Paper short abstract:

Utilising audio recordings, this paper explores why donkeys matter to Warlpiri people at Willowra. Linking fears of donkey removals to the production of ass-hide glue used in Chinese medicine and cosmetics, I examine differing senses of being and predicaments that donkeys evoke cross-culturally.

Paper long abstract:

An indelible memory of visitors to Willowra is the sound of donkeys braying as they are chased by barking dogs and roam the village in search of food. While local Warlpiri regard donkeys as integral to their sonic landscape, outsiders typically perceive the animals as a noisy land-management "problem" and want them removed. Recently, the arrival of a stranger in a truck towing a donkey trailer provoked much discussion. Talk intensified when, for a few days, the donkeys disappeared, and the silence of the donkeys echoed throughout Willowra. Utilising audio recordings, this paper explores why donkeys matter to local people, sensorially and otherwise. Briefly sketching the relational history of donkeys and Lander Warlpiri people, I indicate how donkeys contribute to local identity and sensorially mediate distinctions between Willowra and other Warlpiri settlements. I then widen my focus to consider links between donkey removals in the NT and the production of ass-hide glue used in Chinese medicine and cosmetics. To conclude, I draw on Michael Taussig's "Cry of the Donkey" to examine differing senses of being and predicaments that donkeys evoke cross-culturally.