Wominjeka fellow travellers, welcome again to FNF and thank you for traveling with me on the road to treaty and reconciliation as we explore a tiny fraction of the histories and lore of the world’s longest existing continuous cultures, that of the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders.
Did you know that there are no indigenous words for suffering or trauma? Apparently, these are concepts that were learned from missionaries and colonial experience. In Irish language we say “Tá brón orm” literally the sadness is on me, the implication is that someone or something put it there and that it’s not an intrinsic part of me. So, if like me, you are fascinated about the similarities and dissimilarities of different cultures I think you will very much enjoy the recent book by Tyson Yunkaporta titled ‘Right Story, Wrong story’. Hot on the heels of his bestselling debut ‘Sand Talk’ Tyson Yunkaporta applies an indigenous lens to the contemporary society.
In Right Story, Wrong story Yunkaporta yarns with friends from around the world, including my favorite, a Celtic beekeeper Katherine Collins, herself an author and living in the United States. All the conversations are with fellow story tellers, “often comical and disarming, weaving effortlessly between mythological allusion and rigorous cultural theory”.
If you like ‘Cerebral with your cereal’ and don’t subscribe to the lazy view of comparing ‘Apples with Pineapples’ then I highly recommend this read, available now at the Allwood Little Library.
Till next week Triganin – see you soon.
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