Growing Up in Central Australia : New Anthropological Studies of Aboriginal Childhood and Adolescence

Surprisingly little research has been carried out about how Australian Aboriginal children and teenagers experience life, shape their social world and imagine the future. This volume presents recent and original studies of life experiences outside the institutional settings of childcare and education, of those growing up in contemporary Central Australia or with strong links to the region. Focusing on the remote communities - roughly 1,200 across the continent - the volume includes case studies of language and family life in small country towns and urban contexts. These studies expertly show that forms of consciousness have changed enormously over the last hundred years for Indigenous societies more so than for the rest of Australia, yet equally notable are the continuities across generations. [Publisher website] Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction. Aboriginal Children and Young People in Focus PART I. CHILDHOOD ACROSS TIME: HISTORICAL AND LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVES Chapter 1. ‘Less was hidden among these children’: Géza Róheim, Anthropology and the Politics of Aboriginal Childhood Chapter 2. Envisioning Lives at Ernabella Chapter 3. Warungka: Becoming and Unbecoming a Warlpiri Person Chapter 4. Fathers and Sons, Trajectories of Self: Refl ections on Pintupi Lives and Futures PART II. STORIES, LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL SPACE Chapter 5. Sand Storytelling: Its Social Meaning in Anangu Children’s Lives Chapter 6. Young Children’s Social Meaning Making in a New Mixed Language Chapter 7. The Yard PART III. YOUTH, IDENTITY AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION Chapter 8. Organization within Disorder: The Present and Future of Young People in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands Chapter 9. Being Mardu: Change and Challenge for Some Western Desert Young People Today Chapter 10. Invisible and Visible Loyalties in Racialized Contexts: A Systemic Perspective on Aboriginal Youth Notes on Contributors References Index 'Less was hidden among these children': Géza Roheim, anthropology and the politics of Aboriginal childhood / John Morton Envisioning lives at Ernabella / Katrina Tjitayi and Sandra Lewis Warungka: becoming and unbecoming a Warlpiri person / Yasmine Musharbash Fathers and sons, trajectories of self: reflections on Pintupi lives and futures / Fred R. Myers Sand storytelling: its social meaning in Anangu children's lives / Ute Eickelkamp Young children's social meaning making in a new mixed language / Carmel O'Shannessy The yard / Craig San Roque Organization within disorder: the present and future of young people in the Ngaanyatjarra lands / David Brooks Being Mardu: change and challenge for some Western Desert young people today / Myrna Tonkinson Invisible and visible loyalties in racialized contexts: a systematic perspective on Aboriginal youth / Marika Moisseeff.