The name is absent

2

While the request for research came from Aboriginal people
themselves, it soon became apparent that in no sense do Aboriginal
people form a monolithic group. It became necessary to ’legitimate*
the request for research with different Aboriginal groups, Government
agencies, institutions and individuals whose interests were not
necessarily represented at the Aboriginal Community Centre.

During this legitimating process an attempt was made to
establish parameters for the problem. For this purpose, use was
made of Berger and Luckmann¹S notion of definers of a situation.

Berger and Luckmann (1966:134) state: ’’Reality is always
socially defined. But the definitions are always embodied, that
is, concrete individuals and groups of individuals serve as
definers of reality”.

In order to establish a nucleus of definers of reality,
interviews were carried out with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
people working in the field of Aboriginal education and welfare in
Adelaide and Port Augusta.

On the advice of those initially consulted a further network
of people to be consulted was established. Interviews with
these people led to a redefining of the problem.

1.21 Redefinition of the problem to be researched

As a result of the second phase of interviews, it became
apparent that an. examination of ’delinquency’ as such could only
lead to statements in negative terms which would further confirm
the negative identity internalised by many Aborigines. It became
evident that the problem was not simply one of delinquency, but
ɪɛee Appendix 1 for a list of categories of those consulted.

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