40
4.ʒ1(і) (с) Explicit theories
Explicit theories characterize a third level of theorizing.
The highest level of theorizing is found in the construction of a
symbolic universe, the latter defined by Berger and Luckmann
(1966:113) as
...bodies of theoretical tradition that integrate
different provinces of meaning and encompass
the institutional order in a symbolic totality.
The identity of individuals is dependent upon their ability
to locate themselves within such a symbolic universe, that is within
a world of meaning wherein they recognize their self-sameness and
continuity and perceive that others affirm this recognition. If
the Aboriginal person wishes to locate himself in an Aboriginal
world, then the legitimation of this world, at all the levels of
theorizing, must make this world plausible to him, so that it offers
a real possibility of identity, that is, location in a world of meaning
.that has characteristics that are specifically Aboriginal.
An additional factor is introduced in the case of Aboriginal
*
identity, since Aboriginal people are a minority ethnic group.
The Aboriginal ’world’ must therefore be studied,not in
isolation but in relation to mainstream Australian society. An
understanding of this ’objective reality' for Aboriginal people,
that is, knowledge about the world as Objectivated and taken for
granted, therefore demands an understanding at the conceptual level
of the machinery by which the world of Aboriginal society has been
managed in the past, and is being managed in contemporary society by
the dominant group, since identity is the location of the self not
only by the self but also by others in a particular world.
4.31(ii) Conceptual machinery for the management of Aborigines as
a group
In this study, the world of Aboriginal people will be
examined both as objective reality and also in the light of the