![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() However, Australian archaeology is also complicit in the erasure of Aboriginal diversity and alterity that is an effect of Dark Emu’s project and, as such, responsible for the erasure of options to learn from the past and challenge the present. One of the reasons for this lack of critical interrogation is an agreement with Dark Emu’s key motivation: a genuine interest in growing the knowledge of and appreciation for Indigenous heritage in Australia. Australian archaeologists have so far largely failed to engage with Dark Emu and its arguments in any substantial form. The success and enthusiastic reception of Dark Emu by large sections of Australian society is consequently equally unsurprising and deeply problematic. He implicitly supports a historical narrative and a vision of human nature that is at the heart of most current environmental and social problems. In doing this, Pascoe actually places Aboriginal lifeways at the origin of a culture-historical trajectory that he himself has criticised for most of his life. In the book Dark Emu, Pascoe argues that Aboriginal Australian societies should not be described as ‘hunter-gatherers’ but as ‘farmers’. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |