Ngangkari
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Ngangkari are the traditional healers of the Anangu, the Aboriginal peoples who live mostly in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY Lands) of South Australia and the Western Desert region, which includes parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The word in the Arrernte languages of Central Australia is ngangkere. Ngangkari have been part of Aboriginal culture for thousands of years, and attend to the physical and psychic health of Anangu.
Ngangkari have nurtured the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of their people for thousands of years.[1] The term applies to traditional healers of the Anangu, who live mostly in the APY Lands, which encompass about 103,000 square kilometres (40,000 sq mi) of South Australia,[2][3] and are part of the Western Desert cultural bloc of Aboriginal peoples. The variant spelling, ngangkere, is used in translating the Arrernte languages.[4]
To become a ngangkari you must be "born into" the ability, and both the ability and knowledge are passed on through family lines.[5] Elders choose ngangkari at birth, and pass on their cultural knowledge.[6] The powers ngangkari are given, called mapanpa,[1] heal spiritual as well as physical ailments.[6]
Before colonisation of South Australia the Anangu were fit, happy and healthy; living their traditional lifestyle of hunting, gathering and eating traditional foods. In these times the ngangkari were primarily needed for simple injuries such as burns and people who had been in the sun too long, but that role has changed significantly. Following colonisation, and the introduction of a number of epidemics, being moved off Country, and the introduction of drugs and alcohol (and associated issues), ngangkari are having to work harder than ever to help their people and adjust to these new demands.[1]
In film
The short documentary film Ngangkari was written and directed by Erica Glynn and shot by her son, Warwick Thornton. It was broadcast on television in 2002 as part of series 3 of Australia by Numbers, and was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013.[7]