‘Looking at You Looking at Me’

‘Looking at You Looking at Me’ : Aboriginal culture and history of the South-east of South Australia, Volume 1

The peoples of the South East who are the subject of this book are the Tanganekald, Meintangk, Potaruwutj and Bunganditj peoples.

There are only a few books which have been written about the history and culture of Aboriginal peoples of the South-east of South Australia by Indigenous writers. This author, an Aboriginal woman, is a descendant of a family of long and continuous association with this region.

The diversity of Aboriginal culture shapes Australia’s identity, an identity which is now equally moulded by its own history of colonisation. Today there is a growing global call for Indigenous cultural experiences, but tragically the opportunity to learn more from the first nations’ peoples in a number of regions in Australia has been wiped out. Where Aboriginal people have survived there are often poor relationships between them and non-Aboriginal people. Local colonial histories sometimes make cultural exchange difficult and sometimes impossible. Can non-Aboriginal people learn from us in a good way, a way which disconnects past colonial relationships and assimilationist practices?

To understand where we are all going in the future we need to know the truth of our past, and know how the past positions us in our lives today.

The writer shares stories of her family’s culture and history under the impact of colonisation and of her people’s struggle to survive. What is different about this book, is that in a small way an Aboriginal perspective or gaze is held for a moment longer.

By Irene Watson – 2002

ISBN 0958061300