Men's Business, Women's Business: The Spiritual Role of Gender in the World's Oldest CultureBeautiful stories of life in Australian Aboriginal society--where gender influences every aspect of existence--that show a new way to find happiness in our modern Western culture • Follows an Australian Aboriginal boy and girl from childhood through adolescence, adulthood, old age, and death, contrasting their experiences with those of ours at the same life stages • Presents the experience of living in a society in which every action is governed by the gender laws of nature and myth, and offers us ideas for the conduct of our lives For thousands of years the Ngarinyin Aboriginal culture of Australia has existed with almost a total division of responsibility between genders. This division enables both men and women to respect the power, wisdom, and essentiality of the other because only when the two genders work in harmony does their culture function as it should. When Hannah Rachel Bell, a committed activist and feminist, first encountered this culture in the 1970s she resisted such blatant gender division. But over her 25-year collaboration with the well-known Aboriginal Lawman David Mowaljarlai she found her beliefs challenged and finally changed. In this book Bell presents the experience of living in a society in which every action is governed by the laws of nature and myth, rather than those of commerce and politics. She offers modern people ideas for the conduct of their lives by raising awareness of the cultural processes and institutions that affect men's and women's authority, sovereignty, and the fulfillment of their birthright. It is a journey that, if traveled collectively, could change the direction and experience of modern culture. |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal ancestral Australia baby Banman become behavior biological bird birth body boys bush turkey Bush University camp ceremony child consciousness Creation cycle dance Daughter Sun death digging sticks dreaming Dulugun Dumby Earth energy experience father female Gardia gender Gibb River Road Gidgegannup girls goanna Guildford Grammar School human hunting images initiation journey Kimberley knowledge land Lawmen living male manhood marriage maturation Men's Business mother Mowaljarlai Murranburra mythic Native Title nature Ngarinyin culture Ngarinyin Law older paintings pattern Peter Carnley physical Rachel Bell reflects responsibility rite rite of passage ritual rock sacred sexual share singing Snake social song spear spirit stage stories taboo teach teenage tion totemic tree Triangle Thinking tribal tribe Two-Way Thinking Wandjina Western Australia Western culture Western world Whitefellas Wodoi and Djingun woman women Women's Business Wunggud waters Wurnan yams young
References to this book
Antropología del género: culturas, mitos y estereotipos sexuales Aurelia Martín Casares Limited preview - 2006 |