Sister Girl: the writings of an Aboriginal activist and historian by Jackie Huggins
This is a fantastic book. It's a collection of essays on topics from the history of aboriginal servants in Queensland to her personal experiences with feminism and the public service, and it was like a clear shining light of truth on a bunch of topics I've been unclear on. I'm going to hunt down and buy a copy and read it again, then force it on as many of my friends and family as I can manage :) Big thanks to fire_fly for recommending it to me while I was trying to put together my post about feminism and race in australia.
The author has an academic background but makes a strong effort to use simple, easily comprehended language so that her words are as accessible as possible. The spare style took me a little while to get used to but overall I found very readable (and I have trouble with a lot of humanities academic language) especially given the many moments of engaging personal autobiography and humour.
I keep wanting to quote bits, it's all so powerful and relevant. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in feminism or race in this country or any other. Western australia, like Jackie Huggins' native Queensland is as she says "sunny one day, racist the next" (Lovely climate, but otherwise a white dominated backwater) and I also have a background in academia and the public service, so it was remarkably relevant to me.
But I decided I would instead give a summary of the essays, since otherwise you might not realise how diverse and interesting they are. My summaries do not do them justice. These are mostly only a few pages, it's a very short book.
"Firing on in the mind": the hidden history of aboriginal workers in pastoral australia. Recent years have brought home to me the fact that afaict the only real difference between american slavery and the way we treated aboriginal workers was that we were working towards genocide rather than profit.
"Wedmedi-If only you knew": the mistreatment and suppression of aboriginal women by white women and the feminist movement in australia. Required reading for any white australian feminist!
"Writing my mother's life": She discusses her mother's life, and her feelings about writing her biography as an aboriginal woman of a different generation.
"But you couldn't possibly": on making her own path through life as an aboriginal woman in Australia, and the limitations/expectations she's had to get past.
"Are all the women white?" A discussion with the african american author bell hooks on australian radio. They bond over the shared experience of being a Black woman. Really interesting and inspiring.
"Reflections of Lillith": a short light hearted vignette written after attending a conference in Melbourne. While obviously my experience of ethnicity is very different, I could very much relate to being disoriented in the Melbourne drizzle while taking refuge from an incomprehensible conference :)
White apron black hands: a very brief history of aboriginal domestic servants.
"Respect vs Political correctness": How to write about aboriginal people or religion respectfully. If only more people paid this sort of thing any attention :/
"The great deception: working inside the Bureaucracy" The great deception: that aboriginal public servants are able to make a difference when there is an almost unbreakable glass ceiling keeping them in menial, powerless positions. She also talks about the mistrust and divided loyalties that comes of working for The Man.
"The mothering tongue" a lovely ode to her mother.
"Kooramindanjie: Place and the postcolonial" On visiting the lands her mother lived in before being forced onto a reserve.
"Oppressed but liberated" on being the only aboriginal teacher at a 95% black school with a 100% white curriculum, and then getting involved with Women's Studies.
"Experience and Identity: Writing history" An interview about being an Aboriginal Historian
"Auntie Rita's file" the difficulty of accessing the long government file kept on her mother (just for being born on a reserve), and how this connects to wider issues with government control.
"Queensland: is the clock still back 100 years?" On aboriginal history in Queensland over the last 100 years.
"Bringing them home" about the stolen generation and the need for an apology (and now we finally have one, at last)
The author has an academic background but makes a strong effort to use simple, easily comprehended language so that her words are as accessible as possible. The spare style took me a little while to get used to but overall I found very readable (and I have trouble with a lot of humanities academic language) especially given the many moments of engaging personal autobiography and humour.
I keep wanting to quote bits, it's all so powerful and relevant. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in feminism or race in this country or any other. Western australia, like Jackie Huggins' native Queensland is as she says "sunny one day, racist the next" (Lovely climate, but otherwise a white dominated backwater) and I also have a background in academia and the public service, so it was remarkably relevant to me.
But I decided I would instead give a summary of the essays, since otherwise you might not realise how diverse and interesting they are. My summaries do not do them justice. These are mostly only a few pages, it's a very short book.
"Firing on in the mind": the hidden history of aboriginal workers in pastoral australia. Recent years have brought home to me the fact that afaict the only real difference between american slavery and the way we treated aboriginal workers was that we were working towards genocide rather than profit.
"Wedmedi-If only you knew": the mistreatment and suppression of aboriginal women by white women and the feminist movement in australia. Required reading for any white australian feminist!
"Writing my mother's life": She discusses her mother's life, and her feelings about writing her biography as an aboriginal woman of a different generation.
"But you couldn't possibly": on making her own path through life as an aboriginal woman in Australia, and the limitations/expectations she's had to get past.
"Are all the women white?" A discussion with the african american author bell hooks on australian radio. They bond over the shared experience of being a Black woman. Really interesting and inspiring.
"Reflections of Lillith": a short light hearted vignette written after attending a conference in Melbourne. While obviously my experience of ethnicity is very different, I could very much relate to being disoriented in the Melbourne drizzle while taking refuge from an incomprehensible conference :)
White apron black hands: a very brief history of aboriginal domestic servants.
"Respect vs Political correctness": How to write about aboriginal people or religion respectfully. If only more people paid this sort of thing any attention :/
"The great deception: working inside the Bureaucracy" The great deception: that aboriginal public servants are able to make a difference when there is an almost unbreakable glass ceiling keeping them in menial, powerless positions. She also talks about the mistrust and divided loyalties that comes of working for The Man.
"The mothering tongue" a lovely ode to her mother.
"Kooramindanjie: Place and the postcolonial" On visiting the lands her mother lived in before being forced onto a reserve.
"Oppressed but liberated" on being the only aboriginal teacher at a 95% black school with a 100% white curriculum, and then getting involved with Women's Studies.
"Experience and Identity: Writing history" An interview about being an Aboriginal Historian
"Auntie Rita's file" the difficulty of accessing the long government file kept on her mother (just for being born on a reserve), and how this connects to wider issues with government control.
"Queensland: is the clock still back 100 years?" On aboriginal history in Queensland over the last 100 years.
"Bringing them home" about the stolen generation and the need for an apology (and now we finally have one, at last)