The Australian aborigines: A portrait of their society

by Kenneth Maddock

Book by Maddock, Kenneth

Genres: Anthropology, History, Australia

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Einzige · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dont let the lack of goodreads picture fool you, this is a serious work by a prominent anthropologist who specialised in the Aboriginal people of Australia.

Accordingly it does focus fairly heavily on the rather complicated taxonomy wrapped up in their culture, however there is information here to make it a worthwhile read to those without and in depth interest in the field.

Some particularly interesting points -
- A particular case of syncretisation with Christianity
- The complexity of their polygamy and understanding of pedigree
- The impacts of what happens when a society doesn't have a conception of death by natural causes.

Of course this book is an introductory work and whilst he put in a great deal of work the majority of his studies are based on communities in one region - though of course this is understandable given the lack of extant traditional groups outside of this area.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gives a good insight the the study of social order of the aborigines.