Across many cultures, the interdependent functions of the human body have been a rich source of metaphor related to social responsibility and the healthy functioning of communities. Traditional Yolŋu thought from Arnhem Land interprets the human body as a collection of living relations between diverse people and places. These relations are expressed as both metaphoric likeness (an elbow connection is like the relationship between brothers) and metonymic equivalence (the chest is country, a beating heart that nourishes and sustains). In this way, individual bodies form a living text of social and ecological responsibility, and constitute belonging and purpose. 

In this collaborative presentation developed with Wägilak ceremonial leaders Daniel Wilfred, Peter Djudja Wilfred, Benjamin Wilfred and Roy Natilma, we explore specific understandings of the body carried through Yolŋu manikay (public ceremonial song), buŋgul (dance) and yäku (song words; language). We ask, how can we understand the body though song, and song through the body? Not only do the structures of manikay and buŋgul map onto the body, but songs draw different people and stories together to sustain complex relations between kin and country.

From a linguistic perspective, the semantic connections carried within the body are also salient, showing meaning as always encountered, subjectively and materially, in relation. This raises significant challenges for the ways we approach collaborative research with Indigenous communities.