Postcolonial Primitivists: Heritage Defence

Growing numbers of youth are disenchanted with the parent culture's predaciousness. They challenge neo-classical scientific interpretations of nature which seek to snuff out its mystery and indeterminacy, which generate 'a global ontology of detachment' (Ingold 1993:41). They object to monotheistic religions deferring responsibility to transcendent creators. They dispute neo-colonialist infringements upon sites of cultural significance. In response to what has been regarded as 'a spiritual crisis' implicit in the way 'Western religious assumptions have divided humans from other creatures and ... the natural world from the divine realm' (Taylor 1993:226), a milieu of localised identification and action has arisen, a culture variously committed to the defence of the rights of native ecology and peoples, of natural and cultural heritage. The defence of indigeneity draws upon the Earth conscious confrontationalism of radical ecology, the eco-spiritual proclivities of Neo-Paganism, and displays solidarity with the native title movement.

This movement expresses a desire for re-enchantment, a (re)attachment to the 'natural' (including 'natural' healing and immediate, 'natural' sociality). The 'real business' of feral eco-radicalism is not simply being, but going, wild. It involves a voluntary traversing of the borders of Culture (cultivated, predictable, bound) and thereby, becoming 'closer to Nature' (uncontrollable, animal-like, wild). Though a threat to both propriety and property (St John 2000), this process is highly desirable - ultimately rewarding. Principally, the Culture/Nature transgression is one of reconciliation. Human improvement is the result of a re-place-ment, an implied 'return'. This point is taken up briefly by Bey (1991a:137) proposing that the TAZ 'involves a kind of ferality, a growth from tameness to wild(er)ness, a "return" which is also a step forward'. Approximating 'nature' provides the foundations for a (re)turn to authenticity. Though this quest may reveal signs of neo-primitivism,17 the temptation to categorical reduction and excoriation should be avoided.

The process of return evidences transition from ontological detachment to an eco-conscious lifestyle and identity. Take Bandicoot, who has mounted tree-sits in the threatened Goolengook Forest north of Orbost since 1997. Raised in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, Bandicoot eventually worked nine-to-five as a building hardware salesman. His recollections are that of inherent detachment:

My life took me away from the earth. It put me into a four bedroom house, it fed me. You know, meat and three vegetables every night. Showed me a TV. Taught me how to live and how to protect myself ... to put a roof over my head, and a doona around me. And I wasn't exposed to the outside. And when we did it was in a car, you know, and in a cabin.

Yet, with a 'desire to understand more about the earth', Bandicoot shed his suit, grew dreadlocks and gravitated towards the rainforests of East Gippsland. 'Out there', he reveals somewhat skittishly, he found 'something magical', a 'specialness'. And, with a realisation that we are 'of the earth', he has become ensconced in the forest's defence. Bandicoot's nascent eco-activism sees him travelling between forest and city on a regular basis to gather support.

Rationales for the identification with, and defence of, landscape prove rather sophisticated, sometimes contradictory. This is the case as 'wild' landscape and 'Aboriginaland' are variously imagined and invoked. On the one hand, many eco-rads express their desire to be 'at one with the wilderness' - meaning 'pristine', 'untouched' nature. Here, 'wild' landscape is valorised - local 'wilderness' is perceived to be a place of worship, a temple, its disciples privileged to an Australian 'wilderness experience'. 'Wilderness', associated with being lost, unruly, disordered and confused, is thus a powerful source of psychic re-creation. Others, however, recognise the limitations of this ill-fated concept, a recognition matching the growing acknowledgment of prior occupation by Aborigines and, therefore, of a 'humanised realm saturated with significations' (Stanner 1979 in Rose 1996:18). As Pearson (1995) and others (Salleh 1996; Rose 1996) have begun articulating, 'wilderness', or 'untouched' nature, simply 'reiterates the logic of terra nullius', ultimately serving the interests of bioprospectors. As Rose earlier remarked (1988:384), since 'Aboriginal people were everywhere', there is no true 'untouched' or 'pristine' country in Australia (cf. Morton and Smith 1997 for a relevant discussion). Today, knowledge of prior occupation and dispossession - our 'black history' - is superseding the blind invocation of 'wilderness'. This awareness confers emotive value upon a beleaguered landscape, elevating the commitment to its defence.

Yet attachment is very personal. Terra-ists of the nineties, many ferals dwell in forested regions where, for prolonged periods, they may form affinities with native biota. Strong attachment to place arises as a result of such 'dwelling in the land', such ecological 're-centring'. An eco-spiritualism can be traced back to at least the early eighties with John Martin's comments in the first edition of The Deep Ecologist (Martin 1982). A champion of the ideas of ecological anarchist and Buddhist-Animist Gary Snyder, Martin stated, '[w]e need to be For Nature! Let the inner voice out and let it speak in terms of committed action based on a deep awareness of the awesome plunder of the earth and the hurts we have to heal' (ibid:3). Extended periods in the bush often convince people of the interdependence and sacrality of all life, and personal ecosophies - akin to deep ecology or eco-feminism for instance - are thus founded and/or confirmed by experience. Australian radical ecologists assume a position not dissimilar to that of Earth First!ers who believe 'animals, including humans, are only authentic, only sacred, when undomesticated, living life wildly and spontaneously in harmony with, and when in defence of the natural world' (Taylor 1995b:102). Earth First!'s position is best conveyed by co-founder Dave Foreman, an advocate of bioregionalism: by 'reinhabiting a place, by dwelling in it, we become that place. We are of it. Our most fundamental duty is self-defense. We are the wilderness defending itself' (Foreman in Taylor 1994:204).

Yet, as postcolonial re-evaluations of nature transpire, it is increasingly an indigenised landscape that is valorised and defended. In eco-radical reconcilement with nature, we are perhaps witnessing a subterranean manifestation of the kind of redemptive strategies located in nationalist discourses (Lattas 1990; Morton 1996; Morton and Smith 1999). For instance, the didjeridu, an Aboriginal icon now widely embraced by alternates, is often perceived as 'a bridge to facilitate the journey of white Australians back to the land' and is thus an 'instrument of expiation' (Sherwood 1997:150). Their mutual ambivalence effecting an attractive partnership, common preference for dingo companionship amongst self-marginals also enhances an experience of reconcilement and (re)connectivity. Such an alliance signifies 'true' continental inhabitation. Yet, it must be remembered that ferals are also conscientious citizens of the planet. Indigenous to Gaia, and not especially sympathetic to nation building, it is to Earth that their loyalties ultimately lie.

Many venerate 'the old ways' of pre-Christian Europe, especially Celticism - to which most adherents may reasonably claim descent. Yet, an identification with various other indigenous peoples - their cosmologies, rituals and artefacts - has intensified. Amid feral argot, body-art and material culture, a customised ensemble of beliefs, architecture, musical instruments, dietary habits, cooking methods, medical knowledge, clothing and hair styling deriving from various indigenous peoples, is discernible. Apart from Native American Indians and Aborigines, other oppressed, 'heroic' peoples/religions like Jamaican Rastafari are valorised, and eastern traditions (e.g. Hindu, Buddhism, Tao), following beat and hippy pathfinders, continue to be mined for their personal spiritual value.

With respect to Australia's indigenes, according to the creator of the 'Rainbow Temple' near Lismore, ferals are 'strongly connected to the Dreamtime - Aboriginal dreaming' (Murray 1994:58). Indigenised landscapes are indeed sources of enchantment. For instance, Nimbin Rocks and Mt Warning ----- -reputed Bunjalung male ritual initiation sites - have become sacralised 'energy' sources or 'power spots' for many of the region's post-sixties settlers. According to Quenda, Mt Warning (or Wollumbin - Bunjalung for 'cloud catcher' or 'rain gatherer') is:

a really sacred mountain ... the first place of ritual, where ritual came to this planet ... It really crosses on a ley line there and it's very significant in terms of the whole planet ... I think Aye's Rock is like a crown chakra and Mt Warning is like a third eye.

Such discourse has drawn criticism in recent cultural commentary which endeavours to target and condemn instances of cultural appropriation (e.g. Cuthbert and Grossman 1996). While it is true that 'fashion ferals' are no strangers to essentialising and homogenising indigenes, even becoming ersatz Aborigines,18 as discussed in the following chapter commentary has tended to be selective and misleading. Though ferals may be our new chthonic others, this should not be interpreted as 'new autochthones', thereby effectively supplanting Aborigines in the 'search for lebensraum'. The Northern Rivers band Earth Reggae are enlisted to clarify my point. Their song 'Always Was Always Will Be' features the lines:

Ain't no mystery
What we're standing on
Always was, always will be
Aboriginaland. (written by A. Evans, from 'Indigina - Planet Magic' 1992)

The same CD features the track, 'Indigina', the chorus of which runs:

State what you are
And then stand tall and strong
For it's not to skin colour but to land
That we belong. (D. Mackenzie-Cochran)

Juxtaposed, the lyrics suggest that while acknowledgment of prior and continuing Aboriginal occupancy is never in doubt, conscientious Earth-orientated descendants of recent migrants too claim their human right to inhabit place. The message of Earth Reggae seems to be: 'while we respect the rights of First Peoples, this land is our place too'.

< BACK

NEXT >