| Abstract: | This paper analyses the instrumental purposes served by representations of female spirituality deployed by Gungaraakayn claimants in the course of the Finniss River Land Claim. I address the problem of how gender is shaped by configurations of power within and between groups and how, in turn, it shapes those configurations. The paper is thus a critique that seeks to understand the political significance of ‘tradition’ in the present, demonstrating how social formations may be transformed by the operations of practice. |
