'The task of adequately describing what we call "Aboriginal art" in Australia seems impossible. Whether through the disciplines of art history, anthro-pology, or any of the shifting fields of visual, critical, or postcolonial studies, the challenge is one of the greatest that might be conceived from within the traditions of the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, the idea of assem-bling such a multiplicity of cultural expressions from across vast and diverse historical and geographical dimensions into a coherent whole may seem even more absurd if approached through the epistemologies of Indigenous traditions. It may be argued to be more about imposition than exposition. Yet, this would appear to be the challenge that Ian McLean has set himself with Rattling Spears.' (Introduction)
