Customer Reviews

Arguments about Aborigines: Australia and the Evolution of Social Anthropology

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At first I felt awe, then dismay, at the amount of literature available on this most-studied culture, the Aborigine of Australia. The culture has been of intense interest since the ealiest days of formal ethnological and anthropological enquiry. Hiatt's book has given me a perspective into the history of scholarly enquiry that informs and conditions my reaction to the work of others. His format is subject-oriented according to his own scholarly interest in the Aborigine but is prefaced in each chapter by a review of the prejudices and aspirations of his predecessors. The book is highly readable and very stimulating. I consider it essential, at the least, to others like myself who have no formal anthropological training but who must discern and rely on the work and opinions of scholars.