Harris is a great storyteller and researcher. She eloquently tells the hidden stories behind Australia's historical events through the lens of Aboriginal music and dance. In addition, she reveals the complex relations between the settler Australians and the Aboriginal people… studies presented in this book are not only essential for those interested in Aboriginal performance studies but also for history enthusiasts and general readers who want to learn about Australian history in a more comprehensive way.

Australian Historical Studies

A most thoughtful, compelling study … Harris writes with such empathy about all the diverse actors in these encounters.

Stephen Jones Blog

Representing Australian Aboriginal Music and Dance is an exciting and original book. Harris offers a richly textured and expansive narrative of Aboriginal and Aboriginal-inspired music and dance across the country, interwoven with the history and politics of Indigenous rights in the twentieth century, and underpinned by a deep knowledge of Australian musicology. Through meticulous research, she has revealed unknown story after story of performances in which Aboriginal people emerge as historical individuals and assertive agents of profound social and political change. From the powerful opening 'Prelude' contributed by D'harawal scholar Shannon Foster, about her grandfather, the activist and songman Tom Foster, Harris's dialogic engagement with Aboriginal voices is respectful and unforced, and drives the book's underlying message to recognise our shared humanity. Representing Aboriginal Music and Dance is essential reading for those interested in twentieth-century Aboriginal history or Indigenous performance studies, but it will resonate with all who seek out histories that inspire as well as inform us.

Victoria K. Haskins, Director, Purai Global Indigenous History Centre, University of Newcastle, Australia, and author of Colonialism and Male Domestic Service across the Asia Pacific (Bloomsbury, 2020)

The book makes an important contribution to the 'truth telling' of Australian history ... Harris has contributed significantly to understandings of this history and of the performance events that have shaped the development of Australian art music.

Context

Harris's book offers an inclusive model of intercultural collaborative research that makes space for Indigenous voices and meaningful engagement with custodians. Brilliantly conceived and written, it is a major contribution to the fields of history, (ethno)musicology, Indigenous studies and performance studies.

History Australia