Excluded Spaces: The Figure in the Australian Aboriginal Landscape

Author(s): Nancy D. Munn

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Critical Inquiry, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Spring, 1996), pp. 446-465
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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Excluded Spaces:The Figure in the Australian
AboriginalLandscape

Nancy D. Munn

Commentingon Pausanias's descriptionof his travelsthroughGreece,

JamesFrazerwrote:"without[Pausanias] the ruinsof Greecewould. . .
be a labyrinthwithouta clue,a riddlewithoutan answer." 1PerhapsFra-
zer imaginedthe sanctuaryat Nemi as a picturesquelandscaperiddle
andhe himselfas the travellingPausanias in the guiseof anthropological
detective purveyingboth cluesand answersas he unrolledthatever-
expandinglabyrinthTheGolden Bough.Needlessto say,I offerherenoth-
ing so mysteriousor endlessas thisquestof Frazer'sto explainthe King
of the Wood the key "figurein his landscape"(to adaptJohn Dixon
Hunt'sbooktitle),2andthe dangerousandendangered,excludingagent
of Frazer's"place."Nevertheless,my aim is to explore some ancient
placesof powerand certaininteractionsbetweenpersonsand spaceen-
tailedin modernAustralian Aboriginalspatialtaboos.In doingso I exam-
ine the questionof spatialprohibitionless as an issuein itselfthanas a
way of posingcertainmore generalproblemsin the analysisof social
spaceand time.
Frazer'sown interestin placesand in the spatialityof actorsand
This essayis a slightlyrevisedform of the FrazerLecturepresentedat OxfordUniver-
sityin May 1995.The analysisis partof a largerworkin progresson the culturalanthropol-
ogy of spaceand time. Gratefulacknowledgementis made to the GuggenheimFoundation
for a fellowshipsupportingpart of the basicresearchfor this workand the presentessay.
1. James G. Frazer,Pausaniasand OtherGreekSketches(London, 1900),p. 159.
2. The phrase is Thomas Hardy's.See J. Hillis Miller,Topographies(Stanford,Calif.,
1995), p. 4. See alsoJohn Dixon Hunt, The Figurein the Landscape:Poetry,Painting, and Gar-
dening during the EighteenthCentu7y( 1976; Baltimore,1989).

CriticalInquiwy22 (Spring1996)
All rightsreserved.
(C)1996by The Universityof Chicago.0093-1896/96/2203-0008$01.00.

446

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1996 447

eventswasmostlystylisticandmoodsettingratherthantheoretical.3 Un-
likehis friendRobertson Smith or Arnold Van Gennep, a socialtheorist
whoseconceptof spatialseparationsand passagesacrossthem drewin
part on a geopoliticaldiscourseof frontiersand boundaries,Frazer's
ideasabouttabooarenot focussedon the exclusionary powersof"sacred
places"(althoughtheytakeaccount of them). Indeed, given his theoreti-
calandmethodological biases,it is not surprisingthat,asJonathan Smith
has noted,Frazerfinallyshedsthe King of the Wood as "merely a pup-
pet"of his ownrationalistsearchfor the "evolution of human thought."4
The presentessaygoesin anotherdirection:it assumesthatin com-
parativeanthropologicalstudies,the spatiotemporaldimensionsof a
theoreticalproblemnot only are intrinsicto it but requireanalyticfore-
grounding.In thisrespect,I intendto spealy to somecurrentpreoccupa-
tions in the humanitiesand socialtheory withspace,time, and bodily
action;with"places" andtheir"powers"; andwithwhatDavidParkinhas
recentlydescribedas a discourse"ofpositions,stances,moves. . . close
and distantgazes. . . of spatialorientationand separation."5
Mytopicis certainAustralian Aboriginal spatialinterdictionsthatare
pervasivewhereverAboriginesstilltreatthe landin everydaylife as the
ancestrally derivedlocusof Aboriginallaw.6Forheuristicreasons,I focus
3. For a commentaryon Frazer'saestheticinterestin setting scenes, see StanleyEdgar
Hyman, TheTangledBank:Darrlvin, Marx,Frazer;andFreudas Imag7native Writers(New York,
1966), pp. 25F55. One possibleexception to Frazer'sprimarilymood-settingapproachto
space is his theory of the "origins"of totemismin Aboriginalnotions of a person'sconcep-
tion at particulartotemic places; see Frazer,"The Beginnings of Religion and Totemism
among the AustralianAborigines(II),"Fortnightly Review78 (Sept. 1905): 452-66. But the
local aspectof this totemismis secondaryto Frazer,who arguesthat totemiclocalitiesenter
into Aboriginalconceptionnotions only through accidentsof associationwith some feature
of the place "where[one's] . . . mother happened to be" (p. 457). In any case, the signifi-
cance of place as such is never drawninto theoreticalfocus.
4. Frazer,TheGoldenBough:A Studyin Magicand Religion,3d ed., 10 vols. (London,
1911-13), 10:vi;quoted in JonathanSmith,"Whenthe Bough Breaks,"MapIs NotTerritory:
Studiesin theHistoryof Relig7ons(Chicago,1978), p. 211.
5. David Parkin,SacredVoid:SpatialImagesof Work andRitualamongtheGiriamaof Kenya
(Cambridge,1991), p. 1.
6. Numerousstudiesdrawattentionto these interdictions.Mentionshouldbe made of
KennethMaddock,"DangerousProximitiesand Their Analogues,"Mankind9 (June 1974):
20S17, and DavidBiernoff,"Safeand DangerousPlaces,"in Australian Aborig7nalConcepts,
ed. Leslie Hiatt (AtlanticHighlands,N.J., 1978). I discussonly a smallportionof the range
of interdictionshere.

Nancy D. Munnis professorof anthropologyat the Universityof

Chicago.She is the authorof WalbiriIconography:GraphicRepresentation
and CulturalSymbolismin a CentralAustralianSociety(1973)and TheFameof
Gawa: A SymbolicStudy of Value Transformationin a Massim (Papua New
Guinea) Society(1986).

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448 NancyD. Munn Abor7ginal
Spaces

(withone exception)on centraland westerndesert and some desert

fringe,riverinepeoplesof the Australianinterior.7WhenI use the term
Aborigznes withoutfurtherqualification,I mean essentiallypeoples of
theseregions,althoughthe interdictionsinvolvedmayhavewiderappli-
cability.Theseinterdictionscreatea partiallyshiftingrangeof excluded
or restrictedregionsforeachpersonthroughouthisor herlife.A specific
kind of spatialform is being produced:a spaceof deletionsor of de-
limitationsconstrainingone'spresenceat particularlocales.
This negativespaceis well conveyedby the widelyusedAboriginal
Englishexpression"noroom,"meaninga person'slackof sociomoralor
legalspaceat a givenlocale.8At anygivenmoment,a person'sspaceis a
patchwork of regionswherehe or she has"noroom":theseregionsover-
laponlyin partwiththoseof othersin thecommunity. A familiarexample
is the barringof adultwomenand men fromeachother'ssecretpower
places,althoughchildrenmaybe barred,in somecases,fromboth.Par-
7. The names and locationsof key peoples and places discussed in the essay are as
follows:the Aranda(now also writtenArrernte)of centralAustralia(the Northern Terri-
tory) who own EmilyGap (Anthwerrke)and its environs southeastof the desert town of
Alice Springs; the Warlpiri(also Walbiri)who have towns and communitiesnorth and
northwestof Alice Springs (I mention Yuendumu,some 175 miles northwest,and Laja-
manu acrossthe Tanamidesert northwestof Yuendumu);westerndesert Kukatjapeoples
livingaroundBalgo,near the WestAustralianborder;and the peoples of Yarralin,in Victo-
ria Rivercountry of the northwestNorthern Territory.I also refer to the huge monolith,
Ayers Rock (Uluru), of the southwest Northern Territory,which belongs to speakersof
several western desert dialects,including Pitjantjatjara. The only coastalcommunitydis-
cussed is Belyuen (home of speakersof a number of languages),which is near the north
centralcoast of the NorthernTerritory,west of the northerncoastalcenter of Darwin.
8. There appearsto be no indigenousequivalentfor this expression(accordingto Fran-
cesca Merlan, written communicationwith author, Feb. 1995), although there are, of
course,termsfor avoidance.The full extent of its use amongAboriginesis not documented,
but it appears to be widespreadin the desert region and at least to some extent beyond.
See Diane Bell, Daughtersof theDreaming(North Sydney,1983),p. 15 and personalcommu-
nication with author, 1995; MichaelJackson,At Home in the World(Durham,N.C., 1995),
p. 53; DavidNa$h,writtencommunicationwith author,Jan. 1995;and ElizabethPovinelli,
conversationwith author,Sept. 1994. In my own experience it wasoperativeamong Yuen-
dumu Warlpiriin the mid-1950s. However,accordingto Merlan(telephonicand written
communicationwith author,Feb. 1995), Aboriginesin Katherinetownship(north-central
Northern Territory)do not employ this usage, but may use roomin the expected English
sense of a spatialunit or of insufficientphysicalspaceirrespectiveof moral-legalconstraints.
See also Cliff Goddard, I.A.D. Basic Pitjantjatjara/Yankuntjatjara-English Dictionary (Alice
Springs, 1987), p. 122; referencecourtesyof Janet Simpson.In some cases, the expression
may be used in both ways;see Nash, writtencommunicationwith author,Jan. 1995. Bell
givesan excellentillustrationof the differencebetweenthe expected Englishusage and "no
room"in the more complex moral-legalsense discussedhere. When attemptingto drive
Aboriginalwomen along a road that looked clear to her ahead, Bell was stoppedby one of
the women who said she couldn't"godown there, too much . . . son-in-law,no room"(Bell,
Daughtersof the Dreaming, p. 15). Although this road offered physicallyclear travel space,
they would have been moving too close to the camp of the woman'stabooedson-in-law.In
this sense, there was not enough physicalspace because of the distancesrequiredby the
morallaw.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1v996 449

ticularexcludedregionsthusvaryfor diffierent peopleandshiftthrough

a person'slifetime.
The time span of a locale'sparticipationin this kind of excluded
spacealsovaries.Manyof the ancient,named,andownedplacesareper-
manentlybarredto someone certainlyto anyonedefinedas an outsider
or a stranger.Otherregionsmaybe closedcontingenton transientevents
suchas deaths.-\ritualperformances and travel,or the presencethereof
a person'stabooedin-law.9We have here a complexkind of relative
spacetime,not simplya set of determinatelocalesor "places."Mervyn
Meggittonce impliedsomethinglike this when he suggestedthat the
Warlpiriconstructionof"their socio-geographical environmentinto re-
gions of greateror less spaceor personalmobility. . . [resembles]the
Lewiniannotionof the life-space." 10
Althoughmy own approachbearsno similarityto KurtLewin's,I
sharehis interestin relationalmodels.Thus I addressthe "synoptic" an-
thropologicalnotionsof tabooand sacredplacesin two relatedways:by
dissolvingtheminto a moregeneralspatiotemporal analyticsof (cultur-
ally significant)location,distancing,movement,relativeduration,and
boundaries;and by consideringspacetimeas a symbolicnexus of rela-
tionsproducedout of interactionsbetweenbodilyactorsand terrestrial
spaces.Weshallsee thatoncewe makethesetheoreticalmoves,questions
involvingthe locusof powersof exclusion,or how boundariesemerge
andaresignifiedin culturalpractices,canbe articulated in the samepar-
adigm.
Myfocuswillbe on spatialprohibitionsas a modeof boundarymak-
ing. In Aboriginalsocieties,the existenceof topographicalboundaries
demarcatingowned placesis highlyproblematic.This featurehas re-
centlybeen highlightedby politicalcontentionover boundariesin the
processof establishing anotherkindof "excluded" space,namely,theAb-
originalancientplaceprotectedfromWesternindustryand trespassby
9. Still other exclusionsdepend on the presence in a given region of gender-related
camps or residences,which are avoided by people of the opposite sex; for example, men
avoid the women'sgroup residenceand gatheringplace. In this essay,I do not discussin-
law avoidancesand only brieflynote avoidancesconnectedwith deaths. However,I takeall
these exclusionsto entail,at any given moment,avoidanceof a specificregion,even though,
as in the case of in-lawavoidances,the particularregion involved may be entirely depen-
dent on the presenceof certainpersons,changingwith their location.We shall see that the
frameworkI propose precludestreatingpersons apart from their spatialsituatednessand
space apart from persons. Thus, among other things, one cannot abstract"socialspace"
from "concretespace."
10. MervynJ. Meggitt,DesertPeople:A Studyof the WalbiriAboriginesof CentralAustralia
(Sydney,1963), p. 54. In makingthis analogy,Meggittremarksthat regionscan be "distin-
guished"by varyingintensitiesof emotions such as fear or shame "attendanton entering
them"(ibid.). In the present essay,I concentrateon contexts where fear or apprehension
is a prominentattitude,and danger of varyingdegrees is involved. Meggittalso speaksof
the Walbirisense that they might "lackspace"in a given region, apparentlyusing the term
space for the WalbiriEnglishroom.

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450 NancyD. Munn Spaces
Aboriginal

"sacredsite"legislationand typicallymarkedUas a transculturalenclave

by surroundingfencesand writtensigns.These markersfix the visible
signsof the powerof whatAboriginescall"whitefella's law"on a demar-
catedlimitthatconjoinsthe "twolaws"(a stereotypicAboriginalexpres-
sion referringto the differentAboriginaland Euro-Australian laws).I
cannotdiscussthis mode of excludedspacehere, but it remainsas an
implicitcontrastin the backgroundof the presentargument. ll
Sincespatialprohibitionslimita person'spresenceat a particular
place,we can initiallyviewthesepracticesas a problemin location in its
dual senseof"a locale"and "locatedness"; for our purposes,locatedness
refersprimarilyto mobileactorsratherthan things.Lefebvrecallsthis
"thebasicduality"of socialspaceas a "feldofaction"anda "basisofaction."
By the latterhe means"placeswhenceenergiesderiveandwhitherener-
gies are directed.''l2I take up this dualismas a dynamicinterrelation
betweentwo modalitiesof spacethat are operativein constructingan
exc uslonaryspacetlme.
. .

11. The Northern Territory Aborig7nal Sacred Sites Act (1978; emended 1989) was estab-
lished as a complement to the general Aborig7nal Land Rights (Northern Temtory) Act (1976).
Since the 1970s, anthropological discussions of Aboriginal place-boundaries (or their ab-
sence) have to be understood as occurring in a litigious milieu of contestations involving
Aborigines, the government, and other parties interested in the spatial definitions of areas
to be protected and the location of their limits. Apart from conflicting politico-economic
and cultural concerns, these issues are fuelled by the fundamentally different means of
constructing space characteristic of Aboriginal and Western industrial/postindustrial cul-
tures. For analytic purposes, one should not, therefore, conflate Aboriginal-named place
constructs with these new places ("sacred sites" in the legal sense), which are important
"enclaved" forms of Aboriginal places. Different kinds of enclaves are created in this pro-
cess, with variable exclusions, but a common type sets up fences around an area finally
legalized as the extent of the "sacred site," with verbal signs that specify the monetary penal-
ties for violation-penalties deriving, of course, from Euro-Australian law. Consideration of
this hybrid type of space is a problem of its own, which I cannot deal with here. The perva-
sive use of the label sacred site for Aboriginal ancient places (a label now used popularly by
Aborigines as well as others to denote Aboriginal ancestral places in general) arose in con-
nection with the Aboriginal land claims. For a brief history of this usage see Maddock,
"Metamorphosing the Sacred in Australia," Australian Journal of Anthropology 2, no. 2
(1991): 213-33.
12. Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, trans. D. N. Smith (Oxford, 1991), p. 191.
Lefebvre's formulation articulates the dualities of an old problem entailing the relations
between relative, or subject-centered, and nonrelative, "absolute" or "objective," human
space, which others have articulated in different terms and from variable perspectives. See,
for example, Edward S. Casey, Getting Back into Place: Toward a Renewed Understanding of the
Place-World (Bloomington, Ind., 1993); Michel de Certeau, "Spatial Stories," The Practice of
EverydayLife, trans. Steven Rendall (Berkeley,1984), pp. 91-130; Gareth Evans, The Varieties
of Reference, ed. John McDowell (Oxford, 1982), chap. 6; Alfred Gell, "How to Read a Map:
Remarks on the Practical Logic of Navigation," Man 20 (June 1985): 271-86; William
Hanks, Referential Practice: Language and Lived Space among the Maya (Chicago, 1990); and
Erwin Straus, The Primary World of the Senses: A Vindication of Senso7y Experience, trans. Jacob
Needleman (New York, 1963).

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1996 451

Lefebvre's"fieldof action"can alsobe viewedas the "mobilespatial

field"of the actorin contrastto a determinateregionor locale;13 thelatter
is the concrete"basisof action,"whichlendsitselfat any givenmoment
to the actor'smovingfield. Linguistsand other scholarsfrequentlyde-
scribewhatI callthe spatialfieldby labelssuchasindexical or ego-centered.
It is spacedefinedby referenceto an actor,its organizingcenter.Sincea
spatialfieldextendsfromthe actor,it canalsobe understoodas a cultur-
allydefined,corporeal-sensual fieldof significantdistancesstretchingout
fromthe body in a particularstanceor actionat a givenlocaleor as it
movesthroughlocales.Thisfieldcanbe plottedalonga hypothetical tra-
jectorycenteredin the situatedbodywithits expansivemovementsand
immediatetactilereach,and extendablebeyondthiscenterin vision,vo-
cal reach,and hearing(and furtherwhererelevant).The body is thus
understoodas a spatialfield(andthe spatialfieldas a bodilyfield).l4
The particularlocalethata spatialfield embraceschangeswiththe
mobileactorfrom one "moment"to the next. The field is literallya
"shifter"that, as ErwinStrausputs it, "constantly goes with us"as we
movearound.l5Of course,in going withus as an aspectof ourselves,it
leavesparticularlocalesbehindandreachesothersup ahead;equally,its
deterrencefrom some spacesis part of its interactionwith them, in a
negativemode.
A simplebut importantexampleof this negativeinteractionis the
detour,a pervasivetypeof Aboriginalact,generallymadeeitherto avoid
the temporarylocationof certainpersonsor certaincontemporary events,
or the enduringagentivepowersleft in the country'snamedplacesby
ancestorsduring ancientevents.l6 For instance,at a 1980s gathering
of mournerson the Yuendumu-AliceSpringsroad, Aboriginesap-
proachingin their cars "wouldstop and turn aroundto find another
13. In this essay I use the labelslocale or region as general cover termsfor any kind of
locationor space. When discussingAboriginalspace, I use place in a narrowersense, con-
fining it to contexts where Aborigineswould make use of the relevantindigenous term it
can gloss (for instance, Warlpiringurra, camp, residentiallocation, place). In practice, I
applyplace primarilyto ancestrallocales(whichI call "ancientnamed places").Termswith
a similarsemanticrange to the Warlpiringurra are pan-Aboriginaland crucialto Aboriginal
. .

spatla practlces .
14. This framingresonateswith a varietyof approachesto the spatialityof the body,
such as those of Casey,GettingBack into Place; PierreBourdieu,Outlineof a Theoryof Practice,
trans.RichardNice (1972; Cambridge,1977);Hanks,ReferentialPractice;MauriceMerleau-
Ponty,Phenomenologyof Perception,trans. Colin Smith (London, 1962); and AbrahamA.
Molesand ElisabethRohmer,Psychologiede l'espace(Paris,1978).
15. Straus,ThePrimaryWorldof the Senses,p. 319.
16. An illustrativeterm for this type of act is the Warlpiriwam-ngirntiri, bypass, the
long wayaround, which explicitlycarriesthe sense of circlingaround. See MaryLaughren
and Kenneth Hale, Warlpiri-EnglishEncyclopaedicDictionary,electronicfiles, at Department
of English, Universityof Queensland, Brisbane.I am indebted to the authors for their
generosityin makingthis dictionaryavailableto me.

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452 NancyD. Munn AboriginalSpaces

trackto theirdestination."17 In thisexample,detoursare madeonlyfor

the durationof the event.ButAboriginesmakedetoursof otherlocales
for reasonsinheringin the land itself.Forexample,a Warlpiriwoman
from Lajamanu,speaking to BarbaraGlowczewski,remembered:
"'WhenI wassmall,my motherrequiredme to alwaysmakea largede-
tourto lookfor wateron the othersideof thishill [wherecertainances-
torshadtravelled].Allthe womenrepeatedlytoldthe childrennot to go
therebecauseit was dangerous:there were spirits. . . who kidnapped
children.Wedidn'tgo therebecausewe wereveryfrightened.'''l8
In detouring,visionand,secondarily, hearing(forinstance,of ritual
singingtemporarilygoing on at a given place)are the key measures
Aborigines useto delimita person'sspatialfield.Onthewhole,a detourof
an ancientplacemustbe farenoughawayto avoidseeingit.l9Buta finer
calibrationof visionoperatesin ritualperformances of ancestralevents
(not necessarilyheld at a powerplace).For instance,Warlpiriwomen
withspecialrightsin certainmen'sritualsmaybe allowedto standcloser
to someperformances thanotherwomen;andsomeseniorWarlpirimen
maybe permittedto brieflyenter women'sceremonialgrounds,while
othersmayobservetheseritualsat a distance.20 A person'ssensual-spatial
fieldis controlledhereby distancing,butwe willsee othermeanslater.
In the act of detouring,actorsalso carveout a negativespace a
locale wherethey do not go, partof whichextendsbeyondtheirown
spatialfieldof vision.This act projectsa signifierof limitationupon the
landor placeby formingtransient butrepeatable
boundaries outofthemoving
body.Excludingactsthusgive concreteif transient(and,spatially,some-
whatshifting)formto boundariesof a quasi-perimetric kind:people"go
around"a place,asexpressedin a basicWarlpiri termfordetour.2lBound-
ariesare here "giventheirpracticalsensesas movementsof the body."22
17. Susan Kesteven, "ASketch of Yuendumu and Its Outstations" (master's thesis, Aus-
tralian National University, 1978), p. 21. Locales linked with the remembered or recent
dead are detoured or avoided.
18. Barbara Glowczewski, Les Re^veursdu desert:Aborigenesd'Australie,les Warlpiri(Paris,
1989), p. 188; my translation.
19. As the ethnomusicologist Richard Moyle puts it, "'if you can see it, then you're too
close"' (Richard Moyle, "Songs, Ceremonies, and Sites: The Agharringa Case," in Aborigines,
Land, and Land Rights, ed. Nicolas Peterson and Marcia Langton [Canberra, 1983], p. 72).
In Warlpiri, the term seeing-withoutmay be used in connection with detouring. See Laurie
Reece, Dictionaryof the Wailbri(Walpiri)Language of CentralAustralia, 2 vols. (Sydney, 1975/
1979), 2:44.
20. See FranSoise Dussart, "Warlpiri Women's Yawalyu Ceremonies: A Forum for So-
cialization and Innovation" (Ph.D. diss., Australian National University, 1988), p. 52, and
Nancy D. Munn, WalbiriIconography:GraphicRepresentationand CulturalSymbolismin a Central
AustralianSociety(1973; Chicago, 1986), pp. 49, 52.
21.Seeabove,n.16.
22. Bourdieu, Outline of a Theoryof Practice, p. 117; emphasis removed. We tend to
conceive of boundaries as relatively permanent, fixed aspects of space detached from hu-
man movement. But all such boundary markers are the result of some boundary-making

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1996 453

People-in-action notonlyproduceboundariesandboundaryexperiences
but,to paraphrasean ideaof Simmel's,are themselvesboundaries.23
In the instancenotedabove,the agentivepowerof the Lawenforc-
ing the detouris embeddedin the detouredareaas "childkidnappers";
in otherplacesit mightbe otherpersonaeor forcesspringingfromthe
enduringpresenceof ancestors.Places"takenoticeof who is there."24
Forthe moment,we mustturnthenfromthe movingspatialfieldof the
excludedactorto the spatiotemporal organization and potenciesof this
kindof place.
I have noted thatAboriginallawis saidto be in the ground,espe-
ciallythe rocks."Yousee thathill over there?Blackfellow Lawlike that
hill. It neverchanges.<;.. [It] is in the ground,"saida Yarralinman to
DeborahRose.25 The "Law"is the hill,or is in the hill.The Law'svasible
signsare topographic"markings"rocks,rockcrevicesand stains,soaks,
trees,creekbeds,claypans,and so forth remnantsof the multiple,so-
calledtotemicancestorswho madethe landinto distinguishable shapes.
Indigenoustermsfor Law,like the Warlpiri jukurrpa (popularlyglossed
nowadaysby Aboriginesand othersas "Dreaming"), are the sameas for
theseancestors.
However,thesefeatures,whichareconcentrated lociof a place'sau-
thoritativepower,do not defineits spatialboundaries.Rather,they are
the identiffyingcenters
fromwhicha spacewithuncertainor ambiguously
definedlimitsstretchesout. Forinstance,Warlpiriplaceshavebeencom-
paredto "agravitational fieldweakeningout fromthe [topographic] cen-
ter."26 Theremaybe somequalifications to thissortof spatialization,
but

acts of definitionand production,includingverbalacts of "spatiallegislation,"as de Certeau

has stressed (de Certeau, The Practice of EverydayLife, p. 122). It is helpful to think of
boundary-makingpracticesas ranging from the use or creation of a spatiallyfixed, de-
tached marker(whether "natural"or "artificial") with long-term durabilityto boundary-
making acts that do not constructany relativelyenduring, fixed, concrete spatialmarker
detachedfrom actors.Withinthis range one finds, for instance,people makingboundaries
by repetitiveacts of renewalthat set out detachablebut temporarymaterialmarkers(see,
for example, RobertJ. Thornton, Space, Time,and Cultureamong the Iraqwof Tanzania [New
York,1980],chap. 4), or boundarymakingby repeatedactsof walkingoff and "looking"to
define and redefine topographicalbounds by travellingacrossor lookingbeyond previous
limits.SeeJoanne Rappaport,"History,Myth,and the Dynamicsof TerritorialMaintenance
in Tierradentro,Colombia,"AmericanEthnologist12 (Feb. 1985):2745.
23. See GeorgSimmel,"TheTranscendentCharacterof SocialLife,"On Individualitby and
SocialForms:SelectedWritings,ed. DonaldLevine(Chicago,1971),p.353; however,Simmelis
talkingaboutpersonsas boundariesin a sensequitedifferentfrommy discussionhere.
24. DeborahBird Rose,Dingo Makes Us Human: Life and Land in an AborzginalAustralian
Culture(Cambridge,1992), p. 109. Rose is referringto the peoples of Yarralin,but this is a
characteristicfeature of the Aboriginalsense of space throughoutAustralia;nor should it
be read as simplymetaphorical(see also below,on Belyuen).
25. Quoted in ibid., p. 56.
26. Peterson,Stephen Wild,and PatrickMcConvell,Claimto Areasof TraditionalLand by
(1976), p. 5.
the Warlpirzand Kartangarurru-Kurintji

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454 NancyD. Munn AboriginalSpaces

Aboriginal-owned placesaretypically"notclearlybounded,discreteloca-
tionsbut . . . fociwhoseinfluenceextendsoutward."27
In the caseof certainmajorplaces,the Law'spowermayextendwell
beyond its center,spanninga region of other named places(or sub-
places).This radiusof poweris also not clearlydelimitable.Withinthis
extendedsphere,a placerespondsto violations(to forbiddenpresences
or incorrectcomportments) by causingphysicaldangersuchas potential
illnessor deathto the violator.In short,the Aboriginalancientplacecan
be characterized as "center-oriented"S.J. Tambiah'stermfor a spatio-
politicaldomainthat is formed "as a variablesphere of influencethat
diminishesas . . . powerradiatesfroma [spatial] center."28
It now seemsevidentthatancientplacesare organizedlikethe mo-
bile, centeredfieldsof actors,as spacesstretchingout froma reference
point to vague peripheries.Indeed, these placesare the topographic
remnantsof the centeredfieldsof ancientactors.The transformations of
ancestors'bodiesso extensivelydiscussedin the Australian literatureare
not simplytheirbodiesin somegeneralizedsensebut situatedbodiesin
particularstancesor states,suchas lyingdown,sitting,dancing,standing
and lookingat something,or scatteredinto fragmentsfroma fight all
formsconveyingsomemomentaryactionor participation in eventsat a
givenlocation.The center,WilliamHankssaysin a Mayancontext,"is
not merelythe body,but the bodyas it normallyengagesin movement
and action."29
The centermayalsoreflectthe body'stactilereachjust beyondthe
bodilycore of the actor'sspatialfield.The standardnotionof imprints
27. Ian Keen and Merlan, "The Significance of the Conservation Zone to Aboriginal
People," Resource Assessment Commission: Kakadu Conservation Zone Inquiry, consul-
tancy no. 8 (Dec. 1990), p. 45. Concern with the question of Aboriginal delimitations of
ancient places has long been a preoccupation in the anthropological literature; the complex
details of the arguments are necessarily beyond my purview here. See, among many others,
Bell, "Sacred Sites: The Politics of Protection," in Aborigines,Land, and Land Rights, pp.
278-93; Ronald M. Berndt, "The Concept of'the Tribe' in the Western Desert of Australia,"
Oceania 30 (Dec. 1959): 81-107 and "Territoriality and the Problem of Demarcating Socio-
cultural Space," in Tribesand Boundaries in Australia, ed. Peterson (Canberra, 1976), pp.
133-61; Erich Kolig, DreamtimePolitics:Religion, WorldView,and UtopianThoughtin Australian
AboriginalSociety(Berlin, 1989), chap. 2; Maddock, "Australia a Sacred Site?" YourLand Is
Our Land: AboriginalLand Rights (Ringwood, Victoria, 1983), pp. 131-51, and Nancy Wil-
liams, "A Boundary Is to Cross: Observations on Yolngu Boundaries and Permission," in
ResourceManagers:NorthAmericanand AustralianHunter-Gatherers,ed. Williams and Eugene
S. Hunn (Boulder, Colo., 1982), pp. 131-53.
28. S. J. Tambiah, WorldConquerorand WorldRenouncer:A Studyof Buddhismand Polityin
Thailandagainsta HistoricalBackground(Cambridge,1976), p.112. See also Benedict R. O'G.
Anderson, "The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture," in Cultureand Politicsin Indonesia, ed.
Claire Holt, Anderson, and James Siegel (Ithaca, N.Y., 1972), pp. 1-69. Anderson also
points to the fundamental spatial distinction between a "frontier"-oriented polity and one
"defined by its center, not by its perimeter" (p. 29).
29. Hanks, ReferentialPractice, p. 90.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1996 455

(prototypically, the ordinaryfootprintsor body printsof dailylife) in-

volvestransformations on the edge of the body.Two ancestralsisters
crawlingalong pressingagainstthe unmarkedland imprinta wind-
ing creekjust beyondtheirown body surfaces.30 At one placeon Ayers
Rock, where poisonoussnakesthrew spears at pythons,the rock is
scarredby potholesmarkingthe endpointsof the spears'trajectories.31
The snakes'remnantsreflecta more extended tactilereach of their
spatiocorporeal fields. Multipletransformations turn centeredmobile
fieldsinto the fixedtopographiccentersof locales,objectifiedas identifi-
able placesto or towardswhichotherscan then travel(or fromwhich
theycanbe excluded).Theybecomelocalesto which"Aboriginal people
canpoint. . . saying[forexample],hereis the markof the CarpetSnake,
comingover the sandhills;. . . here is the spearwoundin her body."32
Thus the ancestors'spatiocorporeal or actionfieldsturn into enduring
"bases" for the futuretransientactionfieldsof others.
This perspectiveon topographictransformation helps to explain
how it is that travellingancestorscan be transfixedin more than one
place.Whattheyleavebehindin eachinstanceis not simplytheirbodily
selvesin some generalsense but the fixed, momentaryformstakenby
theiractionfieldsat thatlocation.It is theselocatedparticulars thatare,
asAboriginessay,"still"or (inan alternativetranslation) "always" there.33
Nor do theybecome"timeless," as the Westernized glossingof suchAb-
originalnotionsoftenasserts;rather,the timeindex shiftsfromthe rela-
tive transiencyof actionsto a durationindefinitelyextended into the
futurebeyondthat of the originalancestraloccurrence.That this shift
hasa mundanetemporal(morespecifically, spatiotemporal) senseis well
shownby the scopeof the Warlpirinotionjukurrarnu (a termfor "long
lasting").As one Warlpiri's explanationgoes, 'Jukurrarnu is whatwe call
a Dreaming[ancestor, jukurrpa]. . . [who]is alwaysthereand a lover. . .
30. The example comes from Berndt, "Territoriality and the Problemof Demarcating
SocioculturalSpace,"p. 137, but the principle of imprinting is basic. See Munn, "The
Transformationof Subjectsinto Objectsin Walbiriand Pitjanttatjara Myth,"in Australian
AboriginalAnthropology:ModernStudiesin the SocialAnthropologyof theAustralianAborigines,ed.
Berndt (Nedlands, 1970), pp. 141-63. Imprintingof this kind is in some respectsan epito-
mizing instanceof some aspectsof Casey'sphilosophyof place and body. Caseytakes the
view thatbecauseeverything,and most notablyall humanbodies,has a "place"(wherethey
are "at"),place itselfcannotbe separatedfrom the body that is its "innerboundary"(Casey,
GettingBack into Place, p. 29). However,in the present context, bodies are also defining/
creating the distinctive"places"where they are, for although the women go along on a
pregiven ground, it is not a locale in Aboriginalterms until particularizedby markings.
31. See RobertLayton, Uluru: An AboriginalHistoryof AyersRock (Canberra,1986), pp.
7-8, and Charles P. Mountford,AyersRock: Its People, Their Beliefs, and TheirArt (Sydney,
1965), p. 40 and plates 14a and b (p. 44).
32. Layton,Uluru, p. 15.
33. The Warlpiriand Pitjantjatjara terms,tarngna and titu, respectively,maybe glossed
ln eltner way.
. .

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456 NancyD. Munn AboriginalSpaces

stillin lovewiththe samepersonfor a long time.Or a personwho stays

in one placeall the timewithoutgoinganywhereelse."34 The termjukur-
rarnuthus seems to connote"beingstillthere" a kindof intensification
of one positionthroughits temporalextension.In the contextof ancient
places,"beingstillthere"assertsa legalclaim.In thisrespect,it contrasts
with "wentright through" an actionleavingno knownvisibletraces
(whichAboriginesoftenuse in the land claimscasesto indicatethatno
rightscancurrentlybe readout of the landfromthesetravels).
The propertysignificance of enduringvisibilityis not, of course,en-
tirelyforeignto Westernunderstandings of property.The legalphiloso-
pherCarolRosepointsout thatin certain"commonunderstandings ...
the veryclaimof propertyis thatit is somethinglasting";and thisclaim
in turn maybe meshedwith ideas aboutthe unchangingcharacterof
visiblefeatureslike boundarymarkers.35 If Aboriginalfixed markersof
dominionare visiblecentersratherthanplaceboundaries,we shallsee
neverthelesshow theycreatecertainkindsof boundariesby movingout
from these centersand how at the immobilecenterthey can also be-
comeboundaries.
Returningto the dynamicsof exclusion,we now find that mobile
spatialfieldsand the terrestrialspaceof localesare becomingtranspos-
able;in certainculturallyspecifiedways,they seem to be shiftingback
and forthinto eachother.Here I wantto explorethis processas mani-
festedin "dangerous encounters"betweenvisitorsandthe Lawof ancient
placesratherthan in detoursthat avoidsuch dangers.Beginningwith
an ancestralencounter,I then takeup somemodernones. Myaimis to
exemplifysome permutationsof these modes of Aboriginalboundary
construction.
One of the key dangerousplacesin the AliceSpringsregion is a
rockygorgecalledAnthwerrke (EmilyGap).36Althoughthe gorgeis the
centerof thisArandaplace,its influenceextendswellbeyondit at least
to the town'sedge.Accordingto SpencerandGillen'sclassicstudy,a pow-
erful Arandawitchettygrub ancestorguardedthe gap'snorthernen-
trance,sometimessendinghisinstructionsbeyondthe gapin singingthat
controlledthe passageof newwitchettygrubimmigrants andhaltedtheir
passageon theirwaytowardsthe gorge.37Forinstance,one immigrant
34. Laughren and Hale, Warlpiri-EnglishEncyclopaedicDictionary.In this passage, always
translates the Warlpiri tarnnga;a long time and all the timeboth translate jukurrarnu.
35. Carol M. Rose, Propertyand Persuasion:Essays on the History, Theory,and Rhetoricof
Ownership(Boulder, Colo., 1994), p. 272.
36. See Bell, "Sacred Sites," for a recent relevant discussion.
37. Witchetty grubs are edible larval forms of various tree-boring insects. The contem-
porary literature refers to the ancestral totemic beings dominating the Emily Gap-Alice
Springs region as caterpillars; see, for example, Bell "Sacred Sites," p. 286. But Baldwin
Spencer and FrancisJames Gillen, TheNative Tribesof CentralAustralia( 1899; London, 1938),
call them witchetty grubs (glossing a specific indigenous term). For convenience, I follow
their gloss here.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1996 457

partywasfirsthaltedwithinabouttwo milesof the autochthon,whose

singingthey heardat a distance.Leavingone manthere(apparentlyat
the song'sbehest),they travelledon, stoppingoccasionally "tolistenfor
thesinging."Approaching the gap"theycould[now]plainlyhear. . . [the
owner]singingof . . . [their]coming"and thuspermittingthemto go to
the entrance;but on theirarrival,he refusedthempassagethroughthe
gap. So enteringthe ground,they cameup just beyondit, leavingno
markswithinthe gorge.Althoughtheywantedto travelon fromtheplace
of theiremergence,the ownertold them to staythere.Groupsof trees
arosemarkingthe lastspotwheretheystoodbeforeenteringthe ground
andwheretheyremained("satdown")afterwards.38
Althoughthe gap is the owner'sbodilylocation,the centerof his
control,his voiceis partof his sensualreach an extendingmovement
of his spatiocorporeal field thatimpactsdirectlyon the fieldsof others,
affectingboththeirdirectionalpassageandits limits.39 The owner'scom-
binedexcludingand permissive actiontypifiesAboriginalnotionsabout
the entryof outsiders into these placesand, in some into resi-
respects,
dentialcommunitiesas well.As one VictoriaRiver man said:

In our lawwe are frightenedto go . . . outsideour owncountrybe-

causewe don'twantto givecheekto thatothermanwho ownsthe
country[thatis not ours].... If [someone]wantsto see any im-
portantdreamingplacehe mustaskthe ownerof thatplaceto allow
him to go in.... If the ownersaysno, ... you can'tdo anything
aboutit, you'llhaveto keepaway.40
Withinthe sphereof the owner'ssensualreach,the visitorsleave
personsand terrestrialmarkerswithhis permissionor whenthey"halt"
to listenfor his song;4lindividualsleft at a placeproceedno furtherbu-t
38. Spencerand Gillen, The Native T7*ibes of CentralAustralia, pp. 431-32. The estimate
of the gap'sdistancefrom their firsthalt is mine, based on informationin ibid., p. 425. For
other Aboriginalnotions connectingsinging and controlover distance,see especiallyJohn
von Sturmer,"AboriginalSingingand Notionsof Power,"in Songsof AboriginalAustralia,ed.
M. CluniesRoss,T. Donaldson,and S. Wild (Sydney,1987).
39. This kind of boundary-makingpower through sensualreach outwardfrom a fixed
positioncan be found, for instance,in partsof SouthAsiain connectionwith the imagesof
deities fixed in temples or shrine houses whose eyesight can wield extended boundary-
makingforce. David Scottdiscussesthe narrativeof one such Sinhaladeity.Standinghigh
in its shrinehouse, its vision"stretchingout over the ocean, [it]formeda steadfast,transpar-
ent wall,a sort of beam of eye energy,preventingthe trespassof the colonialinvaders"who
could not crossits line of sight (DavidScott,Formationsof Ritusl: Colonialand Anthropological
Discourseson the Sinhala "Yaktovil"[Minneapolis,1994], p. 42).
40. Quoted in Darrell Lewis and Deborah Bird Rose, The Shape of the Dreaming:The
CulturalSignificanceof VictoriaRiver RockArt (Canberra,1988), p. 66. See also Spencerand
Gillen,TheNative Tribesof CentralAustralia, p. 431 n. 1.
41. Spencer and Gillen'saccountin The Native Tribesof CentralAustralia does not make
explicit the principle that leaving people behind implies leaving terrestrialmarks,which
are themselvesthe reembodimentsof actorsand their activities.

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458 NancyD. Munn AboriginalSpaces

areallowedto takeup residenceat a certaindistancefromthe gap,while,

finally,at the gapandbeyond,treesmarktheimposedlimitsandresiden-
tial instructionsdefinedfor the remaininggroup.Zonesof closenessto
the majorcenterarethusmappedon terrestrialspace,butobviouslythey
arenot simplydifferentiated regionsof space.Rather,theyobjectiffy con-
trolsand limitson the visitors'spatialfields,whichhave been defined
by the owner'svocalextension(thatis, the extent of his own activated
spatiosensual field).Hispowerprojectstheselimitsdirectlyon thebody's
mobility;onlythen can the bodyand its positionallimitsbe topographi-
callyfixed.
The treesat the gapdefinepointsafterwhichthe groupmusttravel
undergrounduntiltheyemergebeyondwhereothertreesvisiblyembody
them.Undergroundpassagesignifiesthattravellershaveno visiblepres-
encein a region(althoughtheircovertpassagemayleaveopenthe possi-
bilityof somefuturediscoveryof suchsignsin the area).It is asif, warned
by the ownerthat they had "noroom"insidethe gorge,the would-be
visitorsdetouredunderground,carvingout an excludedlocalein their
spatialfield.Butunlikethedetoursdiscussedearlier,in whichthebound-
arymarkerwasthe transientbodyitselfin the actof detouring,thisone
transposesthe corporealboundaryonto the land (at the pointsof the
beginningand end of the detour)givingit fixed, relativelyenduring
markers.
I turnnowto somemodernencounters,beginningwitha casefrom
the northerncoastalregion.42 The forceof the autochthonous powerex-
tendingfromthe centerappearsevenmoreclearlyin the recentaccount
of a Belyuenwoman:"Aboatloadof [non-Aboriginal] land claim re-
searchersand . . . AboriginesfromBelyuenand Darwin,"out on a map-
ping trip,wereattackedby a manifestation of the place'sancientowner,
a BlanketLizard;the Lizard's"'fingeremergedthat Dreaming's,she
moved ... toward... them ... [wanting]to drownthem, they were
frightened.[But]thatold [Belyuen]lady. . . talkedto the Dreamingnow,
and it submerged."'43
Sincethe Lizardrecognizesthewoman'sspeech,it "knows" herfrom
previouscasualvisits;and she in turnknowshowto behavetowardsthe
Lizard.44 Otherwiseit would"block" the visitors'passage.Belyuenpeople
may say,"No room there, 'im blocked."The blockagemust "shift,"to
"openup the road."45 Twokindsof spatiotemporal priorityandclaimare
shownto the landclaiminvestigators: thatof the autochthon"stillthere"
in the place- whocaneffectivelybareverybody's presence- and thatof
42. See above,n. 7.
43. Povinelli,Labor'sLot: The Power,Histowy,and Cultureof AboriginalAction (Chicago,
1993), pp. 44, 45.
44. See ibid., p. 46.
45. Povinelli,conversationwith author,1994.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1996 459

the Aboriginalvisitorwhoseclaimis basedon her own past presence,

resultingin theplace recognizingher.
WhethertheAboriginesfeltthattheywerewithinthe Lizard'sances-
tralplacewhenattackedremainsvague,but theywereclearlywithinits
powerambience.Indeed,the eventis reminiscentof widespread Aborigi-
nal notionsaboutrainbowsnakeswho, ordinarilycoiledunseeninside
theirwaterholes, angrilyrise up to attacktrespassers: "'Whenwe take
strangersor childrento a waterhole . . . for the firsttime,"'goes a story
fromBalgo,

"wetellthemto throwin a rockso the snakecan 'know'them.If the

snakedoesn'tknowsomeone,he might ... makethem ill. Or he
mightcome up . . . and makea whirlpoolto pull the strangerun-
der.... When he's angry ... a Dreamtimesnakeleaveshis water
hole [followedby a thunderstormas he travels].All thisis stillhere
today 46

Poweris conveyedby an upwardemergencefromthe centermuchas the

powerof the EmilyGapownerwasconveyedby his verbalcontrolof an
extendeddistance.47 Unlikea writtensign carryinginformationabout
laterfines for trespass,or a spatiallyfixed barriersuch as a fence, the
BelyuenLizardor the ubiquitousrainbowsnakeis simultaneously a mov-
ing barrier,the dangerousforceof the Law,and the place'sautochtho-
nouspowermanifestingitselfas it movesout fromthe center.
This kindof boundarymakingsuggestsde Certeau'snotionof "the
mouthpieceof the limit,"whichemergesas a region'sembodimentin an
aggressivenarrativeagent:"'Stop,'saysthe forestthe wolfcomesout of.
'Stop!'saysthe river,revealingits crocodile."But the Aboriginalautoch-
thon does not emergebeyondthe "frontier" of its domain(the riveror
trees)and thus"establish a border. . . by sayingwhatcrossesit"(asdoes
de Certeau's"mouthpiece");48 rather,he or she comesup or out froma
centerwithouttopographicfrontiers.49 Onlya transientinteractionmo-
mentarilygivesvisibleexperientialformto the place'senduringcharac-

46. GracieGreene,Joe Tramachi,and LucilleGill,TjaranyRoughtail:TheDreamingof the

RoughtailLizardand OtherStoriesToldby the Kukatja(Broome, 1993), pp. 26, 29. Warlpiriac-
counts of the rainbowsnakerising up in the storm, which were given to me in verbaland
visualform in the 1950s, were both descriptionsof the way rain emergesfrom the ground
and stormsacrossthe country,and narrativesof particularancestralevents.
47. "Comingout/up going in/underneath"is a general patternof movemententail-
ing change into a visibleform (emergence)and converselyinto invisibility(submergence);
comparethe Arandacase above.
48. De Certeau,ThePracticeof EverydayLife, p. 127.
49. The autochthondoes move, however,from the domainof inside/underneathto the
outside/above;this is the "crossing"that makes the difference in Aboriginalterms, since
through it the autochthonbecomesvisible.

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460 NancyD. Munn Aboriginal
Spaces

ter as a bounded, inhabitedpropertyirrespective of anyspatiallyfixed

boundaries. The property'sboundednesscanthusbe apprehendedwher-
everthe particularlocationof the interactionoccurs.
Someencountersalsoinvolveinfringementon the topographiccen-
ters wherepoweris alwaysmanifest.Forinstance,a Warlpiriman told
Glowczewski thathisson hadoncemistakenly touchedthe "petrified ver-
tebrae"of an ancestor.The boy was unharmedonly becausehis body
containedthe ancestor'smarkingsand essence(thatis, he belongedto
the samepatrilinealline).50In thisencounter,antecedentbodilyidentifi-
cationsbetweenthe placeand the childabrogatedthe boundaryjust as
the Belyuenwoman'sinteriorizedknowledgegainedfromherpriorpres-
ence at the BlanketLizard'splacesavedthe landclaimgroup.
"Toface danger"- FranzSteinersaidin his studyof taboo "isto
faceanotherpower.''5l The lizard'semergenceis a signof thisotherness
affectingthe group.In CharlesS. Peirce'sterms,it "addresses somebody,"
creatingan "interpretant"- a respondingsign in the mindsof the visi-
tors.52Butit is alsoa mediumof forcehavingwhatPeircecallsthe prop-
ertyof"secondness" a strikingeventfelt to be occurringout therein
the Aborigines'surroundingworld;as such,it createsthe experienceof
"compulsion,[an]absoluteconstraint" requiringparticipants to modify
theiractionto takeaccountof thisexternalagency.53 Thiscombination of
communication andforcecharacterizes the Aboriginalsenseof country.
It is not veryfarfromthe Belyuenencounterwitha mobilemanifes-
tationof placeto encountersin whichthe excludedlocalechangesbe-
causethe endangeringlocalcenterof the Lawis temporarily definedby
referenceto a mobile ratherthana fixedtopographiccenter.In the con-
text I discusshere, the spaceswheresome people have "noroom"are
themselvesin transit.
ConsiderAboriginal regulationsof motortravelalongNorthernTer-
ritoryroadsin Aboriginally heldlandwestof AliceSprings.Duringjour-
neysfor men'sor women'sceremonies-called"Business" inAboriginal
English- someof theseroadsmaybe restrictedbecauseof possibleen-
counterswithBusinesstravellers.54
The truckcarryingthe key peoplein a ritualperformancemaybe
calledthe "'Law'truck."55 It is, so to speak,the "Law-on-wheels," car-
50. Glowczewski,LesRe^veurs dude'sert,
p. 43.
51. FranzSteiner,Taboo(London, 1956),p. 146.
52. Charles S. Peirce, Philosophical
Writingsof Peirce,ed. Justus Buchler (New York,
1955), pp. 99, 100.
53. Ibid., p. 89.
54. See Elspeth Young, "Continuiteet changementdans la mobilitedes Aborigenes:
Les Warlpiridu desert central australien,"ISEspace geographique12 (an.-Mar. 1983): 42,
and Youngand Kim Doohan,Mobility for Survival:A Process
Analysisof Aboriginal
Population
Movement in CentralAustralia(Darwin, 1989), pp. 92-95. See also ChristopherAnderson,
conversationwith author,1992.
55. Youngand Doohan,Mobility for Survival,p. 99.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1996
461
ryingthe powercenterof authoritybetweenplaces.This truckmustal-
waysgo aheadof anyothertravellersto the ceremony.Otherpeoplehave
"noroom"whenit is on the road- the truckmust"gofirst";56 its entou-
rage musttravelbehindor comelater.The truckthus becomesthe or-
ganizingcenterfortheroadspace"upahead"of andbehindit.Travellers
unconnectedwiththe entourageare excludedfromtheseselectedroads
and sometimesavoidthemfor manydaysin fearof encounters.57
In thisway,the ancestralLaw'spowerof spatiallimitationon move-
mentbecomesdirectlyembodiedin a centeredmobilefield apartfrom
anyfixed,enduringcenter.Asit travelsalong,the truckdefinesdifferent
excludedregionsin its immediatevicinityat any givenmoment.These
exclusionsin turnenjoinspatialdetoursandtemporaldelaysforpeoples'
ownjourneysthatkeepthemoffanyroadsin the entiretrajectory during
the expectedtimeof the truck'stravel.In thisrespect, the power ambi-
ence of the truckextendsbeyondits immediatemovingfieldat a given
moment,affectingthe whole projectedroute, its wider ambienceof
power.Sincetravellingforvariedreasonsis a majorpartof contemporary
Aboriginallife,and the availabilityof vehicleshasincreasedthe abilityto
journeylong distances,major,collectivelyorganized"Business journeys"
can markedlyaffectwidelyseparatedAboriginalcommunities.
In organizingroutesof Businesstravel,the Aboriginaltownsand
settlementsinvolvedimplicitlydefinethe excludedspacesto whichthey
all becometemporarilysubject.Althoughroadsare relativelyenduring,
fixed,and boundedspaceswithmarkedterrestriallimits,the routeis a
temporarymobilefield organizedby referenceto this travellingpower
center.Sincethe truck'srouteputs commondelimitationson travelfor
the periodof its activation,it wouldseemthatpeoplein the affectedre-
gions,no matterhow distant wheretripsare delayedor detouredby
theseprohibitions are temporarily broughtintoan "imaginedcommu-
nity"(to use BenedictAnderson'sphrase)of common,excludedtravel
space,a unitaryspacetime.58
Despitethe regulations,wrongfulencountersmayoccur.If you en-
countergroupsof Aboriginalmen travellingto initiationsyou mustget
off the road,and "allwomen[in the vehiclemust]hit the floor";failure
to conformcaninvokequiteseverepenaltiesforbothmenandwomen.59
In such an encounter,the Law truckboth delimitsthe spacethat the

56. Laughren,conversationwith author,1992.

57. See Youngand Doohan,Mobilif;yfor Survival,p. 94.
58. Accordingto Young and Doohan, communitiescarry out "lengthynegotiations
over the trackswhich can be used . . . [takinginto account] the dreaming tracksof the
[relevant]ancestralbeings, as well as . . . existing roads and . . . [road]usage"(Youngand
Doohan,Mobilif;yforSurvival,p. 93). The authorsalso give a specificcase of the coordination
of a number of desert Aboriginalcommunitiesinvolved in a long-distanceBusiness trip
of 1982-83.
59. Langton,conversationwith author,1992.

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462 NancyD. Munn AboriginalSpaces

othervehicleanditstravellerscanoccupyandconstrainsthebody'sverti-
calityand extendedsensualfields(specifically, the vision)of the women.
Carryingthe powerof boundarymakingwithit, the Lawprojectstempo-
rarymobilesignifiersof its delimitingpowersonto the spatiocorporeal
fieldsof others.Insteadof creatinga distance,as in a detour,bodilycom-
portmentcutsoff vision.The bodybecomesits ownbarrier,shapedinto
an iconof limitation,thatis, of the limitsof its ownspatialfield.
This formof boundarycan operatein conjunctionwithzoneddis-
tancingwhen,for example,Warlpiriwomenare legitimatelypresenton
men'sritualgroundsduringperformancesof ancestralevents.In one
instancein myexperiencefromthe 1950s,womensatbehinda lowbrush
windbreakon the othersideof whichmen satsinging.The brushshade
markeddifferentialzonesof distancingfromthe powercenterof the per-
formance.(Thiszoningis comparableto thatcreatedby the visitors'dif-
ferentialaccessto and exclusionsfromthe powercenterof EmilyGap,
whichwe saw earlier.)At certainmoments,men told womento lie or
crouchdown under blanketsso as to see nothingat all. The women's
spatiocorporeal fieldwasthuscut off at differentzonesof extension.Ini-
tiallybarredin partby the brushshadea littlein frontof them,it was
whollyblockedat the immediatelimitsof theirbodieswhen they were
coveredwithblankets.In this moment,theirconstrained,covered,and
terrestriallybounded spatialfields appear as definitiveicons of"no
room."
To summarize,Aboriginal"excludedspaces"can be understoodas
particularspatiotemporal formationsproducedout of the interactionof
actors'movingspatialfieldsand the terrestrialspacesor basesof bodily
action.Fromthisperspective,the analyticproblemof spatialboundaries
cannotautomatically referto limitsmarkedout on piecesof land (or in
architectural forms);nor can bodilyboundariesbe dealt with as body
surfacesapartfromthe body'sspatiality, actions,and locatedness.
Wehaveseen thatwithintheseinteractions, differentkindsof what
mightbe called"transposabilities" emergebetweenAboriginallocalesof
powerandthe mobile,spatialfieldsof actors.60 In differentways,andfor
variabletimespans,Aboriginal powerplacesandtheimmobilized powers
in the topographyswitchover or are transposedinto actorsand their
mobilespatialfields.So, for instance,the BelyuenLizardis rousedinto
motion;or the powerof Lawfixed in the countrybecomesa moving
space- a Lawtruckwithits travellers.Conversely, actorsare transposed
into fixed localesand terrestrialforms(aswhen the spatialfieldsof an-
cientactorsbecomenamedtopographies).
Furthermore, althoughI havebeenunableto discussit here,a well-
60. Technicaluse of this termis madeby linguists.Myown usage is somewhatdifferent,
but not unrelated.See John Haviland,"Projections,Transpositions,and Relativity," Cogni-
tive AnthropologyResearchGroup,workingpaper no. 3 (Nijmegen,Oct. 1991), and also
Hanks,ReferentialPractice, for a discussionof transpositionalprocessesin Mayanritual.

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 CriticalInquiry Springl 996 463

knownaspectof Aboriginalpracticesallowsancienttopographicfeatures
to be detachedfromfixedlocationsand reproducedin iconographicde-
signs,whichcan then be mobilizedfor varyingtime spansas aspectsof
persons,objects,or other spaces.Thus topographies(in their icono-
graphicform)can be transposedonto actors'bodies(throughpainting)
andontodifferentterrestrialspaces(asin groundpaintingsor drawings).
Similarly,some people may be prohibitedfrom seeing these painted
forms;theymustturnawayfromthemor keepa distancefromthe loca-
tionsof theirtemporaryembodiments.6l In otherwords,transposability
opensup variousspatiotemporal channelsbetweenpersonsand terres-
trialspace,and along these channelsthe powerof the AboriginalLaw
circulates,creatingmultiplespacesand timespansof exclusion.
haveverydifferentbasesand purposes
Of course,transposabilities
and takemultiple,variedformsin differentsocietiesand socialcontexts.
Beforeconcluding,I wantto pointbeyondthisessayto its implicit,com-
parativeconcernsby drawingattentionto a familiarWesterncontext
where transposabilitiesof another kind are crucial.My example is
Olmstedand Vaux's1850sdesignfor New York'sCentralPark,a mid-
nineteenth-century Americanvariantof thosemuchwritten-about "land-
scape"practicesto whichJohn DixonHunt's"figurein the landscape"
refers.62
In Olmstedand Vaux'sconstructionof the parkone can findtrans-
positional"switchpoints"betweenpersonsand terrestrialspace.Forin-
stance,workingfromthe basicculturalassumptionsof these landscape
practices,the architectsplotted"scenes"(whichtheyalsocalledviewsor
pictures)into the land. Their scenesor viewshad variable(sometimes
crosscutting,sometimesmore or less coincident)relationsto the park's
moreoverttopographicorganization into namedplaces,but the scenes
constituteda differentkindand levelof spatialorganization.Unlikethe
namedplaces,theywereformulatedin termsof the mobilespatiosensual
fieldsof actors.The architectsdesignedsuchviewsby consideringhow
the topographylooked(andhowtheywantedit to look)fromthevantage
pointof a situatedobserver,thatis, by assuminga viewer,a parkvisitor,
fromwhomthe scenestretchedout as his or her spatiosensual field.For
instance,land nearone of the majorgateswasdesignedand materially
constructedin a waythatwasto drawthe "visitor's eye"to "anunbroken
61. For additionalcharacteristictypes of Aboriginaltranspositions,see relevantcom-
mentarieson conception,birthmarks,and related notions in Munn, "The Transformation
of Subjectsinto Objectsin Walbiriand Pitjantjatjara Myth."
62. For Olmstedand Vaux'splan, see especiallyFrederickLaw Olmsted,CreatingCen-
tral Park: 1857-1861, vol. 3 of The Papersof FrederickLaw Olmsted,ed. CharlesE. Beveridge
and David Schuyler(Baltimore,1983). The commentsare adapted from my own analysis
in a workingpaper,part of a largerworkin progress.See Munn, "Creatinga Heterotopia:
An Analysisof the Spacetimeof Olmsted'sand Vaux'sCentralPark,"unpublishedworking
paper preparedfor a conferenceon "Place,Expression,and Experience,"Schoolof Ameri-
can Research,Mar.1993.

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464 NancyD. Munn AboriginalSpaces

meadow... [so that]the observer,restingfor a momentto enjoy the

scene . . . cannotbut hope for stillgreaterspacethan is obviousbefore
him."63In fact, the architectsthemselvesare the prototypiccreator-
viewers the firstobservers-who are embeddingtheirown "views"or
spatiosensual fieldsin the landscape.By this designpracticeof viewing
and materiallyreconstructing the landin accordwiththe desiredviews,
they projectthemselvesinto the land in the form of objectifications of
theirownspatialfields.
Thus,throughscenicconstruction, the parklandwasinvestedwitha
categoryof actor(a visitor-viewer) to be repetitivelyactualizedby future
visitors.In this sense,the land itselfwasbeing transposedinto present
and futuresubject-centered fields.Moreover,visitorswere to be drawn
intothe parkand affectedby the "poetic"influenceof certainqualitiesof
the scenes;thesequalitieshad the powerto act on peoples'innerstates
of beingor mind,and so makelife "healthierand happier"in the city.64
Spatialqualities,suchas openness,or diffuseexpressivequalities,suchas
tranquility(bothstandardcomponentsof the topographicaestheticsof
the landscapetradition),wereto be builtinto the scenictopography;for
instance,open spaceis made availableto experiencein the "unbroken
meadow"notedabove.Tranquility can mosteasilyillustratethe sortsof
transpositions betweenpersonsand localesthese qualitiesengendered.
Forif the parklandwasto "presentan aspectof . . . tranquility," tranquil-
ity wasalso takenas a desiredsubjectivestatethatcouldinfusepersons
presentin theselocales.65 The potencyof the landscapewasthusconcen-
tratedin transposablequalitiesthat could shiftfrom its visiblesurfaces
into the innerbeingsof actors.
It shouldthen be evidentthat parkscenesand their qualitiesare
spatialfulcraof transposabilities betweenthe bodilypersonsof actors(or
mobilespatiosensual fields)andterrestrialspace.In thisrespect,theycan
be comparedwiththe ancestral,centeredplacesof Aborigines,although
theyobviouslyoperatein fundamentally differentways.Indeed,the dif-
ferencesbetweenthem are instructivein understandingthe distinctive
spatiotemporal formsinvolved;but theseissueslie outsidemy argument
here.
The presentessayhasarguedagainstcertaincommonplace assump-
63. Quoted in Olmsted, CreatingCentralPark,pp. 183-84 n. 19, from Olmsted and
Vaux'scommentsabout the CentralParkdesign in their report on ProspectPark,1866.
64. Olmsted, "Superintendantof Central Park to Gardeners,"Frederick Law Olmsted:
Landscape Architect,
1822-1903, ed. FrederickLaw Olmsted,Jr., and Theodora Kimball,2
vols. in 1 (1922: New York,1970),2:356. In this 1870sdirectiveto parkgardeners,Olmsted
states:"The characterof. . . [the park landscape's]influence [on visitors]is a poetic one
and it is to be producedby means of scenes"(ibid.).
65. Olmsted, "Descriptionof the CentralPark,"CreatingCentralPark,p. 212. See also
Olmstedand Vaux'sremarkson the "tranquilizing" effectsof pastorallandscapesfrom their
report on ProspectParkcited in Beveridge, "FrederickLaw Olmsted'sTheory on Land-
scape Design,"Nineteenth Century3 (Summer1977):38.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1996 465

tionsaboutspace,boundaries,and time.That spaceis staticand to be

contrastedwiththe dynamismof time;thatspatialboundariesarealways
fixed,relativelyenduringformsmarkedoffon the groundmayseemself-
evidentto some,but, as Jamesonhas put it, "theself-evidentdrawsits
force from hostsof buriedpresuppositions."66 Thus, if we understand
spacesimplyas referringto culturallymeaningfulterrestrialplacesor
regions,we disarticulatethe dynamicrelationsbetweenspatialregions
and movingspatialfields.This sort of reificationin turn dissolvesthe
integrityof spaceand time, for it extractsfrom the analyticmodel the
centeringsubject the spatiallyand temporallysituatedactor- through
whomand in whoseexperiencethe integrityof spaceand timeemerges.
Whatwe need, then, is a paradigmthat worksagainstabstractingthe
problemof spacefromthatof the bodyandaction,andagainstthe oppo-
sitionalseparationof spaceand time.To counteracttheseobjectivistdis-
tinctions,I have consideredAboriginalpracticesof spatialexclusionin
termsthatcoordinateelementsof space,time,andbodilyactionwithina
short,I haveattemptedto keep
singleparadigmof changingrelations.---In
intactwhatBakhtincallsthe "concretearchitectonic" of the livedworld.fi7

66. Fredric Jameson, Marxismand Form:Twentieth-Century Dialectical Theoriesof Literature

(Princeton, NJ., 1971), p. 308.
67. See Mikhail M. Bakhtin, Towarda Philosophyof the Act, trans. Vadim Liapunov, ed.
Michael Holquist and Liapunov (Austin, Tex., 1993).

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