particular machineries of control exercised upon Aboriginal society
by mainstream society to maintain order within the symbolic universe
of mainstream society.
It has been suggested above (p. 20) that the conceptual
mechanisms to be examined will be those of therapy and/or nihilation.
A further mechanism of control lies in the naming of a group.
A particular indication of the locus of control in a given
society is the source of naming.
4.31(ii) (b) Naming
Naming locates individuals in a particular world - the world,
for example, of a minority group or the mainstream group.
The power to ’name' may be seen as the power to bestow
identity.
The importance attached to naming may be seen in the naming
of migrant groups in Australia where there was a progression in
naming from 'New Australians’ to 'migrants* to ’ethnic groups',
*
all showing a different policy towards minority groups, a different
status accorded to the;
and a change in the power structure of
mainstream society vis-a-vis particular minority groups.
The two areas of
(1) theorizing about the 'world' of Aborigines
(2) conceptual machinery employed to manage the world of
Aborigines
generated a series of research questions and hypotheses relating to
(1) mainstream theorizing about the Aboriginal world
(2) the conceptual mechanisms (including naming) used by
mainstream society
(ʒ) the theorizing of Aboriginal people.
The world of schooling∕education will be singled out for
particular attention. The research questions and hypotheses for
Area I will now be presented.