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Warlpiri Women's Voices: Our Lives Our History
Warlpiri women have a strength and resilience that comes from lives lived on the land. Their knowledge of country is handed down from generation to generation through story, ceremony, song and dance - women's business. This relationship to country has supported them through the hardship of desert life, the trauma of early European contact and the rapid changes of recent times. In Warlpiri Women's Voices Aboriginal women tell the stories of their lives and history on the Lander River in Central Australia. They speak of growing up in the days before Europeans arrived in their country; of learning about social relationships and religious ceremony; of hunting and gathering with the older women. Then come stories about their early encounters with Europeans and the changes that followed.
136 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
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April 9, 2017Review originally posted on A Keyboard and an Open Mind 10 April 2017:
I’ve never left a book unrated when I’ve reviewed it before, but it was really hard to know what to rate this one. That mostly comes from the fact that this is not a book as such, but transcripts of oral history interviews done with women members of the Walpiri people from the Northern Territory.
The interviews cover the community’s relationship to the land in the time before white people settled the area, through to white settlement and a little of the present day (the book was published in 1995).
While I appreciated the content, it was slow-going. I think this was due to the format; the recordings were done in Walpiri language, and what I was reading was essentially a direct translation with no embellishment. As someone who much prefers fiction to non-fiction in general, I did find this difficult to get through, but I think that is more a matter of personal preference. Still, this is an important record and I’m glad that this information was recorded while it was still possible.
(This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017. Click here for more information).
I’ve never left a book unrated when I’ve reviewed it before, but it was really hard to know what to rate this one. That mostly comes from the fact that this is not a book as such, but transcripts of oral history interviews done with women members of the Walpiri people from the Northern Territory.
The interviews cover the community’s relationship to the land in the time before white people settled the area, through to white settlement and a little of the present day (the book was published in 1995).
While I appreciated the content, it was slow-going. I think this was due to the format; the recordings were done in Walpiri language, and what I was reading was essentially a direct translation with no embellishment. As someone who much prefers fiction to non-fiction in general, I did find this difficult to get through, but I think that is more a matter of personal preference. Still, this is an important record and I’m glad that this information was recorded while it was still possible.
(This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2017. Click here for more information).
Displaying 1 of 1 review