The Temiar Senoi live on the Perak-Kelantan divide which forms the main mountain system of the Malay Peninsula. They number about ten thousand, live in communal long houses, and practise shifting dry-land cultivation, each long house forming a lineage segment of a kindred group which owns an area of communal land called the enka. Authority in the long house and the saka is normally patrilineal, ownership of land and resources bilineal. Private enterprise gives private ownership over things made, grown, or gathered in the communal territory. They have a well-developed shamanistic cult or priesthood in which the men gain status as they acquire spirit guides in dreams who teach them songs, dances, and magical rites which they can teach their fellows and perform as ceremonial culminating in group "spirit" possession and individualistic healing rites. Encouraged by adult interest and interpretation, dreams become an important feature of the social life of the child and are used as instruments for his socialization, education, and therapy. In the life of the young adult, dreams become the focus of economic and ceremonial activity and the are used by th older leaders of the group as an instrument for shaping group policy and changing group ideology and behavior, These Senoi magico-religious beliefs and practises are compared with those of the Negritos of the Zambales Mountains of eastern Luzon, Philippine Islands, who live in small roving bands or in newly formed settlements established by government in the foothills, and with those of the Yami who inhabit the island of Botel- Tobago off the southeast tip of Formosa. The Yami - seven hundred in number - live in seven small villages. They have private ownership of terraced taro patches, communal ownership of the village plot, and corporate ownership of fishing facilities, a democratic political organization, and a highly abstract religion.

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This thesis focuses on processes of Aboriginal community-making in Redfern, an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia. It addresses the ways in which the Australian state governs Aboriginal people by developing 'projects of legibility' (and illegibility) concerning Aboriginal community sociality. To address Redfern Aboriginal community-making requires focusing on the ambiguities arising from the contemporary policy of 'Aboriginal self-determination' and adopting an ethnohistorical approach to Aboriginal community-making that has arisen under this policy rubric. By ethnohistorical I refer to the engagement of Aboriginal people in Redfern in Aboriginal community-making policy practices and not a historiography of these policies. Attention will be paid to past and present negotiations concerning the (re)development of the Redfern Aboriginal community and their intersections in the state-led redevelopment process Aboriginal community- makers were engaged in during the course of my research in 2005-2007. These negotiations centre on attempts made to reproduce certain forms of sociality that both reveal and obscure Aboriginal social relations when inscribed in the category 'Aboriginal community'. This analysis is meant to contribute to the limited anthropological research that exists on urban Aboriginal experiences generally and research conducted on Aboriginal experiences in southeastern Australia. It addresses the complex social field of Aboriginal community-making practices that exist in Australia where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians are located within the bureaucratic structures of the state, institutional networks, as well as non-government community organisations. This research contributes to understanding 'the institutional construction of indigeneity' (Weiner 2006: 19) and how this informs the (re)development of urban Aboriginal communities.

The present thesis examines the themes of ‘shared history,' ‘place-making,' and ‘reconciliation' to assess how these come together in the establishment of an Aboriginal identity in Perth, Western Australia. Focusing on individuals who do not represent the common stereotypes associated with Aboriginal Australians, it will be demonstrated that these individuals are forced into an in-between place where they have to continually negotiate what Aboriginality means in the twenty-first century. Taking on this responsibility they become mediators, stressing a ‘shared history' in order to create a place for themselves in the non-Aboriginal landscape and to advance reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia by fighting the dominant discourse from within. Beginning with the State and Government's Native Title appeal premiss that Nyungar never existed, this thesis will examine this claim by first presenting an account of the history of southwest Western Australia to establish the place Aboriginal people have been forced into by the colonists during early settlement, and the processes of which extend into the present day. From there on in the focus will be on individual Aboriginal people and their careers and businesses, examining how they attempt to redefine what is perceived and accepted as Aboriginality through different interaction and mediation ‘tactics' with non-Aboriginal Australians. Finally, this thesis will take a closer look at the reconciliation movement in Australia and the people involved in it. It will determine different approaches to reconciliation and assess their possibility and meaning for the construction of a twenty-first century Aboriginal identity. The thesis will conclude that although Nyungar are forced into the dominant discourse, their resistance from within credits a new kind of Aboriginality that is just as valid as the ‘traditional' and ‘authentic' Aboriginality imagined by non-Aboriginal Australia.

Comment les traditions orales kanak pourraient-elles agir au-delà de leurs frontières habituelles et influencer les processus de construction identitaire dans la société néo-calédonienne contemporaine ? Notre travail explore les interactions entre la tradition orale kanak et la tradition écrite néocalédonienne, en examinant les textes de réécriture, ces lieux de rencontre entre traditions qui constituent un espace de patrimoine commun. Cette thèse retrace les chemins d’une histoire, Le Chef et le lézard (dont on trouve de multiples versions dans les différentes traditions orales kanak), dans la tradition écrite. Sont élucidés les contextes historiques, politiques et littéraires des processus de production de versions de l’histoire, afin de mettre en évidence les forces en oeuvre, et d’éclairer la manière dont les représentations qui y figurent pourraient participer aux processus de construction identitaire. Les outils conceptuels employés sont la « réécriture », la « vā » (l’espace relationnel océanien d’échange et de rencontre),ainsi que la littérature comme « outil de renforcement communautaire ». La contribution originale qu'apporte notre travail consiste en démontrant le degré et l’étendue de l’intégration d'une histoire kanak dans le polysystème littéraire néo-calédonien ; en soulignant le rôle actif joué par des acteurs kanak dans les processus de réécriture ; en créant une métaphore étendue géographique du paysage littéraire néo-calédonien ; en témoignant de la richesse des traditions orales et écrites de Kanaky/Nouvelle-Calédonie ; et en constituant une passerelle entre les chercheurs/lecteurs non-francophones et la littérature néo-calédonienne. / How might Kanak oral traditions move beyond their usual boundaries and influence identity construction processes in contemporary New Caledonian society? This thesis explores the interactions between Kanak oral tradition and New Caledonian written tradition, by examining the (re)writings that are places of encounter between these traditions, and thus constitute a space of shared heritage. This study traces the pathways taken by a story, Le Chef et le lézard, (a number of versions of which are found in different Kanak oral traditions), as it moves into and within written tradition. The historical, political, and literary contexts of the (re)writing processes that produce versions of Le Chef et le lézard are elucidated, to demonstrate the forces at work and shed light on how the representations that figure in the (re)writings might participate in identity construction processes. The conceptual tools used in the study include: rewriting; vā (the relational space of exchange and encounter found throughout Oceania); and literature as a means of building community. The original contribution of this thesis has been to demonstrate the degree and the extent of the integration of a Kanak story into the New Caledonian literary polysystem; to highlight the active role played by Kanak actors in the rewriting process; to develop anextended geographic metaphor for the New Caledonian literary landscape; to bear witness to the richness of oral and written traditions in Kanaky/Nouvelle-Calédonie; and to create a bridge between non-Francophone researchers/readers and New Caledonian literature (oral and written).