of interaction .
White people in general are contemporaries, not Consociates;
. 1
their value-system is seen as alien. Particular groups are typified
as ’Christians’ or ’Government people’, the latter untrustworthy
. . 2
’promisers’ of benefits which do not eventuate ,
Visitors who are of Aboriginal descent, who do not live within
the Law, are seen as following European ways, and for that reason
are typified as part-European in culture, and in allegiance. They
are marta marta.
These new Xypifications, institutionalized to provide a basis
for behaviour, have been constructed, by the marmgu, to accommodate
an alien world. They do not represent reciprocal interaction or
a dialectical process.
The typifications are elements of the social
structure designed to’protect the social structures and maintain the
autonomy of the marmgu.
14.7 Summary
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The question is again asked whether the world of Strelley is
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Tonkinson gives the following account of typifications of white
people by the Jigalong Mob. '’Initial contact with frontier white
men led the Aborigines to perceive these later arrivals [fundamentalist
missionaries] as an aberrant group whom they eventually labelled
’Christian’, a category quite distinct from ’white-fella’. They
stereotyped Christians as, among other things, anti-Aboriginal, anti-
Law, tight-fisted, joyless and unwilling to be friends with them;
whereas ’white-fellas’ were judged individually, as good or bad or
a bit of both, depending on the nature of their treatment of Aborigines
(Tonkinson, 1977:65).
2 ..... . .
In requesting permission to visit Strelley, and later to interview
the important men, stress was laid on the fact that no promises were
being made, and the research was being carried out to take insights
from Strelley to the urban situation. This was totally acceptable
to the important men.