The name is absent

vehicles. Some belong to smaller kinship groups, for example,

clothing, etc.
«

Other possessions transcend these and are the true identials
for the Mob. Territory, as a possession, is larger than the
stations that the Mob live on. Traditional lands still belong to
their traditional owners, replete with the symbolism which cannot
be abstracted from the territory. This is the case whether or
not the people are permitted to live oh their tribal lands. The
land and its sacred places are the Mob’s possessions par
excellence.

The Law is a ’possession’ in this sense - it is a pre-eminent
idential without which identity, location within the group, is
impossible.

The sacred objects which are carried with the group are also

possessions of the utmost importance.

15.7 Summary

The identity of the Mob is thus secured by identials that

are specific to the marmgu, by strong adherence to a linguistic
base on which "is erected the edifice of interpretative schemes,

cognitive and moral norms, value systems and theoretically articulated
world ’views’ which in their totality form the collective representations

of any given society” (Berger, 1971:96). Naming is seen to locate
individuals in the group,, in a manner having power over their lives.

And finally, the possessions of the group transcend merely material
perishable possessions.

All the evidence supports only one of the typologies of identity
delineated by Erikson and de Levita, namely that of ego-identity.

It is questionable whether ’western’ typologies of identities
can be applied across cultures - whether identity formation in
Aboriginal society can be reviewed in the same way as western society.

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