Indigenous Australian Cultures: The Dreaming, Kinship, and Economic Organization

Student Number: Name: IKC101 Assessment 2
IKC101 Assessment 2
Name:
Student Number:
Subject Code & Title: IKC101 - Indigenous Australian Cultures, Histories and
Contemporary Realities
Assignment Title: Document for Professional Peers
Value: 20%
Submission Date: 4 December2017
Length required:1000 words Actual length:
Statement of Authenticity: I declare that the work within this assignment is my own, that it
has not been submitted previously and that I acknowledge the ideas of other authors
throughout.
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Student Number: Name: IKC101 Assessment 2
Indigenous Australian Cultures
THE DREAMING
Each individual world over has a worldview which offers them a sense of ordered reality and
makes it possible for them to make sense of the world as well as their actions. By enabling
individuals to interpret what they observe in the world through a mental framework, the
worldview it gives them a sense of security and some level of predictability and certainty.
The dreaming is the worldview for indigenous Australian cultures which enabled them to
understand and interpret the world as well as enabling them to understand their place in the
world as human beings (Bourke, Bourke & Edwards, 1998). The dreaming is a terminology
used by the Aboriginals in describing the balances between moral, natural and spiritual
elements of the world. Although it is an English word its meaning surpasses any spiritual or
dream-related state (Stanner, 2011) Dreaming dates back to the period of the origin of the
universe to the period before living experience or memory. Dreaming is also called dream
time or world dawn.
Functions of the dreaming
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Student Number: Name: IKC101 Assessment 2
There are three main functions of the dreaming in Indigenous Australian Cultures
This worldview performs three major functions in Indigenous cultures: The dreaming
provides individuals with a set of laws and rules for living. These rules apply to social
relationships and all activities including social ceremonies religious activities and economic
activities. The dreaming also provides an outline for life and the creation of all living forms
and finally explains how the universe and everything in it was created or came into
existence(Stanner, 2011). It, for example, enables the koorie and Murri language groups to
have an understanding of the origin of the universe and enable them to interpret what they
observe in the universe and make sense of their actions besides enabling them to understand
their role in the universe (Bourke, Bourke & Edwards, 1998). The linkage between Kinship,
the dreaming, and economic organization is that while the dreaming is concerned with
humans as universal beings and enables them to have an understanding of their universe and
their place in it, kinship deals with individuals within their societies and helps them to
understand their societies and individual roles role in their societies. The Economic
organization presents individuals with income generating opportunities to enable them to
carry out their roles and obligations and enable enabling them to survive within the universe
and their language groups.
• KINSHIP
Different bonds bind different people in various societies. Kinship refers to the marriage or
blood bond that binds people together. Kinship is a universal concept found in many
societies, and it plays a significant role in those societies. It can, therefore, be through blood
or marriage. There are various bases of kinship including sex which is focused on sex of
blood relationships such as that of a brother and sister, kinship based on blood relationships
such as those for linear and collateral relatives, Divisions such as mothers mother and fathers
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