Country and Identity
How connection to specific country shapes individual and group identity.
Aboriginal identity is inseparable from country. Introducing yourself involves naming your country, your language group, and your totem. You are not just from your country; in a profound sense, you are your country.
When you ask who I am, I tell you where I'm from. That answers the question.
Place-based identity offers an alternative to Western individualism.
Oral Tradition
Written about in
- What Aboriginal Australians mean by belonging to Country
Introducing yourself means naming your Country, your language group and your totem. The answer to who you are is largely an answer about where you are from.