Organic Relationship with the Natural Land: A Study of a Few Aboriginal Writings of Australia

Abstract

Sense of place as the ‘sense of being and belonging’ forms a strong and passionate relationship between ‘physical environment and human beings. It instills a strong sense of cultural identity among certain people. Throughout the ages different indigenous traditions have been making efforts to be close to nature. For Australian aboriginal people there is a relationship to land that is based on spiritual beliefs and physical communication with the natural world. “The land, for Aboriginal people, is a vibrant, spiritual landscape.” Aborigine in Australia regard nature not as commodity but they continue a kind of filial relationship treating different animals and elements of the traditional land as members of the family and live in close proximity. They humanize their traditional land as their mother. Australian aboriginal literature depict not only land or nature itself, but the association of their particular indigenous groups to natural land and all that it signifies for them as a culture. For this purpose the paper intends to study some literary endeavours of Australian Aboriginal writers. Descriptions of the surroundings in these writings are images of cultural convention linking themselves and their people to their indigenous land. The act of writings permit them to pass on cultural traditions through a form that is parallel to their native practice and belief , to resist the dealing of their indigenous lands and people, and to reclaim identity for their culture through the act of weaving their cultural uniqueness into literature.

Keywords: Aborigine, Natural land, organic relationship, cultural identity