Just for Living: Aboriginal Perceptions of Housing in Northwest Australia by Helen Ross

Book Description

Secondhand. Fair condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Scratches to front endpage. Marks on foredges and title page. Body text and binding are still very good.

The book examines how Western-style housing models frequently clash with the cultural, social, and physical needs of Indigenous communities, based on intensive fieldwork conducted between 1980 and 1981 in Halls Creek, located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Chapters cover:

• The Role of Housing: How shelter interacts with traditional social and economic relationships.
• Daily Family Life: Observational data regarding daily routines and household compositions.
• Spatial Organisation of Camps: Contrast between traditional, mobile camp layouts and rigid Western housing.
• Constraints of European Standards: The social impacts and misfit of European styles of architecture on Indigenous families.
• Household Dynamics & Adaptations: Managing finances, makeshift adaptations, privacy, and coping with community disruptions (such as localised drinking).
• Guidelines for Consultation & Design: Policy frameworks and community decision-making strategies for future architecture.