Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia

27-30 September 1999

Preliminary qualitative analysis of the influence of kinship and quasi-kinship relationships on the establishment of indigenous business enterprises

Gido Mapunda

University of South Australia
(PhD Student -RMIT University)

Abstract

My PhD thesis attempts to explore the influence of kinship and quasi-kinship relationships on the establishment of indigenous business enterprises, the Australian experience. It endeavours to examine how indigenous business ventures can facilitate indigenous entry into the Australian market economy without losing their indigenous heritage and identity. One of the basic questions looked at in this thesis is whether it is possible for indigenous people to play an active role in a market economy without compromising their cultural heritage.

The thesis is based on the premise that the traditional indigenous hunter-gatherer society can no longer be sustained in its pure form. Instead, it has to be replaced by a "mixed economy" which has a predominantly market economy orientation. However, for the purpose of this LERN Conference, the paper attempts to provide a preliminary analysis of three in-depth interview transcripts extracted from three indigenous business enterprises in south Australia. It is an attempt to establish whether or not there are any patterns emerging from the preliminary data.