Aboriginal underdevelopment in remote Central Australia: accumulation, articulation and the state

Abstract

This study examines the structural position and socio-economic condition of a remote Aboriginal community in Central Australian political economy. Using the analytical framework of the "articulation of modes of production" approach first developed in French Marxist anthropology in the 1960's, it is suggested that a clearer picture and explanation of Aboriginal existence in the structures of regional economic, political and ideological processes, can be obtained. Alter- ! I native perspectives are often disposed to focus on individual capacity (theories of race, economic rationality), inadequacies of state service provision, and to categorical analysis of descriptive and empirical phenomena (employment, income statistics etc). Much of their content is strictly discipline-based and ahistorical, and thus fail to grasp the precise nature of Aboriginal situations. The failure of public policy to address the "Aboriginal problem" can be partly attributed to confusion and these lacunae in mainstream theory on black-white relations in Australia. From the time of European occupation and the enforced dispossession of Aboriginal land, the indigeneous occupants of this continent have been laid to rest at the bottom of the socio-economic scale. The general condition of gross underdevelopment in relation to mainstream Australia, has pervaded Aboriginal existence over this period, despite the best efforts of well-intentioned groups and individuals, and I attempts at socially engineering development through state intervention. In perspective it should be stated that Aborigines represent something less than two (2) percent of total population and are resident in an affluent, contemporary capitalist economy. Without resort to ad-hoc explanation or simple descriptive categories this study purports to show in diachrony and synchrony, the (i) structured sets of social relations present in a specific region and community location, that serve to perpetuate an ongoing condition of Aboriginal underdevelopment. The analysis refutes the simplistic "either-or" syndrome that is common to much debate on Aboriginal issues. There is the notion that Aborigines should be treated as something apart from the mainstream with emphasis on their distinctive features (culture, lifestyle, skin colour etc); or alternatively the focus is on their sameness in such aspects as civic rights, humanity and supposed direction of development and progress into the mainstream. Such views are too broad and over generalise about the conditions of Aboriginal existence across Australia which are guite complex and often contradictory. One need only reflect on the "return to tradition" ethos involved in the outstation movement across Northern Australia in recent times on the one hand, and the prominent status attained by Aboriginal politicians and bureaucrats on the other. Theoretical confusion about Aboriginal situations reflects these observable facts. Major postwar development paradigms are unable to cope with the contemporary directions of Aboriginal development or under-development as the case may be. This study in Central Australia advocates the use of case study analysis of specific instances and regions based on the structured sets of social relations that are in existence. The direction of development or underdevelopment is seen as an aspect of these relationships and their articulation with each other. In an instance where traditional practices are still in evidence the use of anthropological data is held to be of crucial importance in explanation of (ii) both the structure and operation of local economy. As a consequence the consideration of under-development is held to reside in the "emic" or traditional perspective as much as with bureaucrats, politicians and social planners. Conventional economic and political theory cannot in themselves put aside supposedly universal assumptions about human behaviour that their concepts are based upon, so as to incorporate analysis of a people based on a culture as different as Australian Aborigines living a minority group and marginal existence in a democratic, market economy. Critical appraisal on this account, is made about the dominant role and direction of state intervention in attempts to shape a rather euphemistic and "etic" conception of development. Show more