Working with Aboriginal People in Remote Areas (1995) by Simon Forrest and John Sherwood is a slim, straight-forward guide on how to interact with the Aboriginal people of Australia. As the authors note, the book "illustrates some of the unexpected results of living with people from another culture, and reveals the ease with which we assume that our way of doing things is the normal and the best way." The text follows that principle - that assumptions of "normal" are causes of problems in working with Aborigines - and illustrates the numerous ways that Aboriginal life diverges from our own.
 |
| Cover image: Scan of the book cover |
Forrest and Sherwood discuss the many different outlooks and behaviors that are likely to cause confusion or agitation in a person unfamiliar with Aboriginal customs. For example, they discuss the "great emphasis on sharing, which is governed by the rules of kinship" and how "sharing is a part of life and people are expected to share what they have" in Aboriginal society. A nice feature of the book are interspersed line drawings, mostly comical, with short anecdotes. For the "sharing" section, the line drawing is of a police officer asking an Aborigine questions about the car he is driving:
So it's not your car, but you were driving. The bloke who owns it is your cousin, and he loaned it to your wife's brother - but he's not here, right? No?!! Your cousin's wife borrowed it from her brother ..?
Some of the information the authors provide is more like common sense or similar principles in any tight-knit community. There are certain areas where Aboriginal people have a very different worldview, however. The authors relate how there is a taboo on using the first name of a person who dies, giving them instead a "replacement name." For anyone outside of the culture, it is quite clear how a replacement name would cause confusion and trigger ill-feelings.
Though the book is intended for people working in remote Australian areas, the information would be valid for any outsider visiting a group of "foreign" people. By not judging their ways, by not talking down to them, by respecting their traditions, you will go a long way to earning trust and respect. This is as true in working with rural farmers in the mid-West, to inner-city dwellers of the East, to Aboriginal people in the remote parts of Australia.
