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Description
A World of Relationships: Itineraries, Dreams and Events in the Australian Western Desert.
By Sylvie Poirier. Toronto, Buffalo, London. University of Toronto Press. 2005. Pp xi + 303. Price: US $29.95
This ethnography is a much revised version of one that first appeared ten years ago in French. The field research on which it is based spans several years from 1980 with subsequent visits over a twenty year period. As a theme ethnography, this text offers a deep insight into the creative world of women's ritual in the Balgo region and I found many resonances with my own research on creativity in ritual (also in the western desert). Poirier focuses on 'the dialectic between permanence and transformation, between repetition and creativity and the intrinsic qualities of openness and flexibility inherent in 'the dreaming' (Tjukurrpa).' Tjukurrpa as immanent and consubstantial with humans is elaborated through the manifold telling of personal Kukatja dream narratives and extensive translations of Tjukurrpa story to illustrate the different levels and types of mytho-ritual transformations.
If this analytic sounds familiar to those versed in western desert... |
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