Dr Elizabeth Mackinlay presents, ‘Without song on your tongue you are nothing: Reflections on effectively connecting arts, literacy and Indigenous community development at Borroloola’ on 15 November from 1pm to 2pm.
When trying to explain to other Aboriginal performers and researchers the centrality of the arts to the continued maintenance and strength of Yanyuwa people, community and culture at the 2002 Garma Festival, a group of senior Yanyuwa women emphasised repeatedly that ‘Without song on your tongue you are nothing’; highlighting that in Yanyuwa ontology, performance and performativity embodies what it means to be a unified, complete and whole person in body, mind and spirit.
In her seminar, Dr Mackinlay will ask questions as to how researchers open up spaces for Indigenous understandings to have control, authority and power in the kinds of research projects which are designed and undertaken with individuals, peoples and communities through reference to her work with members of the Yanyuwa community at Borroloola in a variety of performative locations in the NT and QLD.
Her seminar will explore what literacy and community development might mean and discuss the unique role that music, dance and the arts have in addressing, enacting and facilitating such needs and desires in intra- and inter-cultural settings for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
Dr Elizabeth Mackinlay is with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland.
This seminar takes place in room 40, level 1, building 39, Casuarina Campus, Charles Darwin University.
Visit the School for Social and Policy Research website for more information about this and other SER seminars.