Mobility and Modernity in Arnhem Land

The Social Universe of Kuninjku Trucks

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2390895
AutoresJon Altman (Australian National University), M Hinkson (0000-0002-9259-0401, Australian National University)
Año2007
Volumen12
Número2
Páginas181-203
Fecha de publicación2007-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183507078122
OpenAlexW2123526357
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas23

This article explores the central role played by vehicles in a contradictory set of social processes that have unfolded in western Arnhem Land, north Australia, over the last five decades. Motor vehicles have mediated much of humanity's experience of the world over the past century. Kuninjku people's interaction with motor vehicles, we argue, provides one revealing lens through which to explore a distinctive and ambiguous experience of modernity. This article explores the role vehicles play in mediating Kuninjku interaction across diverse arenas - their customary lands, an expanding regional social universe occupied by kin, the Australian nation-state, and finally an increasingly globalized world. Briefly exploring the process by which vehicles were introduced into Kuninjku country, we then track key transformations in Kuninjku life through a series of historical phases. The distinctive Kuninjku values that govern use of vehicles are explored. In conclusion the article reflects on the paradoxical nature of Kuninjku experience of late modernity and the fragility of their apparent success in realizing their aspirations

Geographies of human-animal interactions · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Indigenous Studies and Ecology