Joan Kimm's book "A fatal conjunction" analyzes the cultural conundrum of abuse against Aboriginal women and the inadequacy of western law to address its root causes. Kimm interweaves cultural understanding, history, and legal reasoning to examine this issue. A key point is that traditional Aboriginal authority has been weakened and Aboriginal people do not accept the validity of non-Aboriginal control over them. The book divides this complex topic into 14 chapters that individually examine issues like customary laws, cultural relativism, and legal decisions, while also developing overarching ideas. It provides a holistic yet scholarly interpretation of this sensitive issue through understanding both Aboriginal culture and the negative relationship between Indigenous communities and law enforcement.

1. A fatal conjunction: Two laws two cultures by Joan Kimm. Annandale, NSW: The
Federation Press, 2004, pp. 224, A$29.95, paperback, ISBN 186287509X.
Joan Kimm’s A fatal conjunction is a nuanced and
rational analysis of a cultural conundrum – abuse of
Aboriginal women by men and the inadequacy of
western jurisprudence to address the root causes of the
phenomenon. The text inter-weaves cultural
understanding, historical realism and sound legal
reasoning in a manner appealing to a wide audience. The
balance between the requisite legal arguments and the
humanity of the female victims involved in cycles of
abuse pivots on the underlying fact that:
…traditional authority had been weakened by Aborigines
have not accepted the validity of the control asserted
over them by non-Aboriginal authority
(p. 9).
This is the crux of the arguments developed in the book.
Kimm divides her treatment into fourteen discrete chapters which clearly
develop a number of overarching ideas; however each chapter may be taken as an
individual treatment of a particular issue. The particulars range from interpretations
of customary laws to cultural relativism and court decisions in Australia. The strength
of each chapter is the concise nature in which Aboriginal history and culture and
western law are analysed and evaluated. The understanding of both Aboriginal
culture (and subcultures) and the negative relationships between law enforcement and
Aboriginal communities provides a holistic, yet scholarly, interpretation of a complex
and emotional issue. Kimm confronts a number of emotionally charged and sensitive
issues – the long history of abuse of women in Aboriginal communities, the high
incidence of rape, etc. – with verve, insight and scholarly balance. Kimm has an
‘insider’s’ appreciation of the central role of family and relationships in Aboriginal
culture and demonstrates how violence reduces cultural cohesion and integrity.
On the other side of the cultural and juridical divide, Kimm has a clear
understanding of the workings of the western legal system and its lack of effect within
the Aboriginal context. Moreover, the arguments clearly acknowledge that cultural
destruction and colonisation have seriously inflated that level of abuse towards
Aboriginal women. Alcohol, cultural displacement, gender ambiguities and colonial
oppression all play a role in this issue.
A fatal conjunction is a well researched, carefully documented and closely
nuanced treatment of the physical abuse of Aboriginal women. The arguments are
well anchored in contemporary scholarship and research. In addition, the short and
well-written chapters will appeal to a wide audience. This, however, is also a
weakness because informed readers will need more discussion of these important

2. issues. This minor criticism aside, A fatal conjunction is essential reading for
historians, lawyers and a general public interested in Aboriginal issues.
JAMES T. CARROLL
Iona College, New Rochelle
8 August 2005