Wik Mungkan - Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. The kinship system formed a basic matrix by which social relations and organization were interpreted, but other forms of association included the basic inland/coastal dichotomy, regional marriage clusters, loose areal associations, short-term collectivities for certain seasonal economic pursuits and the ceremonies surrounding initiation, and the over-arching regional totemic ritual cults. While clan and family structures have been undergoing major changes in the settlements over many years now, and many of the precontact regional and ritual associations are severely attenuated or no longer exist, kinship is still the basic idiom of everyday interactions. New forms of group and corporate structures are emerging, centered on such activities as work, alcohol consumption, and on the governing and administrative bodies instituted in the settlements.

Political Organization. A primary feature of the coastal Wik, but apparently less important inland, is the concept of "bosses"—men who are knowledgeable in terms of country and ritual; who are politically astute leaders, skilled fighters, and commanding public orators; and who can mobilize large numbers of kin. Women can be leaders, especially as they get older, but in general they command a more restricted influence. Clans would normally have a senior man or woman who is a recognized "boss," and there are regional leaders drawn from the ranks of these clan spokespersons. While the bosses may have had major roles in decisions regarding ceremonies, alliances, camp locations, etc., there was and is a strong resistance to hierarchical authority and an emphasis on Personal autonomy in much of everyday life. The dominant Contemporary settlement political organization consists of elected councils, set up under local-government models that, while nominally encouraging self-determination, are run very much according to European agendas and priorities. Almost all service and administrative staff are White Australians or other non-Wik. The locus of control of Wik affairs is firmly in the hands of the state.

Social Control and Conflict. Conflict was an ever-present factor in the precontact society as well as today, but there were mechanisms to resolve or contain it—in particular, what has been called "the resolution of conflict by fission." This option of moving away from potential or actual conflict is severely compromised in the settlements, built on European models of small compact townships for administrative and service convenience. The parental and grandparental generations no longer have control of the sexuality of young people, and much conflict arises from unsanctioned sexual relations. Older men no longer control crucial aspects of the socialization of younger ones through initiations, which have not been held for some twenty years. Large-scale alcohol consumption has further compromised the Wik's own conflict-resolution mechanisms, and there are very high levels of interpersonal violence that ultimately lead to further bureaucratic intervention in Wik affairs.