Why do Aboriginal women in Australia experience such high levels of violence in their own communities? In this considered and carefully researched book, Joan Kimm discusses the extent and nature of the violence, its underlying causes, current policies that deal with it, and changes that might improve these policies.

Why do Aboriginal women in Australia experience such high levels of violence in their own communities? In this considered and carefully researched book, Joan Kimm discusses the extent and nature of the violence, its underlying causes, current policies that deal with it, and changes that might improve these policies. Her work covers: the devastating legacy of European colonialism on Indigenous culture; modern anthropological evidence about patriarchy and violence in traditional Aboriginal societies; Aboriginals' beliefs about their cultural heritage; the impact of cultural heritage upon modern Indigenous society; and changing judicial attitudes to sentencing Aboriginal men for violence to Aboriginal women, shifting from emphasis on the mens cultural background to emphasis on the womens rights as victims. Kimm contends that current law, policy, and practice place too much emphasis on their rights as Indigenous people and too little on their rights as women.