M3 - Learner Manual

Kinship structures and obligations are a defining part of many cultures throughout the world. Australian Indigenous kinship arranges clan groups and skin groups within a larger tribe. This puts everyone in a specific kinship relationship to everyone else and gives specific, governing everyday life such as food sharing and who can communicate with whom. On the coming of adulthood these practices are expected to be adhered to.

These structures define which relatives can talk to one another, and who should not be address directly. Partnering could change how people related to each other due to kinship taboos, such as sons-in-law and mothers-in-law being forbidden to speak or even have eye contact.

Kinship brought with it a set of obligations that one had to perform when relating to others. These obligations were not just part of the past, they are part of Aboriginal Lore and are still active in many parts of Australia today, especially in Dessert and Northern Australian communities.

Kinship is at the heart of Indigenous society. A person’s position in the kinship system establishes their relationship to others and to the universe, prescribing their responsibilities towards other people, the land and natural resources. Traditional kinship structures remain important in many Indigenous communities today.

Source: https://www.australianstogether.org.au/discover/indigenous-culture/kinship/