Learning from 'the Known': Historical and cultural factors influencing the position of women in two Australian Aboriginal societies

This research examines historical and cultural factors affecting the position of women in two Australian Aboriginal societies. Two contributing factors are introduced: the "mission syndrome" in the case study of Yolngu women of North-Eastern Arnhem Land, and the "stolen generation syndrome" in the case study of Kija women of the East Kimberley region. This project explores social and cultural mechanisms that led to a similar development of women's social roles in those two, otherwise dissimilar, regions, and delineates the perimeters of women's social and cultural knowledge which is presently a vital, active component in the process of (re)defining women's Aboriginal identity. It is also proposed that, although the methods of assimilation and subordination used by white officials and white missionaries were seemingly different in the two contexts, in both cases they were intended to marginalize women's roles, destroy their cultural and social domains, restrict their social mobility, and create and/or accentuate inequalities within Aboriginal communities.; Findings of this research indicate that the extensive forced exposure of Aboriginal women to the white hegemonic system strengthened and reinforced their capacity for social resolution and social action. From all the conflicting cultural meanings that women were forced to internalize, they were able to create a new modus operandi to resolve the tensions inherent in the task of formulating new social and cultural identity during a time of change and possibility.; A cognitive social learning theory of learned helplessness, and of internal versus external locus of control is discussed in the context of social identity formation and reactivity to historical and social forces influencing inter and intra group relations in an Aboriginal context. It is concluded that, because of the dialectical interplay of many cultural and historical factors, women were able either to retain (in case of women from East Arnhem Land) or re-direct (in case of women from the East Kimberley region) their internal locus of social control which, in turn, significantly decreased their negative emotional responses to a variety of social stressors, and increased their sense of social and cultural competence.