Place, Personhood and Marginalization: Ontology and Community in Remote Desert Australia.

Aboriginal Australians living in remote desert communities, usually far from centres of mainstream economic activity and employment, show little inclination to leave them for economic opportunities elsewhere. Some have argued that the tie is based on the ontological significance of place, while others have emphasized marginalization brought about by past government policies. In this article I question both of these views and suggest that emplacement is grounded in the centrality of the relational ontology and the need to live within a dense network of sociality. This raises the issue of whether there are desirable forms of long-term dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Les Aborígenes d'Australie qui vivent dans des communautés isolées du desert, genéralement éloignées des centres dominants d'activite économique et d'emploi, se montrent peu enclins à les quitter à la recherche d'opportunités économiques. Selon certains, l'attachement aux communautés se base sur la signification ontologique du lieu. D'autres ont mis l'accent sur la marginalisation provoquéee par les politiques gouvernementales passees. Dans cet article, je questionne ces deux propositions et suggeàre que l'importance de l'emplacement est plutôt fondée sur la centralité de l'ontologie relationnelle et le besoin de vivre dans un réseau dense de socialite. Ce qui souleàve la question de savoir s'il y a des formes souhaitables de deépendance aà long terme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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