From the moment of Australia's discovery by Europeans the history, life and culture of Aboriginal people has been a subject of intellectual fascination. In the nineteenth century their social and cultural practices were widely believed to open up a window onto the origins of religion and European social institutions. More recently they have become a sociological, evolutionary and ecological prototype of the hunting and gathering way of life. This course will examine the details of traditional life, including subsistence economy, land ownership, social organisation, marriage arrangements, religion, magic, art and totemism and consider its impact on the European imagination and the production of social theory.

Tutorial assessment (15%), tutorial essay (25%) and 2000 word essay (60%).

2 hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial per week

Two first year courses to the value of 12 units in the Faculty of Arts.

*Hart, C.W.M. and Pilling, A.R. The Tiwi of North Australia, Holt, 1965.
*Tonkinson, R. The Mardudjara Aborigines, Holt, 1978.
*Poirier, S. A. World of Relationships: Itineraries, Dreams, And Events in the Australian Western Desert, University of Toronto Press, 2005.