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Song spirals : sharing women's wisdom of Country through songlines / Gay'Wu Group of Women ; Laklak Burarrwana, Ritjilili Ganambarr, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Banbapuy Ganambarr, Djawundil Maymuru, Sarah Wright, Sandie Suchet-Pearson, Kate Lloyd.

By: Contributor(s): Publication details: Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2019.Description: x, 304 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations and portraits (some colour) ; 24 cmISBN:
  • 9781760633219
Other title:
  • Songspirals
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 305.89915 23
LOC classification:
  • DU125.Y64 G39 2019
Contents:
Wuymirri -- Wikun -- Guwak -- Wititj -- Go?-gurtha.
Awards:
  • Winner 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction (tie).
Summary: 'We want you to come with us on our journey, our journey of songspirals. Songspirals are the essence of people in this land, the essence of every clan. We belong to the land and it belongs to us. We sing to the land, sing about the land. We are that land. It sings to us.' Aboriginal Australians are the longest surviving human culture on earth, and at the heart of Aboriginal culture is song. These ancient narratives of landscape have often been described as a means of navigating across vast distances without a map, but they are much, much more than this. Songspirals are sung by Aboriginal people to awaken Country, to make and remake the life-giving connections between people and place. Songspirals are radically different ways of understanding the relationship people can have with the landscape. For Yolngu people from North East Arnhem Land, women and men play different roles in bringing songlines to life, yet the vast majority of what has been published is about men's songlines. Songspirals is a rare opportunity for outsiders to experience Aboriginal women's role in crying the songlines in a very authentic and direct form.
List(s) this item appears in: Awarded Non-Fiction
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item reserves
Book Melbourne Athenaeum Library Non-Fiction 305.899 SON Available 069818
Total reserves: 0

Gay'wu Group of Women is the 'dilly bag women's group', a deep collaboration between five Yolngu women and three non-Aboriginal women over a decade - all co-athors of two other books. The group is made up of Laklak Burarrwanga, Sarah Wright, Sandie Suchet-Pearson, Kate Lloyd, Ritjilili Ganambarr, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Banbapuy Ganambarr, Djawundil Maymuru.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Wuymirri -- Wikun -- Guwak -- Wititj -- Go?-gurtha.

'We want you to come with us on our journey, our journey of songspirals. Songspirals are the essence of people in this land, the essence of every clan. We belong to the land and it belongs to us. We sing to the land, sing about the land. We are that land. It sings to us.' Aboriginal Australians are the longest surviving human culture on earth, and at the heart of Aboriginal culture is song. These ancient narratives of landscape have often been described as a means of navigating across vast distances without a map, but they are much, much more than this. Songspirals are sung by Aboriginal people to awaken Country, to make and remake the life-giving connections between people and place. Songspirals are radically different ways of understanding the relationship people can have with the landscape. For Yolngu people from North East Arnhem Land, women and men play different roles in bringing songlines to life, yet the vast majority of what has been published is about men's songlines. Songspirals is a rare opportunity for outsiders to experience Aboriginal women's role in crying the songlines in a very authentic and direct form.

Item in English and Yolngu.

Winner 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction (tie).

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