Book review of Marcia Langton & Aaron Corn's: Law: The Way of the Ancestors (original) (raw)

2024, Hearsay

Law: the Way of the Ancestors (“Law”), published in 2023, is the sixth volume in the First Knowledges series. The preceding volumes have addressed the topics of Songlines, Design, Country, Astronomy, and Plants. Three further volumes have followed it: Innovation, Medicine and Seasons. The First Knowledges series is edited by Margo Neale, Senior Indigenous Curator and Principal Advisor to the Director at the Australian Museum. Neale, in an introduction to Law, describes the books in the series as showing how traditional knowledge, beliefs, systems and practices inform contemporary life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples and, indeed, for all people who have the will and knowledge to take them on, to listen and to learn. Neale adds that this kind of respectful engagement could be the path to true belonging in Australia. The Way of the Ancestors provides a beautifully accessible guide to the way in which Indigenous law relates to all aspects of human life. It also beautifully describes the way in which all aspects of Indigenous culture: art, songs, dance, governance and family are integrated as part of the Indigenous law.