Daughters of the Dreaming

by Diane Bell

Award-winning author Diane Bell reveals the importance of women’s roles in Australian Aboriginal desert culture—as maintainers of land, ritual, and culture.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Womens

342 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Carrie Kellenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 1975 anthropological study on women's roles in Australian Aboriginal desert culture. The first time I read this book was in 1993 in university. It is meticulous and well written. I can't think of any cultural topics that Bell doesn't cover in Daughters of the Dreaming.

It might be the learning nerd in me, but I enjoy going back 25 years to what I was reading in university to see how I feel about it today at age 46.

I haven't found any follow-up studies on these women. I'm curious to know what is happening with them today. In the 70s, the press of modern society was just starting to be seen amongst these people.

[✩☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

it disturbed the entrenched doctrine of male dominance. it required that we see gendered relations as dynamic but grounded in space and time.

this book really took me back to my teenage years when i wanted more than anything to be an anthropologist. it's grounded in such a love for culture and people. bell presents a dynamic model of sexual relations in central australian aboriginal communities. she suggests historical separation of knowledge bases between men and women ensured interdependence without privileging one sex over other, requiring both sexes work in tandem to maintain law, custom and community. however colonial encroachment and male dominance inherent to anglo-culture resulted in the privileging of male authority by settlers and over time resulted in an erosion of women's power base. she also weaves standpoint theory into her critique of the notion of a 'balanced' or 'gender-neutral' ethnography with particular reference to aboriginal communities where access to knowledge is gated by age, sex, marital and childbearing status.

of course, for the crime of daring to suggest women's lives have meaning and for specifically focusing her research on women, a category that has now been disclaimed out of existence, her writing attracted considerable ire, first from those refusing to confront male bias in the anthropological institution and then from the postmodernist crusade against articulations of female specificity. she navigates these critiques in her epilogue. on the whole it's a denser and more academic text than i had anticipated so it took me a while to get through as a STEM major with virtually no background in the humanities but very glad i picked it up. bell closes with recommendations of female aboriginal writers - a great direction for further reading.

[Joan Garvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this many years ago but am so glad that I did. This book provides some insight into the lives of Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory of Australia. Much more has been written since but from what I've read nothing that touches on this exploration of the lives of women who live on the same land but have such a different experience.