Australian Aboriginal avoidance practices

Australian Aboriginal avoidance practices refers to those relationships in traditional Aboriginal society where certain people were required to avoid others in their family or clan. These customs are still active in many parts of Australia, to a greater or lesser extent.

Avoidance relationships are a mark of respect. There are also strong protocols around avoiding, or averting, eye contact, as well as around speaking the name of the dead.

Avoidance of eye contact

In general, eye contact is averted as a mark of respect; a young person should not look an older person in the eye. At initiation, the boy will keep his eyes downcast.

It is also considered extremely impolite to look someone directly in the eye whom one does not know.

Avoidance of family members

In general, across most language groups, the two most common avoidance relationships are:

on-in-law—mother-in-law

The relationship is one of respect, but avoidance. The two will still communicate via the daughter/wife, who remains the conduit for communication in this relationship. Often there are language customs surrounding these relationships.

This relationship extends to avoiding all women of the same skin group as the mother-in-law, and, for the mother-in-law, men of the same skin group as the son-in-law.

Brother—sister

This usually takes place after initiation. Prior to this, brothers and sisters play together freely.

Both these avoidance relationships have their grounding in the Australian Aboriginal kinship system, and so are ways of avoiding incest in small bands of closely-related people.

There may be other avoidance relationships, including same-sex relationships, but these are the main two.

Avoidance of naming the dead

Traditionally, this meant avoiding referring to the dead person by name directly after their death as a mark of respect — and also because it is considered too painful for the grieving family. Today the practice continues in many communities, but has also come to encompass avoiding the publication or dissemination of photography or film footage of the deceased person as well.

The avoidance period may last anywhere from 12 months to several years. The person can still be referred to in a roundabout way, such as, "that old lady", or by their generic skin name, but not by first name. In some Central Australian communities, if a lady named Alice passes away, that name must be avoided in all contexts, so even Alice Springs needs to be referred to in conversation in a roundabout way (which is usually fine, as the Indigenous name can be reverted to). Those of the same name as the deceased are referred to by a substitute name during the avoidance period — "Kuminjay" is used in the Pintubi-Luritja dialect.

This presents some challenges to Indigenous people. In traditional society, people lived together in small bands of extended family. Name duplication was less common. Today, as people have moved (or been moved) into larger centres, with 300 to 600 people, the logistics of name avoidance have become increasingly challenging.

Exotic and rare names have therefore become very common, particularly in Central Australia, to deal with this new challenge.

ee also

*Australian Aboriginal kinship
*Australian Aboriginal sign languages
*Avoidance language
* Taboo against naming the dead