ANTH2060 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Totem, Lake Superior, Enindhilyagwa Language
ANTH2060 Lecture Six: Natural Classifications II
Totemism
• Totem: from a Canadian people called the Ojibwa, near Lake Superior
• They have an expression ototeman which translates to "he is a relative of mine” and
they typically refer to animals or plants with this expression in mind
• Ojibwa clan are named after natural species, e.g., bear clan, etc. The phrase makwa
nintotem means "my clan is bear."
• Radcliffe-Brown (1952:145): The world of nature is brought within the social order is
to be found in the system of classification of natural species, existing in a number of
diverse forms in different parts of the continents...
• Worsely (1956:156 in Waddy): Totemism is...not merely a cognitive ordering, it also
has affectual and evaluative meaning. Totemism... To the aborigine, expresses
symbolically the totality of his society and its relationship to the wider order of Nature
and the supernatural
• Groote Islanders have interesting vernacular for plants and animals, often totemic
Plant kingdom from Anindilyakwa POV
• Plants/ amarda
woody plants/ eka
-stringy bark/alabura
-yellow yibiscus/mabalba
-red kurrajong/miyarrawa
• Non-woody plants /amarda
-grasses/dinggarrkwa
-round yam/murungkwurra
-wile grape/akwurena
Animal kingdom from Anindilyakwa POV
• Animals in the sea/akwalya
-fish/akwalya
-bony fish/akwalya
-cartiaginous fish (sharks and rays)/aranjarra
-shellfish/adidira
-turtles/yimenda
• Winged creatures/wurrajija
• Animals on the land/yinungungwangba
-snakes, eels, legless lizards/yingarna
-other lands animals/yinungungwangba
-earthworms/arrkwara
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