Arguments about Aborigines: Australia and the Evolution of Social Anthropology by L R Hiatt

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Marks on foredges. Damage to synopsis page. Underlining in pencil. Binding is still very good.

The emergence of anthropology in Britain coincided with the publication of Darwin's book on the origin of species. In the context of inescapable questions about the natural history of our own species, Australian Aborigines were assigned the role of exemplars par excellence of beginnings and early human forms. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, European scholars bent on discovering the origins of social institutions began a rush on the Australian material that lasted well into the 20th century. present century. Consequently, Australian Aborigines have served as a crucial case study for generations of social theorists, including Tylor, Frazer, Durkheim, and Freud.

Arguments about Aborigines reviews a range of controversies that played an important role in the formative period of British social anthropology. The chapters cover family life, male/female relationships, conception beliefs, the mother-in-law taboo, various aspects of religion and ritual, political organisation, and land rights: all subjects that have been matters of lively interest and long-running research. Along the way, the study traces changes in Aboriginal circumstances and practices and notes how these changes affected the scholarly debate.