Indigenous Australian women: Towards a womanist perspective

Butler, Clair. (2021). Indigenous Australian women: Towards a womanist perspective. Dearcadh: Graduate Journal of Gender, Globalisation and Rights, 2. doi:https://doi.org/10.13025/bz9f-5868

Abstract

This article discusses the historical presentation of Indigenous Australian women as depicted through the 1980 paradigms of EuroAustralian feminist and anthropologist Dianne Belle. While Belle’s paradigms, Man Equals Culture; An Anthropology of Women; and Towards a Feminist Perspective, provide a comprehensive history of written accounts of the lives of Indigenous Australian women, such accounts are always written by someone else; an onlooker or outsider. The accounts are mainly written by white anthropologists, both male and female, and are based on a white perception. In this article, I argue for the establishment of a fourth paradigm: Towards a Womanist Perspective; one which focuses on the life writings of Indigenous Australian women themselves. I support my argument through an indepth study of both Alice Nannup’s When the Pelican Laughed (1992) and Rita and Jackie Huggins’ Aunty Rita (1994). I discuss both autobiographies in the light of womanism, a concept separate to that of mainstream feminism. While feminism is necessary, it can unintentionally overlook the needs of some women, in particular, the needs of Indigenous women. In her book, Talkin’ Up to the White Woman (2000), Aboriginal academic Aileen Moreton-Robinson states that unlike white women, Indigenous women have to deal with two patriarchies: that within their own societies and that of the overarching colonial power. I discuss this double patriarchy in the light of Alice Nannup’s and Rita and Jackie Huggins’ life writings and argue for a womanist-based approach to future academic study.

Publisher

School of Political Science and Sociology, University of Galway

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IE

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Collections

School of Political Science & Sociology (Scholarly Articles)