White Flour, White Power: From Rations to Citizenship in Central Australia

by Tim Rowse

Overview

This book focuses on the colonial practice of rationing goods to Aboriginal people, arguing that much of the colonial experience in Central Australia can be understood by seeing rationing as a fundamental, though flexible, instrument of colonial government. Rationing was the material basis for a variety of colonial ventures: scientific, evangelical, pastoral and the postwar program of "assimilation." Combining history and anthropology in a cultural study of rationing, this book develops a new narrative of the colonization of Central Australia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521624572
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/28/1998
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

A theatre of stages; Part I: 1. Rationing the inexplicable; 2. Rationed actors; Part II: 3. Rural central Australia, 1914–40; 4. Town, cash and supervision; 5. 'A Christian cannot be a parasite'; 6. The World War in town and hinterland; Conclusion: Indigenous welfare at mid-century; Part III: 7. 'Assimilation; 8. The crisis of managed consumption; 9. Settlements and families; 10. Alice Springs and its town camps; Continuities.

Editorial Reviews

"Especially useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers interested in colonial economies and social relations." Choice

"Those readers looking for a fresh and nuanced reading of indigenous/non-indigenous relations in outback Australia in the twentieth century will find this book a welcome addition to the literature on the subject." Peggy Brock, American Historical Review

"If the examination of history is a means to grasp the present, then this book is a success." Laurent Dousset, Pacific Affairs

From the Publisher