Australian Aborigine Dreamtracks

Posted at Apr 13/2009 10:55PM:
Alex G-B: hooray for starting the wiki! anyway, i just wanted to let you guys know that i actually checked out every aboriginal art book.... so if you need one let me know

Posted at Apr 14/2009 02:17AM:
Alex G-B: hey guys... so i have been looking through these books and a few more themes have popped up if anyone is interested. I think it was Alex C who thought she might want to look more in depth into some of the stories. one of the books pointed out that the most famous (or perhaps most important) figures are: the Rainbow Serpents, Lightening Men, Wagilag Sisters, Tingari, and Wandijna. they didn't go into any detail about the stories... but they pop up in the art a lot. Another topic that keeps popping up is the "Arnhem Land"... my guess is that there are a lot of dreamtime places in this land. again, i didn't get a lot of information.... but it could potentially be a topic if someone wanted to look into it more. i hope this helps.

Posted at Apr 14/2009 11:38PM:
alex corrigan: Thanks Alex. So, basically, I've read between 10 and 15 articles on J-stor and have been finding some really interesting stuff on gender and the dreaming. I think I'm going to hopefully concentrate on one of these myths (wawalag sisters) and try to show how gender, rituals, the land, and the dreaming all come into play. I may do something with conception, and how there are 'gendered' sacred spaces and completely separate rituals in each space. The problem right now is limiting all this information. as i read more, its becoming increasingly difficult to reduce my explination of the dreaming. and i'm still not sure how specific i will be able to get. if you all find anything on gendered-sacred spaces or conception myths (like the wawalag sisters especially!), let me know. i found a bunch of articles that made me think of your topics...so i might as well cut and paste them:

for tim: i found some interesting background on contested land--could be interesting for your topic (if you end up doing it) -- http://www.jstor.org/stable/261133 "Landscape, Memory and the Australian War Experience, 1915-18"

for kit: if youre still thinking about comparing the dreaming to something else, i started some article about the iroquois dream guessing rite which is vaguely connected. 'Dream guessing: a comparative analysis" harold blau -- www.jstor.org/stable/480694

for alex: i found a lot on whether art could derive from actual dreams or not. I guess there is a very complex relationship, in that artists try to deny the existence of dream-inspiration instead of 'The Dreaming'. not sure if this relates to your piece on art. the dreamtime and dreams of norther australian aboriginal artists' http://www.jstor.org/stable/640405

Hello. Thanks for all the suggestions. The sources listed above have been great. I found a great book on Aboriginal Religion. Its in the Rock at BL2630.M87 K44. Its a black hardcover and I am done using it so I put it back on the shelf. Enjoy!

Posted at Apr 15/2009 02:28PM:
Kit: Hello. Thanks for all the suggestions. The sources listed above have been great. I found a great book on Aboriginal Religion. Its in the Rock at BL2630.M87 K44. Its a black hardcover and I am done using it so I put it back on the shelf. Enjoy!

Posted at Apr 15/2009 07:50PM:
ana escobedo: Hey guys! Thanks for all the great posts. I wanted to let you know about this book about the tribes of central Australia that is completely available on google books. It is by Spencer and Gillen and the title is "The Native Tribes of Central Australia". It looks really great.

Posted at Apr 15/2009 10:11PM:''
Tim: Hey guys - I am going go with my land ownership idea, but thought I'd throw out another general article that might help: it's called Ways of Placemaking by Fred Myers (on JSTOR). It's more from an anthropological standpoint but has a lot of good information.

Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology