Fuelling the Feud? An Analysis of Social and Institutional Engagement in a Feud and of the Limitations of Participant Observation
Yasmine Musharbash, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Australia
This paper provides a history and analysis of a feud that started in 1999 at the remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu, N.T. What began as a jealousy fight between two teenage girls has since escalated, involving families from Yuendumu, the neighbouring community of Nyirrpi as well as Alice Springs, and violence including the burning of cars, houses, and fighting with guns and machetes. Identifying access to ‘power’ in the organizational and institutional grid of the community as a possible reason why the feud escalated, this paper examines the ways in which institutionally-backed (local, state, and federal) agents have sought to stop the feuding; and how these actions unwittingly fuelled it. It ponders the question of how anthropologists can act within this conundrum, as engagement on the 'Yapa' (person-to person) level implicates and thus draws one into the feud; while acting as a ‘whitefella’ - no matter how good one’s intentions – seems to exacerbate the problem.
