Yolŋu Kinship

Introduction

The Yolŋu people are a group of Aboriginal Australians who predominantly live in northern Australia. The Yolŋu people have a unique and closely held kinship system known as Gurruṯu (Waṉambi, et al., 2018). From the moment a Yolŋu is born they are taught about this system and their place within it. Children are talked to as adults during this and any disputes that might arise are dealt with by explaining the connection between the two children in question. Gurruṯu is part of the traditional Law of the Yolŋu which is a system that governs the social aspects of their lives. The role that Gurruṯu plays in the social aspects of their lives includes many different aspects that mainly pertain to the family. For example, Gurruṯu is implicated in marriage, ceremonies, land rights, inheritance, adoption, and more.

Gurruṯu and Moiety

Gurruṯu is the system under the Yolŋu Law that describes how everyone and everything are connected. Within the system of Gurruṯu, there are two moieties (Waṉambi, et al., 2018). Moiety is a system within the Aboriginal Australian society that divides everything into two groups. These two moieties are known as Yirritja and Dhuwa. In the Gurruṯu system, men and women are supposed to marry members of the opposite moiety. The children of these marriages will be the same moiety as their father and a different moiety as their mother. This connects the Yolŋu to their moiety through their father's side but also binds them to the other moiety through their mother's side.

Gurruṯu and Bäpurru

Bäpurru is the Yolŋu clan system. A Yolŋu’s Bäpurru is determined by the person’s paternal lineage (Waṉambi, et al., 2018). This means that the Yolŋu’s Bäpurru is the same as their father and their grandfather and so on. A Yolŋu’s Bäpurru will always be different than their mother’s Bäpurru and their grandmother on their mother’s side Bäpurru and so on. This makes it so that the Yolŋu has not only a connection to their clan but also a connection to all of the other clans.

Gurruṯu and Mälk

Skin groups are an important cultural naming system referenced whenever the topic of marriage and relationships is brought up. A common misconception about skin groups and skin names is that it has to do with the color of someone’s skin, but that is not the case. Instead, a skin name or a skin group is determined based on one’s connection to the Yolŋu. Although not a direct part of the Gurruṯu system, Mälk is the skin naming system that works in tandem with the Gurruṯu system. Within the Mälk, skin names are determined by a Yolŋu’s mother (Waṉambi, et al., 2018). The Yolŋu people are strongly encouraged to marry specific people to preserve the Mälk system. In today’s world, any marriage between people from opposite moiety is preferred, and the Yolŋu are strongly encouraged to marry people according to the traditional patterns of Mälk. Although highly encouraged to follow the Mälk patterns, the Yolŋu put less importance on following this practice in today's world than it was in the past.

The skin names go in a cyclical order that repeats every few generations. When a Yolŋu is born they will have the opposite moiety as its mother and the next skin name in the cycle. This cycle repeats every four generations so that the fourth child will have the same skin name as their great-great-grandmother. There are two cycles of Mälk and the Yolŋu people are strongly encouraged to marry someone from a specific skin name that corresponds to their own. This is explained in further detail in the next section.

Mälk skin groups and marriage

These two diagrams show the Mälk skin naming system and which Yolŋu can marry each other (Waṉambi, et al., 2018). In the diagram on the left the grey and white arrows represent the two cycles of skin groups. By following the arrows in the direction they are pointing one can determine the skin group of the Yolŋu who is next in line. The black and broken red arrows represent which Yolŋu can marry each other. The marriages between the Yolŋu with the black arrows are preferred but if that is not possible the red arrows represent the next in line to marry.

To put all of this together, a Ŋarritjan woman has to marry a Balaŋ man (or a Burralaŋ man if the marriage is not possible). The children of this marriage would have the skin name Gamarraŋ or Gamanydjan if they were male and female respectively. If that marriage results in a female child that Gamanydjan child would later have to marry a Baŋaḏi and their children would either be Buḻany or Buḻanydjan. This will continue until looping back to the Ŋarritj and Ŋarritjan skin names that we started with.

Learning about Gurruṯu and kinship

Yolŋu children are taught from a very early age about kinship and Gurruṯu. From the moment that the mother is pregnant with the child, the child’s moiety, Bäpurru, and Mälk are all determined. As soon as the children are born they are told about these systems and how everyone in their lives is connected through Gurruṯu. The community does this effort so that even a Yolŋu who has distant relations with the child will talk to that child about how they are related. They will often do this by referring to something as its connection to the Yolŋu rather than its actual name (“Gurruṯu. Weaving through Every Part of Life...”, 2022).

In addition to teaching, the Yolŋu will also test the children while they learn consistently (“Teaching and testing all the time”, 2022). They try children by doing the actions they want them to do and saying the words they want them to learn. They also make notes of how the child is learning and where their strengths are. These practices are done repeatedly and often so the Yolŋu children learn their connection to everyone else.

The Yolgnu adults teach the children not only the kinship between them and people but also their kinship with animals (“Gurruṯu. Weaving through Every Part of Life...”, 2022). An example of this is Yolŋu teaching about the kinship connection to the dogs that live with the Yolŋu people.

Kinship as its interactions with the Australian Government

The Yolŋu have a system of kinship that is vastly different than the western perspective of family and lineage. This makes it difficult when a government attempts to interact with the Yolŋu as their understanding of family and lineage are fundamentally different. This can cause tension between these two communities, especially when the Yolŋu often are forced to conform to a different perspective on kinship, lineage, and even material possessions.

One of the main differences that cause tension is when it comes to dwellings and household heads. In the Yolŋu society, there are polygynous relationships where one man can have multiple wives. These wives can live in separate dwellings and can even be considered the head of the household, however, the husband who lives in another dwelling would be considered by the Yolŋu to be the head of all of the households (Morphy, 2008). This can cause problems as this is not seen as “normal” by the Australian government. Because the family system is not considered “normal” the Australian government would categorize the families into a nuclear family system that ignores the Yolŋu societal roles.

Another difference that can negatively affect the way that the Yolŋu kinship systems are seen by the government is co-residents. It is common in the Yolŋu society to have many generations and extended families all under one roof. These families are connected through the Yolŋu kinship system and share closer familial bonds between what the Australian government would consider extended family. This is another difference that can cause the Australian government to wrongly account for families as this will identify the families in a way that excludes the more extended members (Morphy, 2008).

The way that the Australian government identifies the Yolŋu ignores their societal concepts of kinship (Morphy, 2008). This is a problem as the Yolŋu people have connections with each other that often get overlooked because of the coding of their families. This can make it difficult for them to retain the same kinship practices that are ingrained within their society. The coding of the Yolŋu families also reflects the notion of assimilation into mainstream Australian society. This can be problematic as it pulls the Yolŋu away from their cultural identities and attempts to erase generations of traditional values.

To prevent this the Australian government would have to put in place policies that legitimize and recognize the Yolŋu kinship practices. By doing this the Australian government will assist in the Yolŋu kinship system’s preservation which would help many Yolŋu retain their cultural identity. It is essential to maintain this cultural identity because it is a major part of who they are and their connection with each other. The traditional systems are what connect the Yolŋu to everything around them including each other. Without these cultural connections and kinship systems, the Yolŋu would have a disconnect from their families that they have and the country where they live. That is why it is crucial to not ignore the kinship systems traditionally held by the Yolŋu and why the Australian government would have to make changes to their system so that these systems are recognized.

Resources

Burarrwana, Laklak. 2019. Songspirals: Sharing Women's Wisdom of Country through Songlines. Crows Nest NSW: Allen et Unwin.

“Gurruṯu. Weaving through Every Part of Life...” Growing up Yolngu. Retrieved November 15, 2022, http://growingupyolngu.com.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&p=254&l=2&id=69&smid=163

Morphy, Frances. 2008. “Invisible to the state: kinship and the Yolngu moral order”. Paper presented at the conference, Negotiating the Sacred V: Governing the Family, Monash University, Retrieved November 15, 2022, https://www.academia.edu/20726361/Invisible_to_the_state_kinship_and_the_Yolngu_moral_order

“Teaching and testing all the time” Growing up Yolngu. Retrieved November 15, 2022, http://growingupyolngu.com.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&p=226&l=2&id=70&smid=146

Waṉambi, Gawura. et al. 2018. Wundaŋarr Yolŋu Gurrutu Strong Yolŋu Families. Winnellie, Northern Territory, Australia: ARDS Aboriginal Corporation. https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/media/10152/strong-families-fv-resource.pdf