Description
Many of the elements ascribed to traditional Aboriginal beliefs and practices are the result of contact with external peoples - Melanesians and Indonesians, as well as Europeans. This controversial and provocative 1993 book is a detailed and continent-wide study of the impact of outsiders on Australian Aboriginal world-views. The author separates out a common core of religious beliefs which reflect the precontact spirituality of Australian Aborigines. This book investigates Aboriginal myth, ritual, cosmology and philosophy, and also examines social organisation, subsistence patterns and cultural change. It will be of great interest to readers in anthropology, religious studies, comparative philosophy and Aboriginal studies.
This controversial and provocative 1993 book isa detailed study of the impact of outsiders on Australian Aboriginal world-views.
Reviews
"Swain's book is a welcome academic contribution..." American Historical Review
"This is a major revisionary study of the effect cultural contact with Europeans and other nonnatives had on the Australian aboriginal religious world of meaning....an important book, which is bound to stir controversy. The author realizes this, even courts it, for he seeks nothing less than to reorient our understanding of Australian aboriginal religion by reintroducing history in an important way....This work is an exciting essay, an initial forray into a new sort of history of religions in Australia....No one...will leave this work without having been stimulated to reread the Australian 'data' and to reexamine many of the elements of received wisdom concerning this. This book deserves a wide readership." Gary L. Ebersole, Journal of Religion
"Swain has done a remarkable analysis in showing how different horizons exist and respond to external state power. In one sense, horizons must not be fused, since fusion will only come at the expense of Aboriginal peoples and Aboriginality. This book is not simply another account of the Australian Aborigine; it must be read as a a warning on how Gramscian political and cultural hegemony and domination operates within our own horizon." Aram Yengoyan, Ethno History
Book Information
ISBN 9780521446914
Author Tony Swain
Format Paperback
Page Count 316
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 17mm
This controversial and provocative 1993 book isa detailed study of the impact of outsiders on Australian Aboriginal world-views.
Reviews
"Swain's book is a welcome academic contribution..." American Historical Review
"This is a major revisionary study of the effect cultural contact with Europeans and other nonnatives had on the Australian aboriginal religious world of meaning....an important book, which is bound to stir controversy. The author realizes this, even courts it, for he seeks nothing less than to reorient our understanding of Australian aboriginal religion by reintroducing history in an important way....This work is an exciting essay, an initial forray into a new sort of history of religions in Australia....No one...will leave this work without having been stimulated to reread the Australian 'data' and to reexamine many of the elements of received wisdom concerning this. This book deserves a wide readership." Gary L. Ebersole, Journal of Religion
"Swain has done a remarkable analysis in showing how different horizons exist and respond to external state power. In one sense, horizons must not be fused, since fusion will only come at the expense of Aboriginal peoples and Aboriginality. This book is not simply another account of the Australian Aborigine; it must be read as a a warning on how Gramscian political and cultural hegemony and domination operates within our own horizon." Aram Yengoyan, Ethno History
Book Information
ISBN 9780521446914
Author Tony Swain
Format Paperback
Page Count 316
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 17mm
