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The Aranda are a much-studied
tribal group in Australia, mainly because they are centred on Alice
Springs, the only sizeable post-colonial town in
central Australia. Their territory includes Mt Zeil, the tallest mountain
in central Australia, and they consist of five tribes:
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Wongkatjeri
or I:lma in the South;
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Mbenderinga or Aluna in the West;
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Aldolanga or Karo:linga in the East;
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Ko:ang in the Central area;
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and “True” Aranda in the North.
The
Aranda are divided into two moieties, as are all tribes across Australia.
The moiety system is a simple method of ensuring gene mixing: children are
always in the same moiety as their mother, so must marry into the other
moiety. It is forbidden for people of the same moiety to marry, and for
this reason the moiety system has been linked with incest avoidance.
The
Aranda have a second gene mixing mechanism, which overlays the moiety
system and which is usually referred to by the term sections.
The use of sections imposes a second limitation on “marriage”: it is
forbidden for members of the same section to marry, and often members of
one section are limited in the choice of their spouses to only one other
section. Thus, while the moiety system prevents intergenerational
incest, the section system prevents intragenerational
incest.
All
tribes across Australia have a section system, but it varies from a simple
two-section model through three sections and up to the Aranda four section
model. The more sections there are, the greater the degree of
incest-avoidance.
Another
level of division in Aranda society (and once gain found across Australia)
is the totem, which affects hunting and dietary rights, and may be
implicated in territoriality. Spencer and Gillen
describe nine totems in each moiety:
The ceremonies we witnessed were connected with the
following totems:- (Ngapa-yurrkkurla-R) a great mythic snake; Thalaualla,
the black snake; Muntikera, the carpet snake; Tjudia, the deaf adder;
Kutnakitji, a green snake; Emu; Watjinga, the Echidna; Lunkulungu, white
ant eggs; and Thankatherta, a snake, all of which belonged to the Uluuru
moiety. Of those belonging to the Kingilli moiety we saw Utu, wind;
Itjilpi, ant; Lirripitli, a lizard; Thaballa, laughing boy; Namini-patunga,
a little bird; Tjalikippa, the white cockatoo; Karinji, the jabiru;
Winithonguru, the native cat; and Walunkun, fire. (Spencer and Gillen, The
Native Tribes of Central
Australia, Macmillan, London. (1904) 1969.
pp298-299)
However, it must be emphasised
that not all the totems are present in one tribe. Also, the role of totems
in the Aranda sectional model is unclear: in some other tribes the totems
correspond to sections or to sections within moieties, but this is
obviously not the case for the Aranda.
The Aranda section-moiety division
of society is a very efficient way of gene mixing. For instance, a person
always has one grandparent in each section; and it is impossible for
brothers and sisters to marry, or for a parent to marry their offspring.
The only close marriage allowed is for a male to marry his paternal
grandmother – and, in light of the age difference, this is unlikely to
be a very fertile union.
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