One ceremony, one song : an economy of religious knowledge among the Yolnu of north-east Arnhem Land

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of the relationship between the organisation, ownership and content of religious practice and knowledge, marriage, and power relations in Yolnu society. In the Introduction I argue that older men require the authority gained through their control of secret ceremonies and religious knowledge, in order to sustain a polygynous regime. Further, the particular form of Yolnu religious institutions makes possible the operation of their particu­ lar system of marriage through which some men gain many wives. The marriage system in turn has effects upon the structure and relations of clans. The chapters which follow present data and analysis in support of the initial argument, and serve to describe the organisation of Yo Iqu religious practice, kinship and marriage. The analytical units are emic institutions, and my approach to explanation is to ask what makes possible action accord­ing to the rules of these institutions. In Chapter 1 I describe Yolnu social categories and groups, Chapter 2 is an analysis of the foundations of religious institutions in stories which state the grounds for ownership of ceremonies and land. An analysis of Yolnu kinship and marriage follows in Chapter 3. I show that clans and moieties are essential components of the marriage system. In Chapters 4, 5 and 6 I examine the nature, ownership and organisation of regional, public and Närra ceremonies. These provide the means whereby older men sustain their authority over younger men on a regional scale; clans are constituted through the ownership of elements of the ceremonies and of land, and those elements arc the basis of a system of esoteric knowledge which men gradually acquire. Chapter 7 shows how one clan's system of esoteric knowledge is constructed and controlled, and how the Närra ceremony has a public message. It states the grounds for men's control of public affairs and female fertility, and dramatizes the relations of interdependence between clans of the same moiety. In Chapter 8 I examine some of the ways in which men move up the hierarchy of authority and compete for positions of power; how clans convert demographic success into control of ceremonies and land; and the interrelations between religious authority and secular power. I conclude with an examination of the components of the Yolnu Social system, and compare my own approach to explanation with that of W. Lloyd Warner. Show more