Uso de la aplicación

Most  kigay  receive  government  welfare  payments  or  Community  Development   Employment  payments.  This  provides  a  fortnightly  income  of  $270  cash  and  a   further  $270  that  can  only  be  spent  using  the  “Basics  card”  to  purchase  food  and   other  groceries  from  the  town  shop  and  takeaway  (Toohey,  2008).  The  cash   element  seems  to  be  spent  and  distributed  almost  straight  away  on  items  from   the  Wadeye  shop,  demands  for  cash  from  kin,  and  on  marijuana,  which  is  also   shared  among  kin.  This  may  sound  like  a  lot  to  spend  straight  away,  but  it  must   be  appreciated  that  basic  goods  are  very  expensive  at  Wadeye,  and  marijuana  is   extremely  expensive  (§3.4).  Once  a  year  a  larger  payment  is  received  for  child   support,  which  facilitates  the  purchase  of  larger  items  like  cars  and  whitegoods   (Notes,  2013-­‐06).  

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Kigay  are  not  the  heads  of  households,  but  rather  live  with  parents  or  other  older   kin,  and  in  many  cases  have  quite  fluid  living  arrangements,  sleeping  and  eating   in  a  range  of  houses.  Evidence  for  this  is  found  in  conversational  recordings:  

DP:     Nanku-­‐ka  ngarra  narnamkapup,  ngamimarda?  

You  two  brothers,  where  are  you  going  to  sleep,  on  the  other  side  (at   Manthatjpe)?  

PP:     Aa  ngamimarda  …    ba  Shuni  nganiwitnu  ne?  

  Maybe  on  the  other  side  …  or  maybe  I'll  sleep  at  Shaunie’s,  eh?  

(DP/PP,  2011-­‐09-­‐01b)    

If  welfare  payments  are  quickly  exhausted  by  those  kin  who  make  the  most   insistent  demands,  and  especially  on  providing  marijuana  for  kigay,  this  leaves   little  for  household  expenses.  One  kigay  by  his  own  estimate  reports  that  he   sometimes  gives  his  mother  $30–40  from  payment  to  help  with  the  purchase  of   food,  electricity  etc.,  but  sometimes  gives  nothing,  for  which  he  berates  himself   as  pelpitj  wiye  “stupid,  thoughtless”  (Notes,  2011-­‐08).    

In  general  the  balance  of  monetary  demands,  locally  known  in  English  as   “humbugging”  or  in  MP  as  ampak,  seems  unevenly  balanced  towards  kigay  as   demanders  rather  than  providers.  Older  people  complain  to  me  that  they  have  to   hide  their  money  and  possessions  to  keep  them  away  from  kigay  (Notes,  2013-­‐ 01).  At  a  town  meeting  debating  the  “Basics  Card”  welfare  scheme,  which  was   designed  to  help  women  especially  resist  demands  for  cash,  various  men  spoke   against  the  scheme  as  an  imposition  on  their  independence.  But  an  elderly   woman  got  up  to  speak  in  favour  of  it,  complaining  that  her  kigay  kin  threaten   her  if  she  does  not  meet  their  demands  (Notes,  2011-­‐07).  

2.4  “Wives”  and  children  

Most  kigay  beyond  the  age  of  about  18–20  are  fathers,  and  in  many  cases  have   permanent  relationships  with  the  mothers  of  their  children.  In  MP  such  a   relationship  is  labelled  palngun  ngay,  literally  “my  woman”,  and  it  might  almost   be  translated  as  “my  wife”,  except  that  kigay  generally  do  not  marry  in  any   formal  sense.  The  traditional  marriage  system  of  the  region  is  extensively   documented  by  the  Falkenbergs  (1981,  but  based  on  1950  fieldwork),  and  was   an  overtly  economic  arrangement  between  the  suitor  and  the  bride’s  parents.   The  gifts  and  services  required  as  a  bride-­‐price  were  such  that  it  was  older  men   commanding  resources  and  political  power  who  took  most  of  the  brides,  in  some   cases  many  brides  accruing  to  one  man  (pp.  61–67).  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the   missionaries  was  to  prohibit  arranged  marriages  (A.  Falkenberg  &  J.  Falkenberg,   1981,  p.  65;  Pye,  1972),  but  rather  than  ending  the  practice  altogether,  the  result   seems  to  have  been  that  it  has  become  invisible  to  whitefellas.  There  are  still   arranged  marriages,  but  these  are  not  talked  about  openly,  and  are  not   sanctioned  by  the  Church  or  the  Australian  government.  I  do  not  know  how   many  arranged  marriages  take  place  now,  though  none  that  I  have  heard  of   involve  kigay  as  the  husband.  Neither  is  the  topic  spoken  of  openly  enough  to   give  a  clear  idea  of  local  opinions  on  the  matter,  though  some  people  have  

mentioned  it  to  me  disapprovingly  (Notes,  2013-­‐06).  The  missionaries’  plan  was   to  replace  arranged  marriages  with  monogamous,  Church-­‐sanctioned  “love   marriages”  between  young  adults  of  similar  age,  and  the  Marriage  Register  still   maintained  at  the  Presbytery  shows  that  this  practice  was  widespread  during   the  Mission.  However  Christian  marriages  tail  off  sharply  after  the  end  of  the   Mission  in  1975,  and  are  now  quite  rare.  

One  consequence  of  kigay  forming  relationships  outside  of  any  institutionalized   marriage  system  is  the  loosening  of  adherence  to  the  kin-­‐based  rules  of  partner   selection.  Ideally  a  wife  should  be  of  the  purrima  category  (MoMoBrDaDa)   (Blythe,  forthcoming;  A.  Falkenberg  &  J.  Falkenberg,  1981,  p.  34),  with  some   structurally  similar  categories  also  allowable.  But  the  Falkenbergs  also  report   that  alongside  the  sanctioned  marriage  relationships,  there  have  always  been  

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“clandestine”  sexual  relations  between  partners  with  all  manner  of  less   acceptable  kin  relationships  (p.  81).  The  sexual  relationships  engaged  by  

contemporary  kigay  may  be  seen  as  a  continuation  of  this  clandestine  tradition,   with  spontaneous  attraction  perhaps  only  partly  constrained  by  classificatory   kinship  taboos.  Kigay  have  told  me  of  sexual  relations  they  have  with  women  in   unsanctioned  kin  relationships  (Notes,  2011-­‐09).  But–  to  be  clear  –  these  involve   breaking  classificatory  kin  taboos,  not  actual  incest.  The  “any  way”  coupling  of   kigay  and  mardinypuy  “young  women”  is  another  topic  that  features  in  older   peoples’  complaints  about  the  younger  generation  (SL,  2011-­‐09-­‐21).    

In  summary,  most  kigay  are  sexually  active  and  are  the  genitors  of  children,  but   have  limited  social  recognition  as  husbands,  and  perhaps  only  a  minor  role  as   fathers.  If  a  kigay  forms  a  relationship  with  a  woman  and  children  are  born,  he   has  neither  the  financial  resources  nor  the  housing  available  that  would  enable   him  to  establish  a  new  household.  In  many  cases  the  relationship  between  a   kigay  and  his  children’s  mother  breaks  down  (often  accompanied  by  incidents  of   violence  against  the  mother8_{),  and  the  kigay  may  have  very  little  role  as  a  carer}  

for  the  children.  But  there  are  also  kigay  who  do  frequently  visit  their  palngun   and  children,  and  in  some  cases  kigay  live  primarily  with  their  palngun,  joining   their  households.  However  I  do  not  know  of  any  cases  where  a  kigay’s  palngun   and  children  join  his  household.  In  general  women  have  more  stable  living   arrangements,  and  men  are  more  mobile.  

Since  kigay  do  not  set  up  their  own  households  (even  after  having  children),  and   have  quite  loose  attachments  to  the  multiple  households  in  which  they  eat  and   sleep,  we  might  say  that  their  primary  social  attachments  are  not  to  the  

household,  but  to  their  peers.  Kigay  are  not  closely  controlled  by  older  relatives,   neither  do  they  act  as  the  main  carers  for  younger  relatives.  Most  of  their  time  is   spent  “hanging  out”  with  other  kigay,  forming  the  basis  for  a  subversive  youth   culture  as  discussed  in  §3.2.  

8  _{When  I  explained  to  one  of  my  kigay  friends  that  my  own  relationship  had  broken  down,  his}   first  question  was  whether  I  had  a  restraining  order  (Notes,  2012-­‐07).