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Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories)

Narratives of Rock Art from Yanyuwa Country in Northern Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories) explores the rich tapestry of Indigenous Australian culture and history through the lens of rock art and storytelling. This book delves into how these ancient artefacts convey diverse narratives that have persisted through generations. It provides insight into the ways these stories are interwoven with the Australian landscape, offering a nuanced understanding of cultural heritage.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you have an interest in exploring the rich tapestry of storytelling, cultural heritage, and indigenous narratives. With insights from history and anthropology, it offers an engaging journey through the diverse stories that have shaped communities, making it a great read for enthusiasts of cultural histories and military traditions.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Winner, 2024 Chief Minister's NT History Book Award

Fully illustrated, Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories) draws on a combined 70+ years of collaborative research involving Yanyuwa Elders, anthropologists, and an archaeologist to tell a unique story about the rock art from Yanyuwa Country in northern Australia's southwest Gulf of Carpentaria.

Australia's rock art is recognised globally for its antiquity, abundance, distinctive motifs, and the deep and abiding knowledge Indigenous people continue to hold for these powerful symbols. However, books about Australian rock art jointly written by Indigenous communities, anthropologists, and archaeologists are extremely rare.

Combining Yanyuwa and western knowledge, the authors embark on a journey to reveal the true meaning of Yanyuwa rock art. At the heart of this book is the understanding that a painting is not just a painting, nor is it an isolated phenomenon or a static representation. What underpins Yanyuwa perceptions of their rock art is kinship, because people are kin to everything and everywhere on Country.

Jakarda Wuka highlights the multidimensional nature of Yanyuwa rock art: it is an active social agent in the landscape, capable of changing according to different circumstances and events, connected to the epic travels and songs of Ancestral Beings (Dreamings), and related to various aspects of Yanyuwa life such as ceremony, health and wellbeing, identity, and narratives concerning past and present-day events.

In a time where Indigenous communities, archaeologists, and anthropologists are seeking new ways to work together and better engage with Indigenous knowledges to interpret the 'archaeological record', Jakarda Wuka delivers a masterful and profound narrative of Yanyuwa Country and its rock art.

This project was supported by the Australian Research Council and the McArthur River Mine Community Benefits Trust.

Series: Advances in Australasian Archaeology

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  • Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories)
    Winner, 2024 Chief Minister's NT History Book Award Fully illustrated, Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories) draws on a combined 70+ years of collaborative research involving Yanyuwa Elders, anthropologists, and an archaeologist to tell a unique story about the rock art from Yanyuwa Country in northern Australia's southwest Gulf of Carpentaria. Australia's rock art is recognised globally for its antiquity, abundance,...
    Paperback
    $5999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories) is praised for its collaboration between Yanyuwa elders and experts, enriching the understanding of the rock art in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The book is noted for its maps and stunning photographs, illustrating the cultural and spiritual connections with the landscape. It contributes significantly to the discourse on Australian and global rock art and ethnography, showcasing the intricacies of Aboriginal knowledge and its connection to art, heritage, and spirituality.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781743328774

Publisher: Sydney University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 May 2023

Country: Australia

Imprint: Sydney University Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 178.0mm

Height: 254.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 340

About the Author

li-Yanyuwa li-Wirdiwalangu (Yanyuwa Elders) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory who live in the coastal region inclusive of and opposite to the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria.

Assoc. Prof. Liam M. Brady, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University. His research is designed to challenge traditional, westernoriented approaches to interpreting and understanding the archaeological record, generate new insights into deep-time social interaction, and draw attention to new ways of thinking about partnership-based research practice with Indigenous communities.

Associate Prof. John Bradley, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University. John has worked alongside Indigenous communities in the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory, for more than 30 years. In that time he's developed a close bond with the local Yanyuwa people and is now among a tiny minority of people who speak Yanyuwa fluently.

Prof. Amanda Kearney, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne. Her research involves addressing themes of Indigenous experience, ways of knowing, land rights and the prevailing impact of settler colonial violence on Indigenous lives and lands and waters. Her research has developed with the kind support of Yanyuwa families, the Indigenous owners of land and sea in the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.

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