Labor's Lot

Book excerpt: Analysis of the role of labour in every day activities and its influence on the construction of identity among the Belyuen Aborigines, Cox Peninsula, NT; Western definitions of labour; Aboriginal relationship to land and land ownership; concepts of knowledge and the role of story; negotiation of the land claim process - Kenbi land Claim; representation of pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial Aboriginality in the Darwin region - Laragiya and Wagaitj; Aboriginal women's use and narratives of the past; interpretation of mythic labour and contemporary actions - spirit children, totems; activities affecting the mythic landscape - hunting and sweat; Belyuen economic structures; proportion of bush and store bought food in the diet; use of time; relations with the market economy - local stores, use of money; history of land use and colonial ownership in the Darwin region; contemporary Aboriginal use of the Belyuen region - settlement patterns; process of forming and maintaining cultural identity in contemporary political and economic power structures.