A campaign was launched sometime ago to stop the
circulation of a book entitled "Mutant Message Down Under". According
to the campaign, it is a book that falsely presents a supposed
experience with an aboriginal community in Australia. The publisher
labels it fiction, but the author insists that it is based on real
experience.
The book has reportedly gained commercial success as it came out as
one of the top sellers in America and Europe for some time. The
author has reportedly been doing a series of lectures in both
continents.
The author, an American woman, wrote about the secret ceremonies of a
supposed "Real People" tribe which anointed her as the mutant carrier
of the message of the tribe to the rest of humankind. She narrated
the experience of travelling with this group over a vast expanse of
desert for 120 days and witnessing many sacred practices that are not
meant to be known to a non-tribe member.
But groups of aboriginal people in Australia cried foul. They believe
that they as indigenous people have been used as fodder for someone
else's commercial interest. It reminds them of the way their culture
has been appropriated for purposes of tourism and even arts by
non-aboriginal people.
An Australian aboriginal group (Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation)
launched a consultation process among various aboriginal communities
in many parts of Australia in 1995 to find out how they react to the
publication. The consultation also aimed to find out if the author
has indeed taken the journey in areas she mentions in the book. The
reactions are almost uniform in condemning the author for
misrepresenting the aboriginal cultural practices and values, and
making so much profit out of it.
They point out that the book should be faulted on the following
grounds:
Of primary concern to the aboriginal communities involved is the
wrong projection of their culture before non-aboriginal people. This
is feared for its long-term implications that will "... compound
alienation through cynicism towards our children."
This brings out the crux of the matter. People who demonize others
may gain benefit from it but the adverse impact is lodged with those
who are so demonized. In the case of the aboriginal people, their
children may suffer the consequences of some other person's actions,
who is not one of their own and who ostensibly has no relations to
them. Any misrepresentation of a people's identity is liable to bring
them harm and affect their rights.
The case of "Mutant Message Down Under" is illustrating how indigenous peoples are so vulnerable to unauthorized and incorrect representation of their communities by non-indigenous people. Consequently the rights of these people are compromised through no fault of their own.
How many cases of this sort have happened, and will happen, all in the name of the indigenous peoples?
Bounuh Wongee (Message Stick), A Report on Mutant Message
Down
Under, Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation, Waterford, Western
Australia.