User:Bruceanthro/Sandbox

=For Indigenous Intellectual Property article=

This 'sandbox' is currently being used to put together an early/initial article on 'indigenous intellectual property'.

The discussion page is used to compile references and information, and the first narrative version will be found here:

Indigenous intellectual property: is a legally inspired concept used in national and international forums to identify indigenous peoples' special rights to claim (from within their own laws) all that their group  knows now, has known, or will know. It is a concept that has developed out of a predominantly western legal tradition, and has most recently been promoted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, as part of a more general United Nations push to see the diverse wealth of this world's indigenous, intangible cultural heritage better valued and better protected against probable, ongoing misappropriation and misuse.

Declarations regarding Indigenous Intellectual Property
Over the two decades that it took for the above Declaration to be negotiate and agreed, a number of conferences of both indigenous and non-indigenous specialists were held at different places around the world, and a number of declarations to draw attention to, and define the full nature and extent of 'indigenous intellectual property'. Some of these declarations include:

(Belem,Brazil July 1988)
 * Declaration of Belem

A meeting of anthropologists, biologists, chemists, sociologists, and indigenous peoples at Belem (Brazil) first identified themselves collectively as 'ethnobiologists', then announced that (amongst other matters) since "Indigenous cultures around the world are being disrupted and destroyed.":

"'Mechanisms [ought to] be established by which indigenous specialists are recognized as proper Authorities and are consulted in all programs affecting them, their resources and their environment'"

"'Procedures must be developed to compensate native peoples for the utilization of their knowledge and their biological resources'"

* Kari-Oca Declaration (Brazil, May 1992; reaffirmed in Indonesia, June 2002)

Specific reference is made within this declaration and charter to the perceived abuse of indigenous people's intellectual and cultural properties. .

Under a heading,"Culture, Science and Intellectual Property", amongst other matters, it was explained and asserted:

:"'99. The usurping of traditional medicines and knowledge from Indigenous peoples should be considered a crime against peoples ..'"





* |Mataatua Declaration on Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous Peoples (June 1993)

On 18 June 1993, 150 delegates from fourteen countries, including indigenous representatives from Aiun (Japan), Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Panama, Peru, Phillipines, Surinam, USA and Aotearoa (New Zealand) meeting at Whakatane (Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand):

Affirmed indigenous peoples' knowledge is of benefit to all humanity; Recognised indigenous peoples are willing to offer their knowledge to all humanity provided their fundamental rights to define and control this knowledge is protected by the international community; Insisted the first beneficiaries of indigenous knowledge mustbethe direct indigenous descendants of such knowledge; Declared all forms of exploitation of Indigenous knowledge must cease.

Under Section 2 of this declaration: State, National and International Agencies are specifically asked to:

"2.1 Recognise that Indigenous peoples are the guardians of their customary knowledge and have the right to protect and control dissemination of that knowledge.'  "2.2  Recognisethat indigenous peoples also have the right to create new knowledge based on cultural traditon"  "2.3  Accept that the cultural and intellectual property rights of Indigenous peoples are vested with those who created them."  Usefully, this Declaration advises that an effective indigenous intellectual property rights regime should incorporate the following:  - collective (as well as individual) ownership and origin. - retroactive coverage of historical as well as contemporary works - protection against debasement of cultural significant items  - co-operative rather than competitive framework  - first beneficiaries to be the direct descendants of the traditional guardians of that knowledge - multi-generational coverage span

* Julayinbul Statement on Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights (Australia, November 1993)






 * "'..Indigenous Peoples and Nations .. declare that we .. are willing to share [our intellectual property] with all humanity provided that our fundamental rights to define and control this property are recognised by the international community..'"


 * "'Aboriginal intellectual property, within Aboriginal Common Law, is an inherent, inalienable right which cannot be terminated, extinguished, or taken .. Any use of the intellectual property of Aboriginal Nations and Peoples may only be done in accordance with Aboriginal Common Law, and any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited."

* Kimberley Declaration (August 2002)


 * "'Our traditional knowledge systems must be respected, promoted and protected; our collective intellectual property rights must be guaranteed and ensured. Our traditional knowledge is not in the public domain; it is collective, cultural and intellectual property protected under our customary law. Unauthorized use and misappropriation of traditional knowledge is theft'"

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples


At the United Nation's General Assembly's 61st session, in September 2007, an overwhelming majority of members resolved to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. With regard to the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples, the General Assembly first:




 * Recognized and reaffirmed "..indigenous individuals are entitled without discrimination to all human rights recognized in international law, and that indigenous peoples possess collective rights which are indispensable for their existence, well-being and integral development as peoples;"

Then "solemnly" proclaimed, as a standard for members to pursue:










 * "Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals..."







Brazil
In Brazil, Wolff68 (1998) describes Bioprospecting Law No.1235 of July, 1997 of the state of Acre and Law no.0388/97 of the state of Amapa. In the law of the State of Acre, bio-prospecting is allowed, subject to an access agreement between the State, the applicant for access and the furnisher of TK or the domesticated agricultural crop. The State will be represented by the Department of Environment of the State of Acre. The law also provides that, “no individual rights of intellectual property registered inside or outside the state which are universal knowledge held by local communities or which have been acquired without certificate of access and the state exit license will be recognized”. Draft Bill No.306/95, introduced by Senator Silva, deals with the recognition of the rights of indigenous persons to IP, arising from bio-prospecting activities. It was approved by the Brazilian Senate on November 4, 1998 and is currently under evaluation by the National Congress. The draft Bill creates a Commission for Genetic Resources and provides for fair compensation between an applicant, an access agency, the furnisher(s) of TK, and any other parties to the access contract. Article 36 of the draft Bill provides that a contribution would be made to a special fund from the compensation amount for strengthening conservation, research, and inventory of genetic resources. pg 52

India
Some developing country governments, for example, the Government of India, are already seeking to incorporate Farmers’ Rights into their plant variety laws. Page 23

Phillipines
in the Philippines, the National Commission on Indigenous People (Administrative Order No.1, 1998, Philippines)52 provides the following specific guidelines for The Protection and Promotion of Indigenous Systems and Practices (IKSPs):

Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) have the right to regulate the entry of researchers into their ancestral domains/lands or territories. Researchers, research institutions, institutions of learning, laboratories, their agents or representatives, and other like entities, shall secure the free and prior informed consent of ICCs and/or IPs before access to indigenous peoples and resources is allowed;

A written agreement shall be entered into with the relevant ICCs and/or IPs regarding the research, including its purpose, design and expected outputs;

All data provided by indigenous peoples shall be acknowledged in whatever writings, publications, or journals are produced as a result of the research. Relevant ICCs and IPs will be definitively named as sources in all such papers;

Copies of the outputs of all such researches shall be freely provided to the relevant ICCs and IPs; and

The relevant ICCs and IPs shall be entitled to royalties from the income derived from any of the research conducted, and any resulting publications. Gupta 2004: 46

GFDL Invariant Content
''This is just an experimental section, exploring a little the possibilities and potential of using GFDL invariant sections. part of licence .. in the manner outlined on the copyright page at the bottom of every document''.

GFDL invariant content in this article is listed in CAPITALS here:

eg:Special:Contributions/Bruceanthro 11:03 23 November 2007

=For Aboriginal mythology article re-write/upgrade=

Below this heading, this sandbox is being used to work up re-write/drafts for Aboriginal mythology article:

Australian Aboriginal myths (also sometimes known as Dreamtime stories, Songlines or Aboriginal oral literature) are the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the Aboriginal language groups across Australia, all variously telling of significant truths within each groups' local landscape, affectively layering the whole of the Australian continent's topography with cultural nuance and deeper meaning, effectively empowering selected audiences with the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of Australian Aboriginal ancestors back to time immemorial.



Within the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies' Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia it is observed:

"A mythic map of Australia would show thousands of characters, varying in their importance, but all in some way connected with the land. Some emerged at their specific sites and stayed spiritually in that vicinity. Others came from somewhere else and went somewhere else.

Many were shape changing, transformed from or into human beings or natural species, or into natural features such as rocks but all left something of their spiritual essence at the places noted in their stories

Australian Aboriginal mythology: Generalizations
There are up to 400 distinct Aboriginal groups from across Australia (most commonly known as Aboriginal tribes or nations) listed within the Encylopaedia of Aboriginal Australia, each distinguished from one anther by unique names most often identifying the particular languages, dialects, or distinctive speech mannerisms they possess.

There are so many distinct Aboriginal groups, languages, beliefs and practices it doesn't seem proper nor possible to attempt to characterise, under a single heading, the full range and enormous diversity of myths being told, developed, eleborated upon, performed, and experienced by members of each and all of these groups, across a whole continent. The Encyclopaedia never-the-less observes:

"One intriguing feature [of Aboriginal Australian mythology] is the mixture of diversity and similarity in myths across the entire continent.

All 400 Aboriginal groups, each with their own mythologies, may be classed together under the single heading, "Australain Aboriginal) simply because they generally share the same, single continent (Australia), formally governed by a single national government (Commonwealth Government of Australia)

Not only do mpost of these Aboriginal groups share, geographically, the same continent and/or region of the world

passed; informing Aboriginal peoples understandings and experience of the world ; layering the continent's topography with deep meaning and significances

Rainbow Serpent
See also article: Rainbow Serpent

Back in 1926 a British anthropologist specialising in Australian Aboriginal ethnology and ethnography at that time, Radcliffe-Brown, noted that many Aboriginal groups widely distributed across the Australian continent, all appear share variations of a single, common myth telling of an unusually powerful, often creative, often dangerous snake or serpent of sometimes enormous size closely associated with the rainbows, rain, rivers, deep waterholes. Radcliffe-Brown, A.R (1926) Pages 19-25.

Radcliff-Brown coined the name 'Rainbow Serpent' for what he identified to be a shared, commonly recurring myth, and, working around the continent noted he noted the key character of this myth variously named :

Kanmare (Boulia, Queensland); Tulloun: (Mt Isa, Queenland); Andrenjinyi (Pennefather River, Queensland), Takkan (Kabi tribe of Queensland); Targan (Brisbane, Queensland); Kurreah (Yualai tribe of New South Wales);Wawi (Wirujari tribe, New South Wales), Neitee & Yeutta (Bakanji tribe of Darling River), Myndie (Melbourne, Victoria); Bunyip (Western Victoria); Wogal (Perth, Western Australia); Wanamangura (Talainji tribe of Western Australia); Kajura (Ingarda Tribe, Western Australia); Numereji (Kakadu, Northern Territory).

The 'Rainbow Serpent' that features within this myth widely distributed across Australia, is generally and variously identified by those who tell the myth, as a snake of some enormous size often living within the deepest waterholes of many of Australia's waterways; descended as it is from that larger being visible as a dark streak in milkyway; it reveals itself to people in this world as a rainbow as it moves through water and rain, shaping landscapes, naming and singing of places, swallowing and sometimes drowning people; strengthening the knowledgable with rainmaking and healing powers; blighting others with sores, weakness, illness, and death.

The term 'Rainbow Serpent' used to refer to the myth, and the key mythic being that features in this re-occurring myth, is now increasingly familiar to Australian and international audiences, particularly as it is used by government agencies, art gallery's, Aboriginal organisations, and the media as a shorthand reference to Australian Aboriginal mythology

Pitjantjatjara People
See also: Uluru

LAYTON:
"Uluru .. was built up during the creation period by two boys who played in the mud after rain, When they had finished their game they travelled south to Wiputa, on the northern side of the Musgrave Ranges, where they killed and cooked a euro (large wallaby). Then the boys turned north again tovart Atila (Mount Connor). A few miles south-west of the Mount, at Anari, one boy threw his tjuni (wooden club) at ahare walaby, but the club struck the ground and made a fresh-water spring.  This boy refused to reveal where he had found the water and the other boy nearly died of thirst. Fighting together, the two boys made their way to the table-topped Mount Connor, on top of which their bodies are preserved as boulders."

ANPWS
Tjukurpa: the Pitjantjatjara word for Law: history, knowledge, religion and morality that forms the basis of Anangu values and how Anangu conduct their lives and look after their country, plant, story, message.

..there was a time when ancesteral beings in the form of humans, animals and plants travelled widely across the land and performed remarkable feats of creation and destruction, The journeys of these beings are remembered and celebrated and the record of their activities exists today in aspects and features of the land. For Anangu, this record provides an account and the meaning of the cosmos for the past and the present. When Anangu speak of the many natural features within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park their interprestations and explanations are expressed in terms of the activities of particular Tjurkurpa beings, rather than by reference to geological or other explainations.

World Heritage cultural landscape listing [of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park] is an international recognition of the cultural values that have shaped the landscape over time in accordance with Tjukurpa.

Pintupi People: General
Of the Pintupi peoples it's been observed they have a predominantly 'mythic' form of consciousness of life, within which events occuring within life are understood and explained by the preordained social order spoken of, sung about, and performed within their fantastical, superhuman mythology, rather than by reference to the political actions, decisons and influences of local individuals (effectively 'erasing' history)

"The Dreaming...provides a moral authority lying outside the individual will and outside human creation....although the Dreaming as an ordering of the cosmos is presumably a product of historical events, such an origin is denied. These human creations are objectified -- thrust out-- into principles or precedents for the immediate world....Consequently, current action is not understood as the result of human alliances, creations, and choices, but is seen as imposed by an embracing, cosmic order"

Murrinh-Patha People
Of the Murrinh-Patha people (whose country is the saltwater country immediately inland from the town of Wadeye it's been observed the Dreamtime they tell of in their myths, is in fact a religous belief equivalent to, though wholly different from, most of the world's other significant religious beliefs.

In particular, it has been suggested the Murrinh-patha have a oneness of thought, belief, and experession unequalled within Christianity, which sees all aspects of their lives, thoughts and culture as under the continuing influence of their Dreaming. . Within this Aborigianl religion, no distinction is drawn between things spiritual/ideal/mental and things material; nor is any distinction drawn between things sacred and things profane:  rather all life is  'sacred', all conduct has 'moral' implication, and all life's meaning arises out of this eternal, everpresent Dreaming.

"In fact, the isomorphic fit between between the natural and supernatural means that all nature is coded and charged by the the sacred, while the sacred is everywhere within the physical landscape. Myths and mythic tracks cross over .. thousands of miles, and every particular form and feature of the terrain has a well developed 'story' behind it"

Animating and sustaining this Murrinh-patha mythology, is an underlying philiosphy of life that has been characterised by one of Australia's most influential writers on Aboriginal religion, W.E.H Stanner as a belief that life is "..a joyous thing with maggots at its centre."]]. Life is good and benevolent, but throughout lifes journey their are numerous painful sufferings that each individual must come to understand and endure as they grow. This is the underlying message repeatedly being told within the Murrinh-patha myths, and it is this philosophy that gives Murrinh-patha people motive and meaning in life]].

Current Into
Prof. Peter Sutton is an anthropologist and linguist, now Australian Research Council (ARC) Professorial Fellow at the School of Social Sciences at the University of Adelaide and within the Division of Anthropology in the South Australian Museum. Also an Honorary Research Fellow. Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Professor Sutton has lived and worked with Aboriginal people in remote areas of Cape York Peninsula and the Northern Territory, but also in urban and rural centres, since 1969. He assisted with over fifty indigenous land claim cases in many different parts of Australia 1979-2005.

Peter is also an author or editor of eleven books and has published over a hundred academic and other papers, mainly in the fields of Aboriginal land tenure, languages, art, and indigenous policy.

New Proposed Intro
Introduction: Professor Peter Sutton is an Australian linguist and social anthropologist who has, over a period of almost 40 years (since 1969), significantly contributed to: recording Australian Aboriginal languages; promoting Australian Aboriginal art; mapping Australian Aboriginal cultural landscapes; and increasing societies' general understanding of contemporary Australian Aboriginal social structures and systems of land tenure.

Peter Sutton now holds a position as Australian Research Council (ARC) Professorial Fellow at the University of Adelaide's School of Social Sciences and within the South Australian Museum's Division of Anthropology. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

History

Contributions

Possible dimensions:

(refer here to linguistic survey's and manual for Aust. Anthropological Society)
 * Recording Aboriginal languages of Queensland

(refer here, particularly, to videos, mapping manuals, Wik mapping (Wik claim)
 * Recording Aboriginal cultural landscapes


 * Developing Land Rights Era Research Theory, Practices and Methods, in the shadow of the law

Australian Aboriginal Anthropology in the shadow of the law Australian Aboriginal art and material culture

(including work on Aust. Anthropological Society's code of ethics)
 * Professional Anthropology's Moral Angst and Ethical Dilemmas