Book Description

Why Warriors Lie Down and Die is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the true causes of the problems facing First Nations people worldwide. Through the history and perspectives of the Yolngu people of northern Australia, this book brings practical insight into the cross-cultural dynamics and systemic barriers that lead to social breakdown and how to do things better. In Arnhem Land, as in Indigenous communities across Australia, the situation is dire: health is poor, unemployment is rife, and life is short. Why Warriors Lie Down and Die is a unique analysis of this crisis and offers examples of how the people can once again take control of their own lives. Finding the real causes of this crisis requires the reader to look at it from the other side of the cultural and language divide—the side where the people themselves live. The book Why Warriors Lie Down and Die takes us to that side. “Many books have been written about the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, Australia. This one is very different. It speaks about the real situation that we face every day, a reality that is hard for people of another culture to imagine. Please join us on this journey of trying to understand each other.” Rev. Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra OAM Powerful storytelling Why Warriors Lie Down and Die uses a blend of critical and exploratory thinking about inter-cultural interactions, a deep understanding of Yolngu culture, personal experience, and powerful story-telling. Universities and grass-roots professionals all over the world continue to use it to better understand First Nation communities. Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, was written by Richard Trudgen in 2000, and has sold over 42,000 copies. Yet it seems as if it was written just yesterday due to its enduring real-life revelations of the cross-cultural dynamics that continue to persist and destroy attempts by the Yolngu, and other peoples like them, to achieve health, prosperity, and peace for their communities. The situation is dire For many Indigenous Australians, health is poor, and they die early in life. Training, schooling, and employment outcomes are dismal, and incarceration rates are the highest in the world. This book offers a very different understanding of this crisis, told from the people’s own experiences. It will take the reader to another side of life—a side that most policymakers and program managers know little about. It reveals hidden mechanisms of failure that underlie these experiences, working unseen in culturally distinct and marginalised communities the world over. By seeing this new perspective, the solutions are visible, so that empowerment and hope is found for the challenges of First Nations peoples. For history Buffs The first 5 chapters cover some of the history of the colonisation of east Arnhem Land, NT, Australia with unique stories from the perspectives of the Yolngu people.