Boori Monti Pryor and Meme McDonald - Literature review Example

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Date Personal Respond: May Be Tomorrow by Boori Monti Pryor and Meme McDonald Introduction The book Maybe Tomorrow by Boori Pryor is a narration of his life, right from his early age as an Aboriginal child to his career path. Boori acknowledges that storytelling is an integral part of the Australian Aboriginal culture as it plays a critical role in educating children. The book profiles Boori’s life, his triumphs and successes, and tragedies, and failures. The author tells his story in a compelling, encouraging and honest manner. The book is an intimate, provocative, inspiring autobiography that engages its audience or readers, especially on the plight of the Indigenous Australians. In this essay, I offer a personal response to the book and what I feel about the author’s way of addressing the issues that he raises in his work. One would say that the book is not an entire autobiography of the author but an attempt for him and his photographer, Meme McDonald, to highlight the plight of the Aboriginal people and their culture, particularly in a fast changing world. Boori engages his readers through his one-way conservation. However, I would say that Boori jumps from one topic to another and does not give his reader the time to think about what he puts forward. I would say that what Boori achieves is the delivery of a better and comprehensive understanding of the Aboriginal culture, the challenges that they face from the majority white Australians and how every person in the Aboriginal community needs to adapt to the white culture. The author states that adapting the white man’s culture has been a challenge for the community as manifested in the consequences of the attempt to embrace the white culture. For instance, suicide and alcoholism are common features in the community as the Aborigines try to cope with their daily challenges by consuming excessive alcohol while others opt to commit suicide. Boori gives a personal experience of these challenges in his own family . He states that three of his siblings committed suicide. Further, alcoholism is a problem that he has witnessed as when growing up. However, the author does not give personal stories about his siblings. Giving a personal account of the reasons why the three siblings committed suicide would have offered a different perspective to the book as the siblings would have narrated what may have been bothering them to the point of committing suicide. Boori instead attempts to give a description of what may have caused them to commit suicide. However, a description of their life struggles to the point of taking the decisions that they took would have offered a better glimpse to the way the Australian Aborigines handle their problems. In the book, Boori insists that he and his family are not different from others but it is only their Indigenous Identity that defines their way of life. For instance, it is his identity that takes him from the fringes of Aboriginal camps at his birth to the runway, the basketball court, the DJ career, the catwalk and now his storytelling and performance career across the country. In these tours and performances, Boori talks to people; especially school children and community groups about his life experiences as an Indigenous Australian. For example, he talks about his people from the north-east of Queensland and the fact that he comes from a large family. His only two brothers and a sister commit suicide while his teenage nephew dies after being crashed by a car. One would say that these bitter tragedies play a significant role on how Boori perceives the white culture. For instance, Boori is emphatic that these tragedies, caused by the need to do things in a ‘white man’s way’, rob him of his promising DJ career in Melbourne. Boori says that his white experience in school taught him how ‘to survive in a white world’ but his family, which he respects so much, taught him ‘how to survive in the black world’. Boori then states that at the moment he uses both experiences and tools learnt from both cultures to ‘shape his inner self and then communicate the inner experiences to other people that he interacts with across the country. However, I believe that as Boori takes this role, it is apparently clear that he seeks to find the connection between himself and his people and land. Boori attempts to reconcile with the realities that dawn on him and seeks to come to terms with his personal losses, particularly of his siblings and how to navigate the pressure between his culture and the need to embrace modernity through the white man’s culture. Boori believes that the positive experience of his identity is founded on his realisation that his family is essential and he must respect the elders, the lore and the land. Further, he insists that his dignity is based on his personal conduct and not possessions or economic status. Again, he believes that the musical and oral traditions of storytelling offers him the opportunity to speak with integrity. Conversely, Boori attributes his negative experiences to his race and Indigenous identity. He emphasises that these negative events are as a result of his Aboriginal identity that is entrenched in shame, fear, ignorance, and violence of a racist Australian society. I believe that Boor’s negative experiences demonstrate how racism can have shocking and profound impact of a family, especially if their cultural practices are ignored or considered a shame before them. It suffices to note that for all Australians, especially white Australians, the vestiges of racism are not only damaging but have the potential to ruin promising lives and communities in the long-run. The high incidences of alcoholism and suicide among the Indigenous Australians depict a community that is at cross-roads where its culture is considered shameful and inferior while the alternative culture is alien and demands them to know more and get accustomed to it, yet they can never be fully integrated. My feeling is that the book offers a new chapter on how the white Australians can co-exist with the Indigenous Australians like the Aborigines. Further, the fact that Boori Pryor takes Meme McDonald, a white Australian, as his collaborator or co-author of the book, signifies the reconciliatory approach that the author offers in helping the entire country to take a look at its history and the treatment of Indigenous community. As Meme posits, the opportunity to work with Boori gave her the chance to learn more about the Aboriginal culture. In fact, Meme is categorical that three years later as she had finished writing the book, she realised that she had been learning about herself, her sense of belonging in the country, and how to survive life challenges. It follows that the book is a reflection not just on the Indigenous Australian’s life struggles, challenges and sense of belonging in the country but for white Australians to consider their perceptions of these people, their struggles, and how the country can live in peaceful co-existence. Through the book, Boori exposes themes that are relevant to the life of Australians; both Indigenous and the migrant populations. Boori considers the recent events in the past and their impact on the lives of the Australian aborigines. For instance, for some time after the arrival of the white Australians, the Aborigines were never regarded as Australians. The author is categorical that his people had to struggle just be regarded as human beings, let alone being considered Australians. It was not until 1967 that Aborigines were considered Australian citizens. It is the arrival of the settlers that Boori believes scuttled the lives of the Indigenous peoples of Australia. The 1967 national referendum marked the beginning of the recognition of these people as Australians with limited rights and freedoms but still faced marginalisation and discrimination. On this basis, I would say that the book offers people a glimpse into the past, and what we can state as having achieved in a short time as a country in creating and realising a nation that embraces diversity. What I personally get from the book on the historical account of the struggles that Aboriginal people get from government, both state and federal is appalling. The negative perceptions on the Indigenous people can be termed as endemic and uncompromising, especially through legislative measures aimed at controlling the lives of the Aboriginal people in different parts of the country. I personally believe that Boori’s account of his life experiences, both negative and positive, is essential in helping the reader to understand the culture of the Indigenous Australians. The concession by Meme McDonald that by collaborating with Boori she has learnt herself and her sense of belonging in the country is an indication that as a country, our diversity implores us to transcend racial barriers and embrace those different from us in a more accommodative, warm, and honest manner. I think it was a mistake at the time that most of government policies were blind to the plight of these people, especially when such policies encouraged or mandated it to physically remove the Aborigines from their culture. For instance, Boori is categorical that that his family were punished by the state for attempting to maintain their culture. I believe that these people deserved their culture and what the state could have emphasised was for the people across the country to attempt to understand the Aboriginal culture instead of trying to kill it. When one is separated from their culture, they feel confused and as Boori puts it, it just kills one’s faith in them . Conclusion Conclusively, I would say that Boori’s book or autobiography gives its reader the glimpse of the Indigenous Australian’s culture, specifically the Aboriginal culture and how it has been impacted by the arrival of the white settlers in Australia. Boori’s book is inspiring and a call to all Australians, irrespective of their social background, to understand that racism has long-term effects and co-existence with acceptance from the beginning is essential in nurturing a good society. I believe that Boori’s collaboration with Meme McDonald proves that both the Indigenous communities and the settler community can learn a lot from each other and such learning allows them to know their true personalities and what they value most. Work Cited Pryor, B.M. and McDonald, M. Maybe Tomorrow. Melbourne: Penguin Books, [Online] http://0-ebookcentral.proquest.com.library.vu.edu.au/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=479175 Read More

In the book, Boori insists that he and his family are not different from others but it is only their Indigenous Identity that defines their way of life. For instance, it is his identity that takes him from the fringes of Aboriginal camps at his birth to the runway, the basketball court, the DJ career, the catwalk and now his storytelling and performance career across the country. In these tours and performances, Boori talks to people; especially school children and community groups about his life experiences as an Indigenous Australian.

For example, he talks about his people from the north-east of Queensland and the fact that he comes from a large family. His only two brothers and a sister commit suicide while his teenage nephew dies after being crashed by a car. One would say that these bitter tragedies play a significant role on how Boori perceives the white culture. For instance, Boori is emphatic that these tragedies, caused by the need to do things in a ‘white man’s way’, rob him of his promising DJ career in Melbourne.

Boori says that his white experience in school taught him how ‘to survive in a white world’ but his family, which he respects so much, taught him ‘how to survive in the black world’. Boori then states that at the moment he uses both experiences and tools learnt from both cultures to ‘shape his inner self and then communicate the inner experiences to other people that he interacts with across the country. However, I believe that as Boori takes this role, it is apparently clear that he seeks to find the connection between himself and his people and land.

Boori attempts to reconcile with the realities that dawn on him and seeks to come to terms with his personal losses, particularly of his siblings and how to navigate the pressure between his culture and the need to embrace modernity through the white man’s culture. Boori believes that the positive experience of his identity is founded on his realisation that his family is essential and he must respect the elders, the lore and the land. Further, he insists that his dignity is based on his personal conduct and not possessions or economic status.

Again, he believes that the musical and oral traditions of storytelling offers him the opportunity to speak with integrity. Conversely, Boori attributes his negative experiences to his race and Indigenous identity. He emphasises that these negative events are as a result of his Aboriginal identity that is entrenched in shame, fear, ignorance, and violence of a racist Australian society. I believe that Boor’s negative experiences demonstrate how racism can have shocking and profound impact of a family, especially if their cultural practices are ignored or considered a shame before them.

It suffices to note that for all Australians, especially white Australians, the vestiges of racism are not only damaging but have the potential to ruin promising lives and communities in the long-run. The high incidences of alcoholism and suicide among the Indigenous Australians depict a community that is at cross-roads where its culture is considered shameful and inferior while the alternative culture is alien and demands them to know more and get accustomed to it, yet they can never be fully integrated.

My feeling is that the book offers a new chapter on how the white Australians can co-exist with the Indigenous Australians like the Aborigines. Further, the fact that Boori Pryor takes Meme McDonald, a white Australian, as his collaborator or co-author of the book, signifies the reconciliatory approach that the author offers in helping the entire country to take a look at its history and the treatment of Indigenous community. As Meme posits, the opportunity to work with Boori gave her the chance to learn more about the Aboriginal culture.

In fact, Meme is categorical that three years later as she had finished writing the book, she realised that she had been learning about herself, her sense of belonging in the country, and how to survive life challenges.

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