Yunkaporta’s foundational book shares an Indigenous perspective on the way that memory, writing, and knowledge function within Aboriginal culture. His perambulatory narrative emphasizes spoken, verbal modes of dialogue as foundational to his and other Indigenous communities’ self-understanding. The text is also notable in its performative writing approach. As Yunkaporta outlines an argument against a European notion of archival preservation, he weaves together an example of a spoken-written text: a text that, although it’s read on the page, seems to speak out loud, as if told by a campfire. The circular structure of his stories take on as much importance as the words themselves.
Yunkaporta, Tyson. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World. New York: HarperCollins, 2021.