Oral Presentation Session

Reviewed by: General Anthropology Division

Of interest to: Practicing and Applied Anthropologists, Students

Primary Theme: Indigeneity

Secondary Theme: Identity and Equity

(5-1095) Reflections on the Anthropological Imagination: Three generations of anthropologists in Yanyuwa Country, northern Australia

By design, the anthropological imagination is a reflexive declaration of who we are in the process of relational fieldwork encounters, making meaning, presenting narratives and scripting accounts of cultural and social life. Yet this process can be obscured in our writing and overall conduct as anthropologists or carefully guarded in politically charged contexts for research. It is in the latter that many anthropologists must thoughtfully negotiate their role in identity politics and representation. Simultaneously invoking ideas of invention, collaboration, sense making, and knowledge translation, there is both ease and discomfort that comes with the realisation that anthropologists imagine worlds into existence through creating a discourse of social life. In many instances though, our collaborators play a vital role in shaping our imaginative consciousness and potential. When conducting ethnography over the long-term, there is no doubt that we are changed, and enriched as individuals, a process which may lead to profound shifts in awareness.

In this session three generations of anthropologists, who have dedicated their respective careers to collaborating with the same Indigenous community, that is Yanyuwa families in northern Australia, put their imaginations in the spotlight. They will critically examine how their consciousness of Indigenous lived experience has developed, been challenged, has failed or been enriched through sustained collaborations with one community, and also a generational cohort of anthropologists. The papers in this session will see the contributors declare themselves in the process of making meaning, exploring the anthropological imagination as a reflexive commitment. Papers will engage with tensions of sharing knowledge, introducing new knowledge, narrating Indigenous experience, coming to know in new ways, contested rights to speak, and cultivating an empathic imagination in anthropology.

Organizer(s)

• Amanda Kearney

  Professor of Anthropology, Kidman Chair of Australian Studies
  University of Adelaide

Chair(s)

• Amanda Kearney

  Professor of Anthropology, Kidman Chair of Australian Studies
  University of Adelaide

Presenter(s)

• Amanda Kearney

  Professor of Anthropology, Kidman Chair of Australian Studies
  University of Adelaide

Organizer(s)

• Liam Brady

  Senior Lecturer
  Monash University

Chair(s)

• Liam Brady

  Senior Lecturer
  Monash University

Presenter(s)

• Liam Brady

  Senior Lecturer
  Monash University

• Philip Adgemis

  Monash University

• Frances Devlin-Glass

  Deakin University

• John Bradley

  Monash University

Presentations:

• 4:15 PM - 4:30 PM

  Mobility and Immobility of Mind: Can the anthropologist change the way they see the world through sustained ethnographic encounters?
  Amanda Joanne Kearney – University of Adelaide
• 4:30 PM - 4:45 PM

  Reflexivity, archaeology, and constructing the ‘past’ in northern Australia’s southwest Gulf country
  Liam Michael Brady – Monash University
• 4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

  'So did you find any culture up here mate?': Ethnographic and collaborator expectations, change and shame
  Philip Adgemis – Monash University
• 5:00 PM - 5:15 PM

  Can insights from Anthropology usefully inform reading Aboriginal-authored Literary Texts? A reflexive account of generations of Yanyuwa anthropology and unpacking a Waanyi literary masterpiece.
  Frances Maree Devlin-Glass – Deakin University
• 5:15 PM - 5:30 PM

  'We have a lot of stories for this country, we were born from this country…I don't think 'whitefellas' have too many': Story telling, power and knowledge.
  John J. Bradley – Monash University