This work analyzes the politics of anthropological knowledge from critical perspective that alters existing understandings of colonialism. At the same time, it produces insights into the history of anthropology. Organized around an historical reconstruction of the great anthropological controversy over doctrines of virgin birth, the book argues that the allegation a great deal about European colonial discourse and little if anything about indigenous beliefs. By means of an Australian example, the book shows not only that the alleged ignorance was an artefact of the anthropological theory that produced it, but also that the anthropology was an artefact of the anthropological theory that produced it, but also that the anthropology concerened has been closely tied into both the historical dispossesion and the continuing oppresion of native peoples. The author explores the links between metropolitan anthropological theory and local colonial politics from the 19th century up to the present, settler colonialism, and the ideological and sexual regimes that characterize it.

Up until the 1970s, a large proportion of Aboriginal people in Australia had some experience in institutions as part of government assimilation and protection policies. By focusing on three communities in South Australia, this book attempts to understand the consequences of this institutionalization for Aborigines and Australian society in general. Peggy Brock uses the word "ghetto" to evoke the nature of the missions in which many Aboriginal people settled for generations, as ghettos both oppress and nurture. The book shows that Aboriginal people often chose to live in the missions as part of creative strategies to ensure their own survival. This constructive and insightful study should become a central text in Aboriginal Studies and Australian history.

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

Every Australian's birthright includes the expectation of a healthy and possibly happy life of some longevity, assisted by all the services which a civilised society can make possible. But this is not yet within the Aboriginal (or Maori, Pacific Islander, Canadian Inuit and American Indian) grasp. That so many young Aboriginal people prefer death to life implies a rejection of what people in the broader Australian society, have on offer. It reflects a failure, as a nation, to provide sufficient incentives for young Aborigines to remain alive. This is a study of youth who have, or feel they have, no purpose in life -- or who may be seeking freedom in death. It is a portrait of life, and of self-destruction, by young Aboriginal men and women. To comprehend this relatively recent phenomenon, which occurs more outside than inside custody, one has to appreciate Aboriginal history -- the effects of which contribute more to an understanding of suicide today than do psychological or medical theories about the victim. Aboriginal youth at risk are suffering more from social than from mental disorder. Adopting a historical and anthropological approach to suicide in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand, this book documents rates of suicide that may well be the world's worst. It tries to glimpse the soul of the suicide rather than merely his or her contribution to our national statistics.

Evonne Goolagong, Cathy Freeman, Nova Peris, Lionel Rose, Artie Beetson, Polly Farmer are just a few of our Australian sporting heroes who, since the mid-1880s, have helped shape Australia's identity as a great sporting nation. They, along with 261 other individual sporting greats, are showcased here in this new edition of the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame. Spanning 36 sports across a period of 166 years, Black Pearls presents some of our Olympic heroes, superb sportswomen, football giants, boxing legends, lightning sprinters and more - from darts champions to world class weightlifters and woodchoppers. Black Pearls is more than a sports book. It reveals a history of inclusion and exclusion, about Aboriginal determination in the face of enormous obstacles, and resilience in overcoming remoteness, discriminatory laws, incarceration on isolated reserves, and opponents in a variety of sports arenas.