Ethnic studies Books

The first draft of this book was written under a tree on the slope of a sandhill where, for several years, Englishwoman Pat Lowe shared a desert camp with her lifetime partner, Walmajarri man Jimmy Pike. While spending time in the red heart of country...

Lorraine McGee-Sippel was just a small girl when she asked her parents what a half-caste was. It was the 1950s and the first step on a journey that would span decades and lead her to search for her birth family. In the historic climate of the Rudd...

This is the autobiography of Ambrose Mungala Chalarimeri, a Kwini man from the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. Ambrose speaks out honestly, without malice or accusation, on a number of subjects including the appropriation of rock art, the...

Holocene Pointbreaks presents a triptych of long poems that veer physically, temporally, and textually across the lands of the Dharawal and Eora Nations. From morning reflections on Australia's most polluted urban waterway, the 'Cooks River', to a...

Whatmakes one nation curious about another nation? Curious enough that the study ofthe other's culture and language becomes a natural commitment or something thatcould be described as a national project? This question lies behind much of thewriting in...

Jakartabased Andreas Harsono is one of the most knowledgeable, experienced,high-profile and courageous of reporters and commentators on contemporaryIndonesian society. Race, Islam and Power: Ethnic and ReligiousViolence in Post-Suharto...

A new format of an acclaimed history - joint winner of the Northern Territory Chief Minister's History Book Award 2013.In 1883, pastoralists began to drive great herds of cattle into the Northern Territory's Victoria River District. They entered a vast...

In 1946 Aboriginal people walked off pastoral stations in Western Australia's Pilbara region, withdrawing their labour from the economically important wool industry to demand improvements in wages and conditions. Their strike lasted three years. On Red...

What does reconciliation and truth-telling look like, and how do we as a nation find justice for Indigenous people?In this deeply personal work, Inala Cooper shares stories of her family to show the impact of colonisation on the lives of Aboriginal...

Fatal Contact explores the devastating infectious diseases introduced into the Indigenous populations of Australia after the arrival of the British colonists in 1788. Epidemics of smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza, measles and sexually transmitted...

Australian archaeology has been involved in a great enterprise over the last sixty years, uncovering the deep past of a desert continent and the history of its first people. This book is a guide to the catchphrases of the discipline. It is a meditation...

1860. An Aboriginal labourer named Jim Crow is led to the scaffold of the Maitland Gaol in colonial New South Wales. Among the onlookers is the Scotsman AS Hamilton, who will take bizarre steps in the aftermath of the execution to exhume this young man's...

In the late 1990s, Carolyn Landon collaborated with Daryl Tonkin to write his memoir of life at Jackson's Track. It was the story of a White man and his Aboriginal family, of family ties, hard work, happiness, betrayal, racial prejudice and ultimately,...

This book analyses the stories of white fathers, men who were positioned as key players in the plans to assimilate Aboriginal people by 'breeding out the colour' and attempts to put textual flesh on the bodies of these white fathers, and in doing so,...

Aboriginal people of New South Wales carved trees as a form of visual communication for thousands of years. These elaborate designs carved into the sapwood and heartwood of trees once a section of external bark was removed - were meant to last. Sadly,...

Written by anthropologist Dianne Johnson, Night Skies of Aboriginal Australia has been in demand since its publication in 1998. It is a record of the stars and planets which pass across the night-time skies. This noctuary holds not only a record of what...

In the early days we did painting. Cultural way. For ourselves.Then on the mission Sister Alice was working with the young men and women, like Gracie Green and Matthew Gill. We did a lot of landscapes at the start. Then after that people did a lot of...

'It is important for us to read our own stories and to keep the tradition of our language for our future generations.' - Dereck Harris, Chairman, Ngaanyatjarra Council'In the Time of their Lives is a wonderful book that honours the extraordinary...

Dancing in Shadows explores the power of Indigenous performance pitted against the forces of settler colonisation. Historian Anna Haebich documents how the Nyungar people of Western Australia strategically and courageously adapted their rich performance...

The 1970s witnessed the emergence of a global environmental movement in response to rampant resource extraction. This moment gave rise to a celebrated 'green-black alliance' between environmentalists and Indigenous groups in Australia. However, in recent...

Professor Sylvia J. Hallam FAHA has written a substantial Afterword to accompany a facsimile edition of her classic work from 1975, Fire and Hearth. In the light of considerable interest in this subject we are thrilled to release this work of...

The revised edition of Reform and Resistance in Aboriginal Education takes a fresh look at the challenges and achievements that have occurred in this important area since the book's original release in 2003. Interest in Aboriginal education has increased...

Australia's coral reefs stretch far and wide, covering 50 000 square kilometres from the Indian Ocean in the West to the Pacific Ocean in the East. They have been viewed as a bedrock of coastal livelihoods, as uncharted and perilous nautical...

The filthy back streets of London's East End in the Victorian era were home to every imaginable crime, vice and horror. Many thousands lived there without Christ and without hope, and no one seemed to care. But William Booth did care. In 1865 Booth...

In this second, refreshed edition of Samantha Martin’s bestselling Bush Tukka Guide, readers will discover additional bush foods, recipes and updated information in a handy, field guide format.   Known as the Bush Tukka Woman, Jaru woman Samantha...

The Welcome to Country Handbook by Professor Marcia Langton AO is your accessible introduction to First Nations Peoples, histories and cultures. Drawn from the bestselling Welcome to Country, this guide is essential reading for every...

This Book Thinks Ya Deadly! is an inspirational, illustrated compendium that celebrates the diversity and success of First Nations People.Written by Corey Tutt, author of The First Scientists, this book features the profiles of more than 70 Blakfellas...

Wayne Quilliam: Culture is Life is the new, large-format edition of this stunning photographic art book that celebrates the diversity of Indigenous Australians.   Pre-eminent Aboriginal photographer Wayne Quilliam has an archive of millions of...

In this first biography of the man and his music, Jimmy Little: A Yorta Yorta Man tells the incredible story of one of Australia’s most acclaimed Aboriginal pop and country music legends and icons, Jimmy Little. At just 16 years of age, Jimmy Little...

A Joyful Life is the astonishing memoir of Rosemary Kariuki, one of Australia's most beloved Local Heroes. Long before she was advocating for refugee and migrant women just like herself, Rosemary was a survivor like no other.    As a...

A joint project with the Indigenous Literary Foundation, Murli la is a beautifully designed gift book that celebrates the culture of the Tiwi Islands through song. The songs presented in this book hold cultural, genealogical, geographical and spiritual...

In this updated edition of the bestselling book, Finding the Heart of the Nation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander author Thomas Mayo gets behind the politics and legal speak to explain why the Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to all...

In Through Her Eyes Australian women correspondents tell their own stories from the frontline – covering the breaking news, the issues and the events that are changing the world. They tell of Russian tanks and Ukrainian mothers fleeing with...

Dear Son shares heartfelt letters written by First Nations men about life, masculinity, love, culture and racism. Along with his own vivid and poignant prose and poetry, author and editor Thomas Mayo invites 12 contributors to write a letter to...

Winner of the University Of Queensland Non-Fiction Book AwardA deeply personal exploration of Australia's colonisation past, present and future by one of Australia's finest contemporary authors.This is a difficult piece to write. It cuts closer to the...

This artwork, titled Diverse Women, celebrates the energy flowing through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women of the past, through to the present, and bubbling towards future generations of tiddas (sisters). In Rachael's words, it 'celebrates the...

Loving Country is a powerful and essential guidebook that offers a new way to travel and discover Australia through an Indigenous narrative. In this beautifully designed and photographed edition, co-authors Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou, in...

Delving deep into the Australian landscape and the environmental challenges we face, Fire Country is a powerful account from Indigenous land management expert Victor Steffensen on how the revival of cultural burning practices, and improved 'reading' of...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and society has existed on this continent for millennia. It's a culture that manifests itself as the ultimate example of resilience, strength and beauty. It’s also a culture that has consistently been led by...

Stan Grant is talking to his country in a new way. In his most poetic and inspiring work yet, he offers a means of moving beyond the binaries and embracing a path to peace and forgiveness, rooted in the Wiradjuri spiritual practice of Yindyamarra – deep...

The story of Australia’s Black convicts has been all but erased from our history. In recovering their lives, Santilla Chingaipe offers a fresh understanding of this fatal shore, showing how empire, slavery, race and memory have shaped our nation.On the...

For the first time, the First Nations story of Cook’s arrival, and what blackfellas want everyone to know about the coming of Europeans.Both 250 years late and extremely timely, this is an account of what First Nations people saw and felt when James Cook...

A journey of self-empowerment to discover your innate inner wisdom and enact collective healing• Takes you through the eight directions of the Medicine Wheel to ignite your spirit fire, inspire deeper connection with all life on Earth, and open your...

Reveals how psychedelics can help us plant new beliefs, awaken latent gifts, and cultivate individual and collective change• Provides a blueprint for responsible and effective use of psychedelics and plant medicines to transform pain and trauma into...

A guide to the ancient wisdom of the Ogham and Coelbren symbols as well as Celtic tree lore• Provides a full explanation for each character of the Celtic tree alphabets and their historic variants, including each symbol’s corresponding trees, colors,...

An exploration of Indigenous cosmology and history in North America• Examines the complexities of Indigenous legends and creation myths and reveals common oral traditions across much of North America• Explores the history of Cahokia, the Mississippian...

The first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history – the colonised and coloniser – and a bold and innovative new portrait of both.Winner of the 2024 ACT Literary Awards, Non-Fiction Shortlisted...

A guide to connecting with your ancestors and healing your lineage• Shares traditional veneration rites and practices to connect with your ancestors, including limpia rites, trance journeys, energy work, and sacred gardening• Explores ancestral...