The name is absent

166

of the Aboriginal people. This concern in itself places Aboriginal
identity into a positive focus.

Furthermore, the Aboriginalpe-Oplethemselves are addressing
in an articulate way the key issues of their 'worlds’. Land
Rights issues are widely reported in the press. This is an
area basic to identity for both tradition-oriented people and
urban people.

But the Aboriginal voice is raised (and heard) on the specific
issue of identity and identification, on the location of Aboriginal
people in a world of meaning.

Social comment and social analysis are found in writings
such as those of Kevin Gilbert (1973, 1977), Charles Perkins
(1975), Bobbi Sykes (1975), and the contributors to Black Viewpoint
(Tatz, ed., 1975), KathWalker (1970, 1972), Len Watson (1973).

These writings in social comment witness to the shift in the
locus of conceptualisation and naming.

Aboriginal society is coming to be seen more and more through
the eyes of Aborigines, through their conceptualisation, their
naming.

The foundations for the social construction of identity
by the Aboriginal people are being laid.

11.7 Summary

The policy statements of both political parties in the seventies
represent a new era for Aboriginal people in so far as government
policy and legislation is concerned.

Theorizing on the part of government instrumentalities excludes
Aborigines from the world of multi-cultural Australia; nevertheless,

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