Songspirals: Sharing women's wisdom of Country through songlines

by Gay'wu Group of Women, Laklak Burarrwana (Author), Banbapuy Ganambarr (Author), Ritjilili Ganambarr (Author), Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs (Author), Kate Lloyd (Author), Djawundil Maymuru (Author), Sandie Suchet-Pearson (Author), Sarah Wright (Author)

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'We want you to come with us on our journey, our journey of songspirals. Songspirals are the essence of people in this land, the essence of every clan. We belong to the land and it belongs to us. We sing to the land, sing about the land. We are that land. It sings to us.' Aboriginal Australians are the longest surviving human culture on earth, and at the heart of Aboriginal culture is song. These ancient narratives of landscape have often been described as a means of navigating across vast show more distances without a map, but they are much, much more than this. Songspirals are sung by Aboriginal people to awaken Country, to make and remake the life-giving connections between people and place. Songspirals are radically different ways of understanding the relationship people can have with the landscape. For Yolngu people from North East Arnhem Land, women and men play different roles in bringing songlines to life, yet the vast majority of what has been published is about men's songlines. Songspirals is a rare opportunity for outsiders to experience Aboriginal women's role in crying the songlines in a very authentic and direct form. show less

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1 review
I have tried to read this astonishing work but I fear it's beyond my capabilities right now. I will come back to it eventually because I very much want to do it justice. I can't give it a star rating yet. What I can say is this: we desperately need books like this. Reconciliation is hard work. Telling the truth is hard work. Hearing, or reading, the truth of the First Australians' experience is challenging. The Yolngu people have a profoundly different way of being in the world and it was difficult for me to get my brain around the concepts in Songspirals. I really hope, though, that I can rise to the challenge. Finally, I am deeply thankful to the amazing women who created this book for their generosity in sharing their knowledge with show more the rest of the world. show less

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Songspirals: Sharing women's wisdom of Country through songlines
Original title
Songspirals: Sharing women's wisdom of Country through songlines
Original publication date
2019

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, Anthropology, Music, General Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality
DDC/MDS
305.89915Social sciencesSocial sciences, sociology & anthropologyGroups of peopleEthnic and national groupsOther ethnic and national groupsPapuans; Aboriginal Australians and Tasmanians; Malayo-Polynesian and related peoples; miscellaneous peoples
LCC
DU125 .Y64 .G39History of Europe, Asia, Africa and OceaniaOceania (South Seas)History of Oceania (South Seas)AustraliaEthnographyAustralian aborigines
BISAC

Statistics

Members
46
Popularity
646,120
Reviews
1
Rating
½ (4.50)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
2
ASINs
1