ABSTRACT:
\nThis paper strives to draw out some fruitful resonances between the relational sense of Being at the heart of Aboriginal Laws as they are articulated by Irene Watson and the &ldquo\;concept&rdquo\; of the sensible-transcendental that is fundamental to Luce Irigaray&rsquo\;s thought.
\nAboriginal Laws are not like the Western conception of sovereignty. Where the Western sense of sovereignty designates the exclusive ownership of a territory or of some thing or of someone &ldquo\;I&rdquo\; hold mastery over\, Aboriginal Laws emanate from relationality. For Watson\, relationality &ldquo\;&hellip\; is embedded in Indigenous knowledge systems\; &ldquo\;knowledge belongs to a people and the people belong to a landscape&rdquo\; (2015\, 13). Australian Indigenous ontologies elaborate an interconnectedness of country\, ancestors\, totems\, people\, animals\, plants\, rivers\, oceans\, the wind\; an interconnectedness of all &ldquo\;things.&rdquo\; Strictly speaking\, there are no &ldquo\;things&rdquo\; that can be isolated and counted in quantitative terms. The Aboriginal sense of country is not a mass that can be broken up into property or instrumentalised through the technologies of man\; country is the common spirit-body to which a people belong.
\nIrigaray&rsquo\;s sensible-transcendental is crucial to her ethics of sexuate difference. This strange &ldquo\;concept&rdquo\; is a synecdoche for something that remains essentially in excess of symbolisation. As I read Irigaray\, the sensible-transcendental designates the relationship of a sexed subject to non-totalisable becoming of &ldquo\;nature&rdquo\; (the Common Mother). The Common Mother is not a thing\, nor something &ldquo\;we&rdquo\; get a grip on\, for it is the whole of time-space (of infinite dimensions) that are beyond &ldquo\;our&rdquo\; understanding. The Common Mother remains open and in becoming. The sensible-transcendental is a threshold to this mysterious &ldquo\;whole&rdquo\; of which &lsquo\;I&rsquo\; as a woman am a tiny aspect. This threshold is embodied in my flesh\, in the rhythm of my breath\, in the myriad of relationships I have with other bodies surrounding me (male\, female\, trans\, human or inhuman). Acknowledging the sensible-transcendental is what situates &lsquo\;me&rsquo\; in place\, in a specific milieu. \;
ORGANIZER;CN=Cathy Legg: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR