Aboriginal Myths Research Articles

The Relationship between Humans and Animals in the Aboriginal Mythology through the Prism of Animal Studies

Aim. The aim of this article is to analyse Aboriginal myths and discover the relationship between animals and humans in the beliefs of the indigenous Australians. The article attempts to explain how animals are described when compared to people and vice. Furthermore, the author endeavours to establish what the relationship looks like and how it is presented. Methods. As Aboriginal myths and mythologies have been evolving for hundreds and thousands of years, it is not possible to analyse every single myth. Hence, in order to narrow them down, only the myths presented by Alexander Wyclif Reed will be analysed. The analysis will be conducted from the perspective of Animals Studies, with a particular focus on the contemporary ecological views presented by a contemporary representative of an ecological turn and animal rights scholar, Peter Wohlleben. The analysis will focus on three main aspects: parenting/motherly love, instincts, feelings and emotions. Results. The analysis shows that animals were of the utmost importance in the Aboriginal everyday life and most of the time were treated on a par with humans. Just like the Aboriginal point of view, contemporary attitude to Animal Studies attempts to alter the view according to which animals are devoid of feelings and intelligence. Conclusions. Animals seem to have a crucial role in every aspect of Aboriginal everyday life, including religious and social. They were not perceived as lesser or worse; conversely, Aboriginals considered them to be as intelligent and significant as the Aboriginal people themselves.

Mysticism and reality in Aboriginal myth: evolution and dynamism in Australian Aboriginal religion

ABSTRACT Religious stories of Australian Aboriginal people, myths, were not stable and long lasting; they were often short-lived and frequently changed. High rates of turnover in narrative content allowed them to incorporate accurate reference to short-lived resources, but was a significant obstacle to the preservation of a story over long periods. Evidence for relatively high rates of religious change challenges us to explain the mechanisms for persistent evolution of religious narrative. This paper proposes an evolutionary model consisting of three elements: (i) creation of novel narratives by recombination of a pool of themes, characters, personalities, and actions, based on the ambiguous and polysemic understanding of dreams and existing myths; (ii) selection or modification of narratives in response to group/audience reactions, leading to some being attached to rites and popularized, (iii) development of regional differences because of the place-attachment of events and characters in stories. Evolutionary change was driven by competition between individual men or alliances of men of high standing who claimed rights to new mythic and ritual domains. Aboriginal myths were therefore not fixed in time, in conservative social systems, but were rapidly changing as individuals and groups renegotiated power relationships and world views.

Reescritura de mitos aborígenes en dos novelas de la primera mitad del siglo XX: Hombres de maíz de M.A. Asturias y Macunaíma de Mário de Andrade

La cultura americana, prototipo de cultura híbrida, es un punto de confluencia inestable entre las tradiciones previas y posteriores a la conquista. En Hombres de maíz (1949) Asturias emplea el corpus mítico de los ancestros: los Libros de Chilam Balam, los Anales de los cakchiqueles y los Himnos de los Dioses recogidos por Sahagún, y ese gran relato mítico que es el Popol-Vuh, revelando hasta qué punto se implican y se reflejan las antiguas estructuras del mito y las modernas técnicas narrativas. Antes de los experimentos de Asturias con los mitos de su tierra, en plena efervescencia del primitivismo estético, Mário de Andrade publicaba su rapsódica Macunaíma. O herói sen nenhum caráter (1928). En su uso del mito, esta novela refleja el contexto modernista que se volcó al repaso paródico, pero que también supo explorar sus aspectos trágicos.

Solving Australia's language puzzle.

According to Aboriginal myth, the first person to come to Australia was a woman named Warramurrungunji. She emerged from the sea and then headed inland, where she created children and put each one in a specific place on the landscape, giving each a specific language as she did so. That myth describes the complexities of Australia9s linguistic landscape, which linguists have long struggled to unravel. In recent years they have begun to borrow methods used in biology to derive evolutionary trees to tease apart the history of language. This week the approach takes a major step forward with a combined genetic and linguistic study that paints a picture of how people entered and spread across Australia, giving birth to new languages as they went. It9s a modern version of Warramurrungunji9s story, and marks a milestone in collaboration between geneticists and linguists, offering a detailed vision of Australia9s prehistory.

Writing Indigenous Vampires: Aboriginal Gothic or Aboriginal Fantastic?

The usual postmodern suspicions about diligently deciphering authorial intent or stridently seeking fixed meaning/s and/or binary distinctions in an artistic work aside, this self-indulgent essay pushes the boundaries regarding normative academic research, for it focusses on my own (minimally celebrated) published creative writing’s status as a literary innovation. Dedicated to illuminating some of the less common denominators at play in Australian horror, my paper recalls the creative writing process involved when I set upon the (arrogant?) goal of creating a new genre of creative writing: that of the ‘Aboriginal Fantastic’. I compare my work to the literary output of a small but significant group (2.5% of the population), of which I am a member: Aboriginal Australians. I narrow my focus even further by examining that creative writing known as Aboriginal horror. And I reduce the sample size of my study to an exceptionally small number by restricting my view to one type of Aboriginal horror literature only: the Aboriginal vampire novel, a genre to which I have contributed professionally with the 2011 paperback and 2012 e-book publication of That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! However, as this paper hopefully demonstrates, and despite what may be interpreted by some cynical commentators as the faux sincerity of my taxonomic fervour, Aboriginal horror is a genre noteworthy for its instability and worthy of further academic interrogation. (first paragraph)

Application of Taiwan aboriginal myths to cultural perfume products

Application of Taiwan aboriginal myths to cultural perfume products

John O’Leary, Savage Songs and Wild Romances: Settler Poetry and the Indigene, 1830-1880

STRIKE HIM WITH THE BLOOD OF CIRCUMCISION!STRIKE HIM WITH THE TUFT OF EAGLE FEATHERS!STRIKE HIM WITH THE GIRDLE, THE paltando!STRIKE HIM WITH THE manga, THE kundando! So wrote Australian William Cawthorne in his 1848 work The Legend of Kuperree; or the Red Kangaroo, a retelling with extensive embellishments of an Aboriginal myth from South Australia that Cawthorne had heard from a German missionary. The work is eclectic and not exactly scholarly in a modern sense; the lines quoted are from a ...

Moon: a brief history

Werewolves and Wernher von Braun, Stonehenge and the sex lives of sea corals, aboriginal myths, and an Anglican bishop: in 'Moon', Bernd Brunner weaves variegated information into an enchanting glimpse of Earth's closest celestial neighbour, whose mere presence inspires us to wonder what might be 'out there'.

The Australian Aborigines and the Human Past

Indifference to events which may actually have taken place between the Dreamtime and European contact is commonly held to be a salient feature of traditional Aboriginal thought. This contention contains a significant element of truth but it may have been exaggerated by some anthropologists. Structural-functionalist emphases on myth as charter led not only to the rejection of historical interpretations of Aboriginal myths which were ill-considered and naïve, but also to an excessive neglect of potentially fruitful attempts to extract from myths clues about post-Dreamtime experiences. This neglect has unduly strengthened the view that Aboriginal thought is entirely sui generis and that its supposed indifference to human history is an inescapable cultural attribute of Aboriginality. A sketch is offered for a reappraisal of the significance of Aboriginal myths for Aboriginal history.

Book Reviews

MankindVolume 7, Issue 3 p. 231-244 Book Reviews First published: June 1970 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1970.tb00414.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: The Prehistory of Australia. By D. J. Mulvaney Aboriginal Habitat and Economy. By Roger Lawrence The Aborigines of Tasmania. By H. Ling Roth. F. King and Sons The Dreamtime. Australian Aboriginal Myths in Paintings. By Ainslie Roberts with text by Charles P. Mountford The Aboriginal Languages of the Southwest of Australia. By Wilfred H. Douglas The Languages of Victoria: A Late Survey. By Luise A. Hercus A Survey of New Guinea Languages. By A. Capell Korwars and Korwar Style: Art and Ancestor Worship in North-West New Guinea. By Th. P. van Baaren Pigs for the Ancestors. By Roy A. Rappaport Capitalism, Primitive and Modern. By T. Scarlett Epstein Eskimos of the Nushagak River. By James W. Van Stone Under the Bo Tree: Studies in Caste, Kinship and Marriage in the Interior of Ceylon. By Nur Yalman The Indians in Uganda, Caste and Sect in a Plural Society. By H. S. Morris Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research Method. By John Collier Culture and Ageing. By Margaret Clarke and Barbara G. Anderson. Charles C. Thomas, Illinois Culture in Process. By Alan R. Beals Selected Studies in Marriage and the Family. Edited by Robert F. Winch and Louis Wolf Goodman New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter. Background to Evolution in Africa. Edited by Walter W. Bishop and J. Desmond Clark The History of Man. By Carleton S. Coon The Human Species. By Frederick S. Hulse The Birth of Indian Civilization. Volume7, Issue3June 1970Pages 231-244 RelatedInformation

Masaya, the “Mouth of Hell”, Nicaragua: Volcanological interpretation of the myths, legends and anecdotes

Nicaragua's conquest started only 30years after Christopher Columbus arrived to America in 1492. At that moment the Masaya and Momotombo volcanoes were erupting simultaneously. The former was the first permanent lava lake observed by Europeans, and this produced a strong impression and interest in it. For more than a century there was great controversy over the nature of this phenomenon. Some people believed that it was the Mouth of Hell, whereas others could greedily see in the lava a source of gold or silver. This fact led to many attempts trying to prove it. In this paper, aboriginal myths about the volcano are described as well as different ideas and “supported evidence” given by the Spaniards regarding whether it was or not indeed the Mouth of Hell. Moreover, the first detailed geological descriptions are exposed as well as interesting interpretations found in the chronicles. It is also narrated the first descent into the volcano's mouth to extract samples of that “gold”, a real exploit for that time. From these descriptions, a volcanological interpretation is proposed, which is a contribution to the understanding of the eruptive history and evolution of the Masaya volcanic complex, one of the largest, shallow magma chamber systems in Central America.

Koalas: Historical, Cultural and Social Context for Research and Management

During the last 20 years of researching Queensland koalas, supported by the Australian Koala Foundation, Central Queensland Koala Volunteers and Earthwatch International, I have worked with over 200 volunteers from 18 nations and many cultures and professions. The first encounter with a wild koala is often an intense emotional experience—irrespective of gender, age, or background. So, I was particularly interested to read how Stephen Jackson addressed the almost universal human attraction for these endearing animals. In Koala: Origins of an Icon Stephen Jackson provides an account of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)—summarizing knowledge on its evolution, ecology and behavior, together with the history of its discovery and exploitation. Changing community attitudes to the animal and its demeanor are also explored. But this is not a scientific treatise. Rather, as Jackson explains in the introduction, it is about the intellectual and emotional appeal the koala has for humans and the consequences that the, at times, illogical responses are having for the management and conservation of the species. Apart from reference to published literature, he has attempted to keep the content up to date by consulting selected workers—all of whom are acknowledged. In telling this story he has produced a valuable reference for those interested in koala conservation and management and others wishing to understand species conservation within a social context. The book is organized into 11 chapters plus an introduction and conclusion. Chapter 1 is a concise, readable account of the emergence of the koala and its habitat within the context of the evolution of marsupials, placental mammals, and the Australian continent. It could benefit from the inclusion of graphics illustrating continental drift and the formation of modern continents. Chapter 2 recounts a number of Aboriginal legends featuring koalas. The chapter provides some preEuropean context that shows the koala was of some significance in indigenous culture. Nevertheless, most other major elements of Australian fauna are also represented in Aboriginal myths and legends, so it is not possible to gauge the koala’s relative significance. The stories are not well integrated, but this is not surprising given the 232 year European impact on indigenous culture across eastern Australia. It’s probably no longer possible to develop a more sophisticated view of the role of the koala in Aboriginal culture. Later accounts of Aboriginal hunting for koalas hint at a more pragmatic, less spiritual, view that is more reminiscent of the postJ Mammal Evol (2009) 16:61–63 DOI 10.1007/s10914-008-9082-x

Patricia Wrightson and Aboriginal Myth

Patricia Wrightson and Aboriginal Myth

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Glen Banks and Chris Ballard (eds). The Ok Tedi Settlement: Issues, Outcomes and Implications. Marcus Banks and Howard Morphy (eds). Rethinking Visual Anthropology. Johanna M. Blows. Eagle and Crow: An Exploration of an Australian Aboriginal Myth. Malcolm Crick, Resplendent Sites, Discordant Voices: Sri Lankans and International Tourism. Gary W. Dowsett, Practicing Desire: Homosexual Sex in the Era of AIDS. Juliana Flinn, Leslie Marshall and Jocelyn Armstrong (eds). Fieldwork and Families: Constructing New Models for Ethnographic Research. James Fox (ed.) The Poetic Power of Place: Comparative Perspectives on Austronesian Ideas of Locality. Hamilton, Malcolm B. The Sociology of Religion ‐ Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives. Andro Iteanu and Eric Schwimmer (eds). Pane, etje t'ecouterai: Recits et traditions des Orokaiva de Papouasie‐Nouvelle‐Guinee James Jemut Masing. The Coming of the Gods: An Iban Invocatory Chant (Timang Gawai Amat) of the Baleh River Region, Sarawak. Monica Lindh De Montoya. Progress, Hunger and Envy: Commercial Agriculture, Marteting and Social Transformation in the Venezuelan Andes. R.G. Parker and J.H. Gagnon (eds). Conceiving Sexuality: Approaches to Sex Research in a Postmodern World R. Parkin. The Dark Side of Humanity: The Work of Robert Hertz and its Legacy. Raul Pertierra. Explorations in Social Theory and Philippine Ethnography. Carmel Schrire. Digging Through Darkness: Chronicles of an Archaeologist. William Scott Shelley. The Elixir: An Alchemical Study of the Ergot Mushroom. Andrew Shyrock. Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination: Oral History and Textual Authority in Tribal Jordan. Nicholas Thomas. Oceanic Art. Elspeth Young. Third World in The First.

Eagle and crow: an exploration of an Australian Aboriginal myth

Eagle and crow: an exploration of an Australian Aboriginal myth

A Place for Strangers: Towards a History of Australian Aboriginal Being.

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.

The role of myth as a bridge in human consciousness.

Abstract Human consciousness can be described by means of a linguistic model in which mythic images and narratives bridge conscious and unconscious mental activity, as well as helping to connect individuals with their culture. Information is constantly being exchanged among these three sources through verbal and nonverbal language. Mythology's dialectical structure is illustrated by the analysis of an Australian aboriginal myth.

Levi-Strauss and the Dragon: Mythologiques Reconsidered in the Light of an Australian Aboriginal Myth

Levi-Strauss and the Dragon: Mythologiques Reconsidered in the Light of an Australian Aboriginal Myth

The Dawn of Time: Australian Aboriginal Myths.

The Dawn of Time: Australian Aboriginal Myths.

Book Reviews

WILL-ERICH PEUCKERT. GABALIA. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin, 1967. 578 pp. Reviewed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen. STUDIES IN FOLK LIFE. Essays in honour of Iorwerth C. Peate. Edited by Geraint Jenkins. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969. Pp. xvii, 344. 46 Plates and 4 maps and 55 line drawings. £4 4s. Reviewed by Michael M. Rix. ORAL EPICS OF CENTRAL ASIA. By Nora K. Chadwick and Victor Zhirmunsky. Cambridge University Press. 1969. Pp. 366. 75s. Reviewed by E. O. James. So LEBEN SIE NOCH HEUTE. BETRACHTUNGEN ZUM VOLKSMÄRCHEN. MAX LÜTHI. Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 1969. Pp. 130. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger. THE DAWN OF TIME. Australian Aboriginal Myths in Paintings by Ainslie Roberts, with text by CHARLES P. MOUNTFORD. 1969. Angus and Robertson. 25s. (and Rigby Limited, Adelade). Reviewed by Roger Lancelyn Green.