Snake Circle

Snake Dreaming: Autobiography of a Black Woman #3

by Roberta B. Sykes

Snake Circle is the final book of Roberta Sykes' Snake Dreaming trilogy.

Snake Circle draws the remarkable Snake Dreaming trilogy to a close as we accompany Sykes on the final stage of her journey - this time to Harvard University. It is a vivid recounting of Sykes' experience as the first Australian Black to graduate with a doctorate, and of her growing confidence as she thrives in the new environment of Harvard. It also passionately tells of her relationships with those she loves, such as MumShirl and her children, and the ongoing run-ins she has with the bureaucracy and politicians along the way. A moving and exuberant conclusion to a story that began as a tale of brutalisation.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID ABOUT SNAKE CRADLE AND SNAKE DANCING :

' Snake Cradle and Snake Dancing are enough to suggest that Sykes' three-volume memoir may well become an Australian classic.' - Sun-Herald

'Once begun, readers should be made aware that Snake Dancing is the kind of book which tugs at you to read it quickly. Once read, it is sure to stay long with us.' - Canberra Times

'It is a testament to the writing as much as to her life that the reader becomes so immersed in the story of Roberta Sykes. It is a story every Australian should read.' - Anne Summers, The Age

'Roberta. that you not only survived but triumphed is an incredible tribute to you and the human spirit.' - David Suzuki

'Reading Roberta Sykes is to be engaged by a great tale and by an uncompromisingly fine writer.' - Janine Burke, The Age

325 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Roberta "Bobbi" Sykes (b. 1943) is an Australian poet and author. Although she is the daughter of a white Australian mother and an African-American father, she has always identified as, and until recently was accepted as, an indigenous Australian. She has been a life-long campaigner for indigenous land rights, as well as human rights and women's rights.Awards and nominations

1982: Patricia Weickert Black Writers Award
1994: Australian Human Rights Medal
1997: Age Book of the Year for Snake Cradle
1998: National Biography Award for Snake Cradle
1998: Nita B. Kibble Literary Award for Snake Cradle

Bibliography

Love Poems and other Revolutionary Actions (Cammeray: The Saturday Centre, 1979)
Mum Shirl: An Autobiography (with Colleen Shirley Perry) (Melbourne, 1981)
Love Poems and other Revolutionary Actions (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1989) ISBN 0-7022-2173-2
Eclipse. (Queensland, Australia: Univ of Queensland Press, 1996) ISBN 0-7022-2848-6
Incentive, Achievement and Community (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1986)
Black Majority (Hawthorn, Australia: Hudson, 1989) ISBN 0-949873-25-X
Murawina: Australian Women of High Achievement (Sydney: Doubleday, 1993) ISBN 0-86824-436-8
Snake Cradle (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1997) ISBN 1-86448-513-2
Snake Dancing (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1998) ISBN 1-86448-513-2
Snake Circle (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2000) ISBN 1-86508-335-6

External links

http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cms/china... for an analysis of the controversy about her identity.

Reviews

[Kt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This review is for the Snake Dreaming Triology as a whole, rather than for the individual books Snake Cradle, Snake Dancing and Snake Circle that make up the trilogy.

Born in the 1940s to a black father she never knew and a white mother, Roberta Sykes did not have an easy life. Growing up in poverty in Townsville, Queensland; she was a sick child who was bullied, exposed to domestic violence and her mother’s narcissism, and gang raped at seventeen. She was also a person who never gave up, relying on her totem the Snake for strength and courage.

Growing into adulthood, she searched to establish her paternity whilst dealing with the challenges of becoming a young mother as a result of being raped, only to end up in two toxic relationships. Working hard to better herself and forge a life her two children, Sykes became involved in Aboriginal health and activism at a time when much of Australia was against her, including many of her so called friends and family. Not content with being the first Secretary at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra; Sykes would go on to gain both a Masters and PhD from Harvard University in the 1980s, making her the first black Australian to have gained a PhD worldwide and only the fourteenth Australian to earn one from Harvard.

What an interesting read the autobiographical Snake Dreaming trilogy was. Sykes’ determination to leave the world a better place than she found it leapt off the page in all three books as she shares a no holds barred account of her first forty years. The fact that she was able to accomplish so much given her terrible and traumatic childhood is nothing short of remarkable; especially in a time when Aboriginal people were subjected to significant racism and the ‘protection’ of the Government.

I did struggle a little with the way all three books were written though, as reading them was like reading someone’s diary. They all contained a lot of information that didn’t add to the narrative in my opinion, and on occasion took away from it. Instead, I wished for a lot less of the day to day stuff and more about what happened once she obtained the PhD she worked so hard for and how she ultimately told her son Russell about his conception as a result of being gang raped given the lengths she went to hide it from him as he grew up.

An eye opening read from one of Australia’s most well known Aboriginal activists; the Snake Dreaming trilogy is an inspiring read about a very resilient woman that everyone should read.

The Snake Dreaming Trilogy is my twentieth read in #ktbookbingo, category ‘A Trilogy.’ To play along with my book bingo and to see what else I’m reading, go to #ktbookbingo or @kt_elder on Instagram.