Stories from the Aboriginal women of the yarning circle: When cultures collide

Abstract

This written work comes out of, and is based on, stories shared at a recent yarning circle. In developing this paper, the authors acknowledge that the issues raised might not apply to all Aboriginal women. We acknowledge that there are many Aboriginal women who have shared loving relationships with non-Aboriginal men and given birth as a result of those relationships. However, it is critical to raise for discussion issues that have been prevalent in the lives of many of our women, who have had their children removed and been denied their right to be mothers. We acknowledge those women and our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunties and daughters - those that have gone before us, those that are present and those to come, to focus this paper on how mother is articulated, constructed and made meaningful by, and for, the Aboriginal women of the yarning circle. We recognise that each Aboriginal woman has her own experience of what mother might mean, we understand that there may be elements or aspects within these stories that have meaning for others.