SSN Burwood Film Screening: “Mammung”

About event

The Deakin community is invited to a free, catered screening and Q and A at Deakin Burwood, hosted by the SSN Indigenous Knowledges stream.

Join the Deakin Science and Society Network for a screening of the film “Mammung” (the Noongar name for whale). The screening will be in LC1.003, ‘The Banks’. The film explores the Noongar peoples’ living memory of rapid sea-level rises, adaptation to climate change, and their ancestor’s interactions with whales.

The screening will be followed by a brief discussion between SSN Indigenous Knowledges streamleader Tiffany Shellam, Tui Raven (Yamaji/Nyungar), the Senior Manager of Indigenous Programmes at Deakin Libraries, and Billy Griffiths, Deakin Historian and author of Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia.

There will be a screening at Waurn Ponds on 24 July, from 12:30 14:00. The Waurn ponds community can register for that event here.

About the film

MAMMUNG is the Noongar name for the whale.

Around 10,000 years ago Western Australia experienced rapid sea-level rise. At that time, the indigenous Noongar people adapted to the loss of almost 30% of their land as the population moved inland ahead of a ‘slow moving tsunami’. MAMMUNG the film explores the living memory that Noongar people hold of this event. The film follows Dr Noel Nannup in recalling the significance of places which are now below the sea and explaining the process of change that indigenous people endured through the narrative dreaming story of MAMMUNG the whale.

Indigenous cultures in Australia are one of the very few who have a living memory of a period of climatic change that rivals what we are seeing today. MAMMUNG the film challenges us all to ask: can we learn to understand and value this rich body of knowledge as we too adapt to a changing climate? And what awaits us if we don’t?

About the filmmakers

Maevia Griffiths graduated with an MA in Development Studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute (2021) and with an MA in Screen Documentary Filmmaking from Goldsmiths University of London (2022). Her works engage with various social activist film projects, such as the documentary Elles les (in)visibles (2021) which recounts the stories of four undocumented women domestic workers in Geneva. Maevia uses filmmaking as a medium to visually engage with social science research and social activism and has often worked with vulnerable populations in diverse cultural settings. Aware of the power dynamics involved in research and filmmaking, she attempts to integrate visual anthropological perspectives into her work, ensuring that the recording of indigenous populations is always carried out with great respect for their needs and beliefs.

Lillian Robb is an international lawyer and PhD Candidate in International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Her work engages with those areas of public law where the field can support and bolster movements of social change and innovation. Lillian’s PhD research focuses on the inclusion of indigenous peoples and vulnerable groups in the design of climate adaptation strategies in the Asia-Pacific. ​Lillian was raised in Fremantle, Australia, and topics relating to Western Australian indigenous heritage and engagement, as well as reparation of the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous West Australians, are close to her heart. She attempts to connect the legal fields in which she specialises to social movements and multidisciplinary actors who can enrich and guide more effective and more holistic law and policy.

Lillian’s focuses include international environmental law, the rights of indigenous populations, international criminal law, strategic litigation, human rights, and Australian Migration, indigenous heritage, environmental and administrative law.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the filmmakers for offering us this opportunity to share their important and beautiful work.

This event is brought to the Deakin Community by the Deakin Science and Society Network (SSN) Indigenous Knowledges stream, with support from the Faculty of Business and Law, the School of Life and Environmental and Sciences, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin’s Research For Educational Impact (REDI), and the Centre for Contemporary Histories (CCH).