Indigenous to the Universe : a discourse of indigeneity, citizenship and ecological relationships

Abstract

This thesis explores complementary discourses of indigeneity, citizenship and ecological relationships with the Universe. The genesis of this work lies in the experience of being Indigenous to a colonised country, continually enmeshed in colonial discourses, the western imperialist science that upholds these discourses and the imbalanced power relationships from which they emerge. In wanting to live life outside of colonialism and from a concern about emergent issues such as climate change, this thesis seeks to re-engage ideas displaced by the morality,politics, legal agency and customs inherent in colonialist societies. In this thesis Indigenous peoples' and ecologists' knowledge traditions converge with the largest political, environmental and social context available to humans: the Universe. This discussion commences with the cosmologies of human relationship with the Universe as learned from the Torres Strait Islander community, then looks to other Australian examples of human affairs being shaped in and by the Universe. International literature from northern America and New Zealand is reviewed, as Indigenous peoples in those countries have similar cosmologies and experiences of colonisation. From this exploration five features of a relationship between humans and the Universe that could be used in an alternative discourse to colonialism, are defined. These features are: the Universe is moral; the Universe is alive; everything is related; space determines the nature of relationships and time determines the meaning of relationships. These features are pursued through relevant scientific, cultural and ecological literature sourcing concepts and paradigms that emphasise interconnected, dynamic relationships among all entities in the Universe. With this understanding, the Universe can be described as a singular community, capable of life. Humans as members of this Universe community have responsibilities to our species and others to develop and live by principles, ethics, values, legal agency and traditions derived from the Universe community. The ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in contemporary Australia describe the Universe is introduced. The select group interviewed in 2007 established what was meant by: 'being indigenous to the Universe'. From these interviews, opportunities to connect humans with the Universe through the mechanism of citizenship were identified and developed into three discourses. These are elaborated and further informed by commentary from those interviews. A reflection is provided on what this might mean for human-Earth-Universe relationships. In identifying a discourse of Universe-referent citizenship, or being indigenous to the Universe, a concept of 'acts of citizenship' is used to help focus on those 'acts' that produce citizens.From this, the discussion proceeds to the process of creating citizenship: moments to act, deciding to act, acts to include people in the process of citizenship, sites and scales of acts of citizenship, and acts for those yet to come. A synthesis of all features, sources of information and processes of creating citizenship is consolidated in a transdisciplinary discourse of being 'indigenous to the Universe'. Finally the thesis establishes the contribution of this work to human ecology.