Book reviews
This section of the Bulletin contains a review of recent books of relevance to Indigenous health. Books are reviewed by experts in the field. If you know of a new book of interest to our users, please contact us. If you are pubisher and would like a book reviewed, please supply us with the book and relevant details.
Ngangkari work - Anangu way: traditional healers of Central Australia
Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council Aboriginal Corporation (2003) Ngangkari work - Anangu way: traditional healers of Central Australia Alice Springs: Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council Aboriginal Corporation (95pp, RRP $34.95) ISBN 0 9577755 1 2
Reviewed by Dr Myrna Tonkinson Department of Anthropology, University of Western Australia
Suggested citation: Tonkinson M (2005) Review of Ngangkari work - Anangu way: traditional healers of Central Australia. Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin;5(1): Book reviews 2. Retrieved [access date] from http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/html/html_bulletin//bull_51/bulletin_bookreviews.htm
Ngankari work – Anangu way presents first-person accounts by sixteen Central Australian traditional doctors, ngankari, of the work they do. This is an unusual and effective way of conveying to a wide audience some understanding of the skills possessed by ngankari, the manner in which their skills are acquired, and how they are used.
The book is the outcome of a meeting of ngankari from the region in 2000 facilitated by the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council (which employs two ngankari). The Council, as well as many of the contributors, state their desire to promote understanding of the roles and practices of ngankari and the importance of these in the lives of Anangu (the people of Central Australia who speak the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages of Western Desert). In particular, they want doctors, nurses and other health professionals to recognise the roles and effectiveness of traditional healing practitioners. In her preface, Elsie Wanatjura makes some strong claims, such as ngankari ‘are exactly like doctors. They are equal with doctors in their effectiveness.’ Some of her claims might be contentious, but there would be little dispute when she states: ‘tablets can’t heal the spirit. Ngankari can’ (p14).
The selection of ngankari to tell their stories demonstrates their diversity: there are men and women, young, middle aged and old people from a number of Central Australian Aboriginal communities. They gave their accounts in their own languages and these were tape-recorded and translated into English.
The contributors talk about the manner in which they acquired their skills, about learning from older ngankari (usually a father or grandfather) when they were children. Many report becoming aware of their powers in childhood. Several convey a sense of wonder about the powers of ngankari, including their own.
Their accounts also convey confidence in their abilities, and great concern and compassion for the people they treat. The non-Anangu reader learns much about Anangu beliefs about the causes of illness and appropriate responses to it, and about the techniques used by ngankari to diagnose and treat people. The accounts also provide insights into Anangu perceptions of Western medical practices. The narratives include comments about their limitations as well as their strengths - for example, one notes: ‘we ngankari have never been very successful at treating substance misuse’ (p.30).
A number of the ngankari lament the fact that they are seldom paid for their work and that Australian health authorities do not recognise the importance of their contribution or reward them. For example, Sam Watson remarks: ‘Most of us ngankari receive nothing for our work, and we are all very poor. It is a shame it is like this. White people don’t have any understanding of our situation. They don’t realise that there are spirit doctors working away out there who are all broke. Look at me. I am broke. No money’ (pp. 43-44).
These are very personal narratives, as well as descriptions by professionals of their work, and provide valuable insights into the roles and activities of ngankari and of traditional Aboriginal doctors more generally.
The book is attractively produced and its contents are accessible to a wide audience. It is richly illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs of people and landscape, including some pictures of ngankari at work. There is a glossary of terms from the Pitjantjatjara language that includes a guide to spelling and pronunciation. Helpfully, items from the glossary are reproduced and supplemented throughout the book on pages where Western Desert language terms appear. It also includes information about the NPY Women’s Council.