> Yes, that is true, and it is a very interesting phenomenon. People who were
> taken away from their families often feel a really, really intense
> (dis)connection to 'their people': they are extremely bitter for having
> heritage taken away from them, but at the same time they are adamant that
> they could not take it.
> Thiago
> ---
> Thiago, I have heard that adult Aboriginal men occasionally have the old
> (extremely painful) coming-of-age circumcision ritual performed on
> themselves in an effort to get back to their roots. Is this true? Thx
Yes, often it involves knocking a tooth out and scarrification. I haven't heard of it in Sydney, which could mean that is just done secretly, but it is said to be common out in the back country. A friend of mine who is a Ranger (not like Chuck Norris, more like an environmental officer!) tells me that up in the Northern Territory things can get really hairy when the younger men take the matter into their own hands, get really drunk and decide to cut someone's foreskin off with a shard of rock. It's also impossible to tell them not to do it, if you are white. Traditionally the whole thing was done under very controlled and ceremonial circumstances, and there is a movement to have those brought back. Alcohol really screws things up.
It's tricky. The gerontocratic order has fallen apart. There is a big movement to bring it back, enfranchised by the State. Younger people still have a great deal of respect for the elders, but it is the younger ones who are more assertive culturally and politically vis a vis white society. And to control society, the government tries to talk to the elders, to exploit the gerontocratic norms. But to the younger people, it is pretty transparent when that's happening, and it undermines those same norms...
Thiago