Summary

Mapping inter-cultural relationships as they are played out in a remote Aboriginal settlement in Western Australia's Great Sandy Desert, this book challenges Australians to reconsider their relationship with Aboriginal peoples.

Unpacking dominant cultural practices, it explores the extraordinary difficulties which Aboriginal women face when they attempt to maintain and pass their cultural knowledge, customs and skills on to their children and youth.

From 1999 to 2001, Zohl de Ishtar lived and worked intimately with a group of 13 women Elders to establish a vibrant intergenerational cultural knowledge transmission program: the Kapululangu Women's Law and Culture Centre.

Through this profound experience Zohl identified 'Living Culture', the cultural energy which is created when individuals live their culture to its fullest expression enabling them to transform their worlds even when to do so seems impossible. Her profound radical feminist analysis of the socio-cultural context surrounding this Aboriginal women's initiative challenges the dominant culture's attitudes and behaviours and offers a deeper comprehension to those who aspire to be involved in collaborative projects with Aboriginal peoples.

A lyrical and passionate book.