The Legacy of the Late Edward Mippy: An Ethnographic Biography

Abstract

Cast in the dual genre of ethnographic biography, this thesis is focused on the life, work and vision of the late Edward Ned Mippy, an Aboriginal Elder of the Yuat Nyoongara Community who devoted the latter years of his life to promoting and developing the cultural identity of his people. As biography, it portrays the life of Mr. Mippy with particular emphasis on the factors which help to highlight his understandings and his vision for an Indigenous cultural renewal. As ethnography, the study is intended as a vehicle for wider concerns, evoking an interpretative glimpse of his community and contributing a new perspective of that community as a continuing social entity.These aims are broadly set forth in the brief introduction. The first chapter of the thesis then outlines the origin and development of the research project and the evolution of its methodology. Chapter two presents a picture of Mr. Mippys life experience, largely in terms of his own recorded memories and perceptions, while chapter three places his later life in a community context which includes historical, personal and demographic perspectives. The following two chapters, four and five, present various accounts of the work undertaken by Edward Mippy. They offer a glimpse of his cultural knowledge, seeking to explain the nature of his vision and the way in which his goals were implemented. The sixth chapter aims to situate his life and work in the wider social and academic discourses of Indigenous identity. The thesis then concludes with an interpretation of Mr. Mippys personal understandings regarding the dynamics of cultural transmission and its importance for future generations.