Review(s) of: The Native Title Market, by David Ritter, 120 pp, University of Western Australia P... more Review(s) of: The Native Title Market, by David Ritter, 120 pp, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, WA, 2009, ISBN 9781921401169 (pbk).
Review(s) of: Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia, edited by Katie... more Review(s) of: Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia, edited by Katie Glaskin, Myrna Tonkinson, Yasmine Musharbash and Victoria Burbank, xx + 237 pp, Ashgate, Farnham UK, 2008, ISBN 9780754674498 (alk pbk), ₤55 (Australian list price $133.10). Includes references. Includes footnotes.
The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persist... more The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persistence of a worldview that includes non-physical causality and non-physical conscious agents. Anthropology, based as it is in Western culture, does not engage with the experiential foundation for this worldview but limits itself to descriptive accounts or seeks to interpret it thr ough psychological or sociological prisms. This article makes a case for an experiential anthropology and for the analytic use of the out-of-body experience and related research as a useful model by which to interpret Aboriginal accounts of dreams. It suggests that this could lead to a reevaluation of the practice of traditional healers and open new avenues for cross-cultural engagement in a contemporary environment where traditional Aboriginal culture is increasingly sidelined from public policy discourse.
Review(s) of: Les Jardins du Nomade: Cosmologie, Territoire et Personne dans le Desert Occidental... more Review(s) of: Les Jardins du Nomade: Cosmologie, Territoire et Personne dans le Desert Occidental Australien, by Sylvie Poirier, 291 pp, Lit Verlag, Germany 1996, approx. $55.00.
Lutheran Missionary Otto Siebert's ethnographic work among the Diyari and neighbouring peoples of... more Lutheran Missionary Otto Siebert's ethnographic work among the Diyari and neighbouring peoples of north-east South Australia.
Review(s) of: Law's anthropology: From ethnography to expert testimony in native title, by Pa... more Review(s) of: Law's anthropology: From ethnography to expert testimony in native title, by Paul Burke, x + 326 pp, ANU E Press, Canberra, 2011, ISBN 9781921862427 (pbk), $28.00.
The Barngarla native title claim, 1 which received a largely positive determination from the Fede... more The Barngarla native title claim, 1 which received a largely positive determination from the Federal Court in 2014, covered an area that essentially corresponds to the eastern part of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, from just north of Port Augusta to Sleaford Bay, south of Port Lincoln (see Map 3.1). The determination followed a contested trial that carried with it the usual forensic analysis of both contemporary Aboriginal evidence and the ethno-historical record. Because native title law requires a comparison of the present system of 'laws and customs' with that maintained by the claimants' ancestors at the time of sovereignty, the early ethnographic record is especially sought after in such matters. It is rare, however, for this record to include material that is both as close to first contact and as detailed as that produced by the Lutheran missionary Clamor Schürmann. This chapter will briefly contextualise Schürmann's ethnographic activities and provide an overview of some of the key elements of his record, which consists of significant linguistic, anthropological and historical data.
The Wangkangurru man Mick McLean may have been one of the most prolific contributors to our knowl... more The Wangkangurru man Mick McLean may have been one of the most prolific contributors to our knowledge of Aboriginal Dreaming Stories. In collaboration with the linguist Luise Hercus he documented creation narratives for much of the Lake Eyre Basin; from the Simpson Desert in the north to Port Augusta and the Murnpeowie pastoral station in the south, and from Indulkana in the west to Innaminka in the east. McLean was one of the last people to leave the Simpson Desert. He was a learned intellectual, a bush man, and a tracker. He was also a clever man, a traditional healer, and in 1968 he gave Hercus an account of how he was “made clever”. This article is an analysis of this account and the wider spiritual world-view of Australian Aboriginal societies in which the “clever” person has a logical and important role.
This paper considers the different evidentiary requirements for establishing native title during ... more This paper considers the different evidentiary requirements for establishing native title during litigation and negotiation.
This article provides an ethnographic analysis of the legal and bureaucratic processes... more This article provides an ethnographic analysis of the legal and bureaucratic processes of Aboriginal heritage protection. Heritage disputes over Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens in South Australia serve as case studies for an analysis of dynamics that apply beyond the local context into environments where the now dominant Western cultural structures oversee the management of the minority Indigenous heritage. The article provides some publicly available detail about the cultural significance of the lakes but its real focus is the heritage protection processes within government. It seeks to broaden the often casual treatment of government as a unified entity to an analysis that includes the priorities and attitudes of individual public servants and the power these individuals have in defining the government’s management of Aboriginal heritage.
The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persist... more The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persistence of a worldview that includes non-physical causality and non-physical conscious agents. Anthropology, based as it is in Western culture, does not engage with the experiential foundation for this worldview but limits itself to descriptive accounts or seeks to interpret it through psychological or sociological prisms. This article makes a case for an experiential anthropology and for the analytic use of the out-of-body experience and related research as a useful model by which to interpret Aboriginal accounts of dreams. It suggests that this could lead to a re-evaluation of the practice of traditional healers and open new avenues for cross-cultural engagement in a contemporary environment where traditional Aboriginal culture is increasingly sidelined from public policy discourse.
Review(s) of: The Native Title Market, by David Ritter, 120 pp, University of Western Australia P... more Review(s) of: The Native Title Market, by David Ritter, 120 pp, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, WA, 2009, ISBN 9781921401169 (pbk).
Review(s) of: Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia, edited by Katie... more Review(s) of: Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia, edited by Katie Glaskin, Myrna Tonkinson, Yasmine Musharbash and Victoria Burbank, xx + 237 pp, Ashgate, Farnham UK, 2008, ISBN 9780754674498 (alk pbk), ₤55 (Australian list price $133.10). Includes references. Includes footnotes.
The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persist... more The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persistence of a worldview that includes non-physical causality and non-physical conscious agents. Anthropology, based as it is in Western culture, does not engage with the experiential foundation for this worldview but limits itself to descriptive accounts or seeks to interpret it thr ough psychological or sociological prisms. This article makes a case for an experiential anthropology and for the analytic use of the out-of-body experience and related research as a useful model by which to interpret Aboriginal accounts of dreams. It suggests that this could lead to a reevaluation of the practice of traditional healers and open new avenues for cross-cultural engagement in a contemporary environment where traditional Aboriginal culture is increasingly sidelined from public policy discourse.
Review(s) of: Les Jardins du Nomade: Cosmologie, Territoire et Personne dans le Desert Occidental... more Review(s) of: Les Jardins du Nomade: Cosmologie, Territoire et Personne dans le Desert Occidental Australien, by Sylvie Poirier, 291 pp, Lit Verlag, Germany 1996, approx. $55.00.
Lutheran Missionary Otto Siebert's ethnographic work among the Diyari and neighbouring peoples of... more Lutheran Missionary Otto Siebert's ethnographic work among the Diyari and neighbouring peoples of north-east South Australia.
Review(s) of: Law's anthropology: From ethnography to expert testimony in native title, by Pa... more Review(s) of: Law's anthropology: From ethnography to expert testimony in native title, by Paul Burke, x + 326 pp, ANU E Press, Canberra, 2011, ISBN 9781921862427 (pbk), $28.00.
The Barngarla native title claim, 1 which received a largely positive determination from the Fede... more The Barngarla native title claim, 1 which received a largely positive determination from the Federal Court in 2014, covered an area that essentially corresponds to the eastern part of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, from just north of Port Augusta to Sleaford Bay, south of Port Lincoln (see Map 3.1). The determination followed a contested trial that carried with it the usual forensic analysis of both contemporary Aboriginal evidence and the ethno-historical record. Because native title law requires a comparison of the present system of 'laws and customs' with that maintained by the claimants' ancestors at the time of sovereignty, the early ethnographic record is especially sought after in such matters. It is rare, however, for this record to include material that is both as close to first contact and as detailed as that produced by the Lutheran missionary Clamor Schürmann. This chapter will briefly contextualise Schürmann's ethnographic activities and provide an overview of some of the key elements of his record, which consists of significant linguistic, anthropological and historical data.
The Wangkangurru man Mick McLean may have been one of the most prolific contributors to our knowl... more The Wangkangurru man Mick McLean may have been one of the most prolific contributors to our knowledge of Aboriginal Dreaming Stories. In collaboration with the linguist Luise Hercus he documented creation narratives for much of the Lake Eyre Basin; from the Simpson Desert in the north to Port Augusta and the Murnpeowie pastoral station in the south, and from Indulkana in the west to Innaminka in the east. McLean was one of the last people to leave the Simpson Desert. He was a learned intellectual, a bush man, and a tracker. He was also a clever man, a traditional healer, and in 1968 he gave Hercus an account of how he was “made clever”. This article is an analysis of this account and the wider spiritual world-view of Australian Aboriginal societies in which the “clever” person has a logical and important role.
This paper considers the different evidentiary requirements for establishing native title during ... more This paper considers the different evidentiary requirements for establishing native title during litigation and negotiation.
This article provides an ethnographic analysis of the legal and bureaucratic processes... more This article provides an ethnographic analysis of the legal and bureaucratic processes of Aboriginal heritage protection. Heritage disputes over Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens in South Australia serve as case studies for an analysis of dynamics that apply beyond the local context into environments where the now dominant Western cultural structures oversee the management of the minority Indigenous heritage. The article provides some publicly available detail about the cultural significance of the lakes but its real focus is the heritage protection processes within government. It seeks to broaden the often casual treatment of government as a unified entity to an analysis that includes the priorities and attitudes of individual public servants and the power these individuals have in defining the government’s management of Aboriginal heritage.
The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persist... more The persistence of traditional healers in contemporary Aboriginal society is based on the persistence of a worldview that includes non-physical causality and non-physical conscious agents. Anthropology, based as it is in Western culture, does not engage with the experiential foundation for this worldview but limits itself to descriptive accounts or seeks to interpret it through psychological or sociological prisms. This article makes a case for an experiential anthropology and for the analytic use of the out-of-body experience and related research as a useful model by which to interpret Aboriginal accounts of dreams. It suggests that this could lead to a re-evaluation of the practice of traditional healers and open new avenues for cross-cultural engagement in a contemporary environment where traditional Aboriginal culture is increasingly sidelined from public policy discourse.
January 2023 Interview on Kim McCaul's podcast "Multidimensional Evolution" which treats a variet... more January 2023 Interview on Kim McCaul's podcast "Multidimensional Evolution" which treats a variety of spiritual subjects. The conversation focuses on the collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica and ranges from Plato and Hermes to Meister Eckhart to alchemy and Blade Runner.
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