Terra Nullius A Journey Through No One Land Sven Lindqvist 9781847085214 Books
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Terra Nullius A Journey Through No One Land Sven Lindqvist 9781847085214 Books
Sven Lindqvist has never written a bad word, and the abuse and destruction of Aboriginal and nomadic peoples is one of his pet subjects - see his work on the destruction of the Hetero peoples in "Exterminate All The Brutes". Now he turns to Australia and the dismal treatment of the Aboriginal population by both settlers, anthropologists, "protectors" (possibly one of the most grotesque misuses of a word in the history of the English language) and politicians. He travels through South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia documenting at each stop another example of a community torn apart by casual race hate, or near genocide, of Aboriginal communities desperately trying to protect cultural and family ties. None of this is new material, but rarely has it been described in such stark terms. Lindqvist argues, correctly, that whether the near genocide was intended or not (he thinks it was, or at least that the removal of Aboriginal communities was a desired outcome) it very nearly succeeded, and that the extent to which Aboriginal culture has managed to survive is remarkable. He believes it a sign of a very strong culture rather than the weak, outmoded one it is often portrayed as. He also correctly argues that saying "Sorry" is meaningless without some attempt to change behaviour or make things right. As he points out to those who would argue "its nothing to do with me, I haven't mistreated any Aborigines", maybe not, but if you've enjoyed the spoils of conquest, as all European settlers have, then you should pay part of the reparation costs. Couldn't agree more. Highly recommendedProduct details
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Terra Nullius A Journey Through No One Land Sven Lindqvist 9781847085214 Books Reviews
Literary historian Sven Linqvist was introduced to Australia at a young age. An 1896 book described how white European invaders viewed and treated the Aborigines. The story depicted a trio of young European boys encountering a group of Aborigines at a meal. Tucked away in a deep cavern, which to the boys meant the Aborigines couldn't have hunted the meal, the boys immediately concluded the group was engaging in cannibalism. The result was inevitable, the boys opened fire with their carbines, wiping out the "natives". For Lindqvist, it launched a train of thought he pursued years later. Journeying around and through Australia, he brought in his swag a background of European literature dealing with "primitive" peoples. In this vivid account, he takes us on both a geographic and a sociological tour of Australia's historical dealings with its indigenous population. At each stopping point, he relates what occurred to the Aboriginal occupiers there. It's not a pretty story.
The Aborigines were the focus of a good many early ethnographic scholars, almost none of whom set foot on the southern continent. Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Bronislaw Malinovski, among others, read a few accounts of missionary or other observers to draw novel, if still Euro-centric, ideas of what Aborigine social structure was like and what it meant for human history. The common theme was that primitive societies represented a step on the way to "civilisation". According to Lindqvist, these scholars were uniformly incorrect. Instead of family, clan or even religion binding Aborigine society, it was the land they occupied. Europeans, who considered nomadic peoples as "landless", failed to observe the way land featured in family relationships, religion and the way a people who seemed to be constantly on the move, viewed the land. Aborigines may not have farmed the soil or used it to pasture animals, but that was because they understood how fragile that resource truly is. Europeans, under the influence of Christian dogma about "heathens" and academic dogmas about "primitive people", occupied Aborigine land with the view to "assimilating" or eradicating them. Assimilation was achieved by elimination of all ties to their own culture and a brief education leading to demeaning jobs as domestics or labourers. In short, forced off their land, forced to deny their roots, forced to enter an alien life.
The colony of New South Wales considered the issue of "terra nullius" ["land not occupied"] in the 1820s, but the author mercifully skips over the issue of whether displacing or killing Aborigines was "legal" or not. Instead, he views it as the attitude and the practice of Christian European settlers and miners as they crossed the continent. Until recently, only a few accounts made any effort to bring the Aborigines into historical narratives. Lindqvist makes the most of what he can find to depict the atrocities perpetrated against them. Beyond merely shooting them, Europeans also turned to the seizure of children to be trained in "mission" stations to be domestic servants or road and farm labourers. In addition to simply breaking up families with this tactic, the removal of children dismantled the entire social structure of the culture. With firm ties to particular areas of the countryside and ancient traditions regarding who could marry among the various "moieties", Europeans demolished millennia of finely-tuned cultural foundations.
As a literary historian with a broad outlook in philosophy, the author carefully examines the options facing the white population of Australia. How much guilt is to be recognized when you're living in a place so blatantly wrested from an indigenous population? How much responsibility is there for an individual in those circumstances to consider or bear? It's interesting that Australians have had sufficient sense of conscience to implement a "Sorry Day" in recognition of the injustices done to original peoples. Court cases finally introduced [almost] full citizenship, some justice for recent murders and, most significantly, recognition of what "land rights" implied. Regrettably, the federal government of the time [recently overturned after an over-long tenure] immediately attempted to impose new restrictions on access to sacred places. Even so, some halting first steps have been taken. It will be interesting to watch whether Lindqvist's account provokes Australia into more constructive steps into the future. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
I've only skimmed so far because i'm reading other things but I think I will get right into it
I love Australia. I have read a lot about it and spent a couple of weeks there but I had not heard much about the white people taking over the country. When I heard about this book I wanted to check it out. I got a used hardcover copy for one penny off of . This book is very well written and tells the story of the mistreatment of blacks and imigrants by the white government. Many of the stories still are not told in museums in Australia. I saw some of the bad feelings towards blacks when I was there in 1985. I was a bit surprised that those feelings are still intense more than twenty years later. If you are into world history this book will give you something to think about.
Sven Lindqvist has never written a bad word, and the abuse and destruction of Aboriginal and nomadic peoples is one of his pet subjects - see his work on the destruction of the Hetero peoples in "Exterminate All The Brutes". Now he turns to Australia and the dismal treatment of the Aboriginal population by both settlers, anthropologists, "protectors" (possibly one of the most grotesque misuses of a word in the history of the English language) and politicians. He travels through South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia documenting at each stop another example of a community torn apart by casual race hate, or near genocide, of Aboriginal communities desperately trying to protect cultural and family ties. None of this is new material, but rarely has it been described in such stark terms. Lindqvist argues, correctly, that whether the near genocide was intended or not (he thinks it was, or at least that the removal of Aboriginal communities was a desired outcome) it very nearly succeeded, and that the extent to which Aboriginal culture has managed to survive is remarkable. He believes it a sign of a very strong culture rather than the weak, outmoded one it is often portrayed as. He also correctly argues that saying "Sorry" is meaningless without some attempt to change behaviour or make things right. As he points out to those who would argue "its nothing to do with me, I haven't mistreated any Aborigines", maybe not, but if you've enjoyed the spoils of conquest, as all European settlers have, then you should pay part of the reparation costs. Couldn't agree more. Highly recommended
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