Arrernte Present, Arrernte Past: Invasion, Violence, and Imagination in Indigenous Central Australia (Bush School Series in the Economics of Public Policy)

The Arrernte people of Central Australia first encountered Europeans in the 1860s as groups of explorers, pastoralists, missionaries, and laborers invaded their land. During that time the Arrernte were the subject of intense curiosity, and the earliest accounts of their lives, beliefs, and traditions were a seminal influence on European notions of the primitive. The first study to address the Arrernte’s contemporary situation, __Arrernte Present, Arrernte Past__ also documents the immense sociocultural changes they have experienced over the past hundred years. Employing ethnographic and archival research, Diane Austin-Broos traces the history of the Arrernte as they have transitioned from a society of hunter-gatherers to members of the Hermannsburg Mission community to their present, marginalized position in the modern Australian economy. While she concludes that these wrenching structural shifts led to the violence that now marks Arrernte communities, she also brings to light the powerful acts of imagination that have sustained a continuing sense of Arrernte identity. The Arrernte People Of Central Australia First Encountered Europeans In The 1860s As Groups Of Explorers, Pastoralists, Missionaries And Labourers Invaded Their Land. This Is The First Study To Address Arrernte's Contemporary Situation And Also Documents The Immense Sociocultural Changes. D. Austin-broos, University Of Sydney. Part 1 Remembering The Mission -- 1 Encounter At Ntaria 27 -- 2 Kaporilya, A Big Place 51 -- 3 The Meaning Of Pepe 77 -- Part 2 Life As A Standing Fight -- 4 Home And Away: The Dislocation Of Identity 105 -- 5 Living With Kin 130 -- 6 Honey Ants And Relatedness 154 -- Part 3 Outstations And Being Remote -- 7 Factionalism (or, The Secret Life Of An Outstation Movement) 179 -- 8 When Imaginaries Collide 205 -- 9 A Very Remote Emergency 238 -- Appendix A Kaporilya Song 271 -- Appendix B Glossary Of Western Arrernte Terms 273. Diane Austin-broos. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 299-316) And Index.