Indigenous culture
Peruvians re-weave 500-year-old Incan bridge broken in pandemic
“It’s like an answer to the pandemic itself. This bridge is strung up across the Apurimac and we can tell the world we are coming out if this little by little.”
- by Carlos Valdez
Latest
Opinion
Indigenous
Dark Emu debate highlights problems with labels
If the controversy over Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu has revealed one thing, it’s that labels like ‘farmer’ and ‘hunter-gatherer’ have impeded our understanding of the Australian past.
- by Ben Wilkie
Editorial
Editorial
Dark Emu debate should bring truth closer, not be used in culture wars
History can catch up with all of us. When that happens, it is best confronted with a clear-eyed attention to the truth.
- The Age's View
Purcell praised for contribution to the arts, women and culture
Award winning actress, writer and director Leah Purcell has been made a Member of the Order of Australia.
- by Billie Eder
‘Difference of opinion is not a bad thing’: Pascoe responds to Dark Emu criticism
“Aboriginal people have been wanting to have this discussion for 250 years, so I think it can only be positive,” the author said.
- by Rachael Dexter
Anthropologist and archaeologist say Dark Emu was littered with weak evidence and unsourced claims
Two leading Australian academics have savaged the best-selling Indigenous history book Dark Emu for being riddled with mistakes and ignoring Aboriginal voices.
- by Rob Harris
Debunking Dark Emu: did the publishing phenomenon get it wrong?
In 2014, Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu revolutionised interpretations of Indigenous history, arguing that Aboriginal people engaged in agriculture, irrigation and construction prior to the arrival of Europeans. Now, in a new book, two highly respected academics say that there is little evidence for these claims.
- by Stuart Rintoul
‘Black armbands or white picket fences’: debating the Dark Emu divide
Anthropologist Peter Sutton and writer Stuart Rintoul discuss the lack of factual evidence underpinning the bestseller Dark Emu, which claimed pre-colonial Aboriginal communities engaged in agriculture.
- by Konrad Marshall
Traditional owners reject Netflix ‘donation’ offer over Byron Baes
The Arakwal Corporation has refuted claims that Netflix consulted with them prior to commencing the controversial reality show.
- by Karl Quinn
Bolivia’s Uru ‘people of water’ try to salvage their language after losing their lake
The country’s second-largest lake is gone. It dried up about five years ago. Its people and language are struggling to stay alive.
- by Carlos Valdez
Exclusive
Indigenous
‘Legacy of trauma’: Warragamba survey downplays cultural risks, opponents say
A survey of Indigenous cultural values likely to be affected by raising the height of the Warragamba Dam wall has been blasted for downplaying the damage the multibillion-dollar plan will cause and for relying on “desktop analysis”.
- by Peter Hannam