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AUSTRALIA 
Publisher removes chapter teaching girls to play 'didge'
Thursday, 4 September, 2008
Traditionally, Aboriginal women are not allowed to touch or play the didgeridoo. (AAP)
The publisher of a book that contains a section teaching girls how to play the didgeridoo will remove the offending chapter after claims it had made a cultural faux pas.
The Daring Book for Girls, set to be published by HarperCollins in October, attracted criticism from indigenous commentators over a chapter which teaches girls how to play the didgeridoo.
Academic and Aboriginal education advocate Dr Mark Rose said it was an "extreme faux pas" on the part of HarperCollins as cultural protocols around the instrument include a ban on females touching or playing it.
The publisher issued a statement apologising for the inclusion of the chapter.
"HarperCollins Publishers apologises unreservedly to any Aboriginal Australians who were offended by the inclusion of instructions on how to play the didgeridoo in the forthcoming publication The Daring Book For Girls," the statement said.
"HarperCollins will replace this item when the book is reprinted as clearly we had no intention to offend."
The book is a revised version of the US edition by Andrea J Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz.
The local edition replaces almost half the original content with uniquely Australian material such as The Rules of Netball and How to Surf.
Source: AAP
