Roots deeper than whiteness — David Dean: Pithy and succinct history of how “whiteness” erased culturally richer European ethnic identities and allowed for racism and exploitation of non-whites. Very America centric, but captures something essential about the “white” identity that is an important, though non-exhaustive, component of settler trauma.
Empathic dialogue
Topical overviews
Indo-European language family: Lukas is producing a podcast on this, but familiarising yourself with the idea of the Indo-European Language family will give you a sense of the way in which so much of the worldview of the modern Western mind derive from a common ancestors like the Yamnaya peoples of the Eastern European steppes.
Enclosure movement: Critical historical shift in Britain (and by extension, Ireland) in the relationship between people and land, from feudal “rights” (which were of course based in intense hierarchy) to ownership, “rents” and thinking of “output” and productivity above all else.
Books specific to Anglo-Celtic Australian settler trauma
The Fatal Shore — Robert Hughes: Detailed history of the “transportation” system and the abuse experienced by convicts, and life in “Dickensian” England. Note that some of the history as presented in this book is contested, but it nevertheless gets to some deep truths around rejection and dehumanising that still plagues our culture.
The Tall Man – Chloe Hooper: Deep dive into the world of a policeman who worked in outback towns across Queensland before being involved in an Aboriginal death in custody on Palm Island, told as a parallel story alongside the life of the man who was miles. Shows the depth of wounds on both sides and the inability of large colonial institutions like the police to cope.
The Timeless Land – Eleanor Dark: Work of incredible channeling by Eleanor Dark from the 1950s who tries to get into the mindspace of both colonists and Aboriginal people in the early days of the colony at Sydney Cove. Presents the crucial idea in Indigenous Science that how you treat others — for example convict flogging — is a reflection of oneselves because we are all interconnected. The Way of Wyrd – Brian Bates: Rich and thought provoking research informed narrative exploring Anglo-Saxon Paganism. Provides a tantalising insight into another way of being practiced by your relatively recent ancestors.
The Timeless Land – Eleanor Dark: Work of incredible channeling by Eleanor Dark from the 1950s who tries to get into the mindspace of both colonists and Aboriginal people in the early days of the colony at Sydney Cove. Presents the crucial idea in Indigenous Science that how you treat others — for example convict flogging — is a reflection of oneselves because we are all interconnected.
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