember being told as a child during Sunday school that people who recorded the early bible or who passed on the stories probably had a different definition/understanding of time than we do today. It worked on me, and still does.
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I think it’s very difficult to understand this from an American perspective. The 40-60,000 years old culture of the Traditional Owners has all but been wiped out in 200. The history is all oral/dance and passed down through the generations via the stories of the Dreamtime. It is not unusual here to treat the culture with a bit of cautious respect given that it’s been stomped all over this far. If the Elders would rather their history remain as handed down then so be it. It’s being lost along with the languages and could be gone in a few generations.
As has been pointed out, technology is available to anyone who wishes to delve into the scientific anthropological background. But there is no more ancient a culture and it behooves us to take care of what little is left.
The elders will just have to sort it out, just like Christian ministers have had to. I remember being told as a child during Sunday school that people who recorded the early bible or who passed on the stories probably had a different definition/understanding of time than we do today. It worked on me, and still does.
Last time I checked, God didn't write Genesis... Man did... The only thing God actually wrote was the Ten Commandments.... If anyone literally believes everything that men wrote, then there may be a problem...
I think it’s very difficult to understand this from an American perspective. The 40-60,000 years old culture of the Traditional Owners has all but been wiped out in 200. The history is all oral/dance and passed down through the generations via the stories of the Dreamtime. It is not unusual here to treat the culture with a bit of cautious respect given that it’s been stomped all over this far. If the Elders would rather their history remain as handed down then so be it. It’s being lost along with the languages and could be gone in a few generations.
As has been pointed out, technology is available to anyone who wishes to delve into the scientific anthropological background. But there is no more ancient a culture and it behooves us to take care of what little is left.
I would think it would be very easy to understand from an American perspective - do you think American Universities should only refer to the earliest human settlement of the Americas, in the language of whatever the local indigenous creation belief is?
Let's see, there are about 800K aboriginal people in Australia these days.
The question is to whether that is enough people to make a living being an Aboriginal "apologist" so to speak. Tell them that the scientists are evil and are faking all the data in an attempt to destroy aboriginal society and religion and didgeridoos and stuff.
As long as nobody denies that aboriginals were by far the first settlers on the Australian continent, why is that of any importance? Why even try to determine when exactly their ancestors arrived? It was long before anyone else got to Australia, that is also what matters in legal terms.
The Aborigines seem like a group with poor, entrenched leadership that doesn't know the proper way forward for their people. They should ditch their ancient garbage traditions and aggressively embrace modernity and science. Native Americans should do the same. The Europeans themselves did, which is what enabled them to discover and take over Australia and America.
The Aborigines seem like a group with poor, entrenched leadership that doesn't know the proper way forward for their people. They should ditch their ancient garbage traditions and aggressively embrace modernity and science. Native Americans should do the same. The Europeans themselves did, which is what enabled them to discover and take over Australia and America.
Who are you to decide whether or not another people's traditions are garbage? Those traditions are a big part of that ethnic group's cultural identity. You may not understand or like them, but that is irrelevant.
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