Aboriginal Woman Sacred and Profane by Phyllis M Kaberry

Book Description

Secondhand. Near fine condition.

Offering remarkable insights into Australian Aboriginal society from the perspective of women, Aboriginal Woman Sacred and Profane highlights the importance of studying gender in anthropology.

Phyllis Kaberry was the first anthropologist to examine and understand the fullness of Aboriginal women's lives, which had been classified as restricted and uninvolved with religious practice. She portrayed the Aboriginal woman in a realistic light, as a complex social personality with her own prerogatives, duties, problems, beliefs, rituals and points of view.

First published in 1939, this 2004 edition includes a preface by Sandy Toussaint, who examines how Aboriginal Woman Sacred and Profane came to be written, the book's original context, and its influence on the study of gender in anthropology.

Contents:

Introduction / A. P. Elkin

I. Wielders of the Digging-Stick

II. The Social and Spiritual Background of the Aboriginal Child

III. Childhood

IV. On the Threshold of Marriage

V. The Laws of Marriage and the Needs of the Individual

VI. Rights and Duties of Women in Marriage

VII. The Function of Women in the Larger Social Groups

VIII. The Spiritual Heritage of Aboriginal Woman

IX. Women's CeremoniesX. Women's Secret Corroborees

XI. Aboriginal Woman - Sacred and Profane.