Ritual and the central Australian gender debate

This paper addresses certain issues in the gender debate that have arisen in relation to the practise of joint female and male ritual in Central Australia. It is based on field research conducted in the Aboriginal community of Mount Liebig (Amunturrngu). Prominent Central Australian ethnographers Hamilton, Bell, and Myers have argued that the daily pattern of female and male "segregation" is also manifested in ritual. Hamilton and Bell, as feminist anthropologists, have examined this segregation in terms of its enabling women to maintain their practical and ideological independence and autonomy from men. I argue that this emphasis on gendered domains disguises the reality of the social and ritual life of the community as a joint production; that the construction of dichotomies does not lead to an understanding of difference and mutuality. Through an examination of the popular jointly performed public rituals of inma kuwaritja (new ritual) I have found that gender divisions are muted, and shared ideologies are fostered. The popularity of this ritual form is reflective of change, in the post-colonisation context, yet such ritual innovation is a classically traditional feature of religious life in the region.