The on-going debate about women playing didgeridu : how a musical icon can become an instrument of remembering and forgetting

An on-going debate surrounding the use of the didjeridu is the appropriateness of women playing it. This article explores examples of the quite diverse public discourse on the didjeridu in Australia (and elsewhere) but also some of the paradoxes informing the debate. The debate is characterised herein as part of a broader process of the construction of social memory via what is remembered of forgotten when the didjeridu is discussed or used. It is argued that, although gender is one dimension of the debate, there are other pertinent issues that need to be recognised as pivotal.