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. |
Contents
One Introduction to the Ngarinyin | |
Conception and Birth | |
Early Childhood | |
Adolescence | |
Early Adulthood | |
Death | |
Eight TwoWay Thinking | |
Ten Converging Paradigms | |
About Inner Traditions | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal ancestral Australia baby Banman Bear & Company become behavior biological bird birth body boys bush turkey Bush University camp ceremony child consciousness Creation culture’s cycle dance Daughter Sun death dreaming Dulugun Dumby Earth energy experience father female Gardia gender Gidgegannup girls goanna Guildford Grammar School human hunting husband initiation Inner Traditions journey kangaroo Kimberley knowledge land Lawmen living male man’s 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 ritual rock sacred sexual share singing Snake social song spirit stories taboo teach teenage totemic traditional tree Triangle Thinking tribal tribe Two-Way Thinking Wandjina Western Australia Western culture Western world Whitefellas Wodoi and Djingun woman womanhood women Women’s Business Wunggud waters Wurnan yams young