| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 104.4

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 239 words from this article are provided below; about 524 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 104.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Oceania/Pacific Islands

Tim Rowse. White Flour, White Power: From Rations to Citizenship in Central Australia. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1998. Pp. xiii, 255. $64.95.

In Australia in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries, the issue and distribution of "rations" was used as a means of colonial control of the indigenous population. Tim Rowse deconstructs the meanings attributed to rationing in central Australia in this book. By rationing, Rowse refers to "the non-Aboriginal practice—whether based on custom or on policy—of providing food, clothing and other goods (such as blankets and tobacco) to Indigenous people" (p. 3). He uses an analysis of rationing as a device to reassess the government policies that dominated Aboriginal people's lives in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, namely protection, assimilation, and, most recently, self-determination. 1

Australian governments did not negotiate treaties with indigenous Australians or recognize their pre-existing rights to land and sovereignty through establishment of reservations. In remote areas such as central Australia, Aboriginal peoples continued their association with their lands by maintaining their presence on the land, working as stock workers and domestics on pastoral properties (ranches) or living off the land. As naturally occurring foods became increasingly scarce, the government supplied rations to supplement them. Rations were distributed by pastoralists (ranch owners/managers), missionaries, and the police. Rations did not merely prevent starvation but were used as a means of controlling the indigenous population. . . .

There are about 524 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.