#Dreamings and place – #Aboriginal monsters and their meanings [#geekgirl]

(sic) A terrifying pantheon of monstrous beings is one subject of visual artworks and traditional Aboriginal “Dreaming” narratives that merits inclusion in any typology of Aboriginal cultural and artistic traditions.

All of these figures materialise fear, bringing it to the surface. At the psychological level, the stories about these entities are a means of coping with terror. To this I would add that such monstrous beings also attest to some of the least palatable aspects of human behaviour, to the nastiest and most vicious of our human capabilities.

Importantly, in Aboriginal Australia, these figures and their attendant narratives provide a valuable source of knowledge about the hazards of specific places and environments. Most important of all is their social function in terms of engendering fear and caution in young children, commensurate with the very real environmental perils that they inevitably encounter.

Source: The Conversation