Here be Kurdaitcha: Towards an Ethnography of the Monstrous on the Margins of a Central Australian Aboriginal Town

On many a night, Yuendumu, a central Australian Aboriginal town, and the location of the case studies in this chapter, is haunted by Kurdaitcha. They are a type of monster endogamous to the Tanami Desert, who are said to intimidate, threaten and sometimes kill local Walpiri people. Kurdaitcha are on the prowl at night, lurking in Yuendumu's shadows, on the margins of camps, behind trees, just outside the glow of firelight. This chapter is concerned with the fact that Kurdaitcha attacks, sightings, and reports are on the rise and examines the implications this has to understanding the nature of contemporary Aboriginal life in central Australia. At the centre of the chapter stand the historical, political and socio-cultural implications of a particular kind of spacial configuration, namely Aboriginal settlements in central Australia's Tanami Desert.