From the moment of Australia's discovery by Europeans the history, life and culture of Indigenous Australian 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.

By participating fully in this course you should expect the following outcomes:

• An understanding of why Aboriginal societies and cultures have been so important in the history of European social theory
• A knowledge of the diversity of Indigenous societies and cultures prior to colonisation
• An understanding of the basic features of Indigenous economic, social and religious life and their interrelationship
• An appreciation of some fundamental concepts in anthropology and the debates around them
• An ability to assess much of the public discourse around Aboriginal culture
• Insight into the nature of the human condition

By negotiation but to involve 6000 words of writing

Two hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial per week

*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.