This book explores a range of societies in and around the Pacific and southern Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that encountered religions introduced from elsewhere, or fashioned their own responses to already established religious traditions. These changes observed through the responses of the receiving societies indicate that religious change is a creative dynamic, rather than a passive acceptance of new ideas, beliefs and practices. While change is often triggered by the introduction of new understandings, it can only become entrenched within a community when it takes on meaning for individuals, and becomes embedded within the social and cultural life of the community.

The state of South Australia was a British imperial construct, its borders determined by three straight lines, with no reference to the Aboriginal presence. The colonial process in South Australia began decades before formal annexation with unregulated interactions between coastal Aboriginal people and European sealers and whalers. Despite catastrophic interventions in the lives of Aboriginal people during and following colonisation, many communities retain strong identities and cultural and linguistic knowledge, rooted in a deep connection to the land. Colonialism and its Aftermath traces the ongoing impact of colonialism on Aboriginal individuals, communities and cultures, the disruptions and displacements it has caused, and Aboriginal responses to these challenges. Contributors: Diane Bell, Peggy Brock, Jennifer Caruso, Deane Fergie, Robert Foster, Mary-Anne Gale, Tom Gara, Des Hartman, Luise Hercus, Rani Kerin, Skye Krichauff, Christine Lockwood, Rod Lucas, Ingereth Macfarlane, Paul Monaghan, Amanda Nettelbeck, Chris Nobbs, Carol Pybus, Lester-Irabinna Rigney, Tikari Rigney and Phyllis Williams