Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

By Tyson Yunkaporta

Text Publishing

2019

Sand Talk is a book about Indigenous thinking and looking at the world in different ways. Throughout the book, Yunkaporta shifts between his academic voice and being a campfire storyteller from moment to moment. He continually presents ways to consider the profound oral traditions and complex Aboriginal ways of thinking, noting that, “Explaining Aboriginal notions of time is an exercise in futility.” The book is full of deep insights and powerful lines. One of my favourites is, “Sometimes it is hard to write in English when you’ve been talking to your great-grandmother on the phone but she is also your niece, and in her language there are no separate words for time and space.” 

Other key ideas that jumped out at me were:

“It is difficult to name the ripples and patterns of global power systems when we are limited by nineteenth-century language around race and colonialism.” 

“Yarning is more than just a story or conversation in Aboriginal culture – it is a structured cultural activity that is recognised even in research circles as a valid and rigorous methodology for knowledge production, inquiry and transmission.” 

“The Aboriginal flag represents a social system in direct opposition to the global order that requires the existence of flags in the first place.”

“The only sustainable way to store data long-term is within relationships.” 

“In our culture not very much of your life is supposed to remain private.” 

Throughout the book, Yunkaporta records his yarns with Aboriginal elders, Indigenous academics and his friends from around the world. He is critical of the tokenistic inclusion of Aboriginal perspectives in schools and at major events, dismissing bush tucker and performances as fragmented nostalgic remnants of the past. 

Sand Talk is paradigm-shifting, deeply moving, philosophical, and thought provoking. It contains a deep respect for Indigenous Knowledge and learning from patterns from the past. For History teachers interested in gaining an insight into the Indigenous worldview, this book is incredible. Prepare to come away with a far more nuanced view of Australia’s complex relationship with the past.