Anthropology In Australia Research Articles

Compensation for cultural loss in Indigenous Australia

The issue of compensation for harm to Indigenous culture is increasingly prominent in Australian society, given the High Court's landmark decision in Northern Territory v Griffiths (2019). The High Court sought to assess the meaning of cultural loss from Indigenous testimony and ‘translate the spiritual hurt from the compensable acts into compensation’. The destruction of Juukan Gorge in Western Australia's Pilbara region in 2020 also prompted efforts to assess, evaluate and remedy the harm Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples suffered. Parallel debates about treaties have also raised the possibility of reparations for colonization. This article considers the challenges these legal and political developments pose for anthropology in Australia, where scholars have avoided discussing the concept of cultural loss for a generation.

Displacing history, shifting paradigms: erasing Aboriginal antiquity from Australian anthropology

This article traces the formalisation of anthropology in Australia from 1880 to 1920, during which time the ‘discipline’ shifted from a framework of developmental evolution to one of structural functionalism. It argues that this paradigm shift necessitated an elimination of anthropology’s once-foundational logic of Aboriginal antiquity: severed, first, from a paired notion of human primitivity, then removed altogether. While historians acknowledge functionalist anthropology’s rationale of ‘time-less’ Aboriginality, this article unpacks how it was uniquely created, tracing antiquity’s erasure across the texts central to anthropology’s formalisation in Australia. Doing so reveals that the elimination of Aboriginal antiquity was not just part of anthropology’s development in Australia but a crucial functioning aspect of it.

Having Impact: Doing Applied Medical Anthropology in Australia and Malaysia

Having Impact: Doing Applied Medical Anthropology in Australia and Malaysia

Health Anthropology in Australia

Health Anthropology in Australia

Critical issues in the historical and contemporary development of forensic anthropology in Australia: An international comparison

The aim of this brief critical qualitative analysis is to examine the development of forensic anthropology in Australia, at a time of significant change in the discipline. It will briefly summarise its historical establishment, making comparative reference to other regions—particularly the United Kingdom and United States, and the influence of the Bali Bombings of 2002, Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004 and Black Saturday Bushfires of 2009. The analysis goes on to consider key factors in research in forensic anthropology in the United States, and the development of standards and regulation in the US and UK. The significance of research in post-mortem diagenesis in Brazil—a country sharing aspects of climate, soil types and demography with Australia—is also considered, as well as the significance of patterns of casework encountered in Australia compared with those of other jurisdictions. While forensic anthropology as a discipline has grown remarkably in recent years, this analysis suggests that research and training tailored to the specific pattern of casework encountered in Australia is now essential to support the development of national standards in science, education, and professional regulation. The significance of the establishment of the first taphonomy research facility outside of the US—the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research—is briefly considered with reference to what this facility may offer to the development of forensic anthropology in Australia.

French anthropology in Australia, a prelude: the encounters between Aboriginal Tasmanians and the expedition of Bruny d’Entrecasteaux, 1793

A study into the encounters between Indigenous Australians and French explorers, important for the construction of anthropological knowledge, both biological and ethnographic, in France during the nineteenth century is presented. The two expeditions discussed are that of Bruny d'Entrecasteaux and Nicolas Baundins.

‘You are … my anthropological children’: AP Elkin, Ronald Berndt and Catherine Berndt, 1940–1956

Ronald and Catherine Berndt were Australian anthropology's most well-known and prolific practitioners in the period after AP Elkin - a period from about 1950 until their respective deaths in 1990 and 1994. The two met in Elkin's rooms in April 1940 and married the following year. Their intellectual and personal debt to Elkin was enormous, which they recognised. But it was also a burden, one that they attempted to shake off for the rest of their professional lives. This paper, by focusing on Ronald and Catherine Berndt, examines the role of patronage in the academy as a way of elucidating the formation and shaping of the discipline of anthropology in Australian universities in the period 1940 to 1956, the year when Ronald Berndt obtained a position as senior lecturer in anthropology in the University of Western Australia. During this period Elkin, Professor of anthropology, managed to obtain research funding for the Berndts, occasional employment in the Sydney Department of Anthropology as well as sending them to the London School of Economics to do their PhDs, and finally obtaining a position for Ronald as lecturer in the University of Sydney. HD Skinner at Otago (New Zealand) promoted Catherine and it was he who encouraged her to attend Sydney. Due to University regulations she was unable to obtain a tenured position. Professional anthropology in Australia had such a small base that a patron like Elkin was critical to success. The Berndts were not the brightest and best of Elkin's students - a fact acknowledged by Elkin - yet they went on to accept his mantle as the authorities on all matters to do with Aboriginal Australia and Aboriginal Studies. Academic brilliance does not necessarily secure a position and/or success in the academy, a fact Elkin had observed earlier: 'anthropological field work in Australia does not demand brilliance in examinations'.

French anthropology in Australia, the first fieldwork expedition: Francois Peron’s anthropological contributions to Baudin’s ‘Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere’ (1800–04)

French anthropology in Australia, the first fieldwork expedition: Francois Peron’s anthropological contributions to Baudin’s ‘Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere’ (1800–04)

Donald Thomson and the Freedom of ExclusionDonald Thomson: The Man and Scholar. Edited by Bruce Rigsby and Nicolas Peterson. Canberra: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, 2005.

Donald Thomson and the Freedom of Exclusion<i>Donald Thomson: The Man and Scholar</i>. Edited by Bruce Rigsby and Nicolas Peterson. Canberra: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, 2005.

The army requires anthropologists: Australian anthropologists at war, 1939–1946

World War II had unexpected consequences for the development of anthropology in Australia; it led to a breaking of the hegemonic control exercised by the Sydney department by the creation of, first, the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) and second, the establishment of the Australian National University (ANU). Both institutions affected the way anthropology was practised and theorised, as well as removing the training of colonial field officers to the ASOPA, the original raison d'etre for the Sydney department. While the institutional consequences of the war are relatively well known, the work of anthropologists during the war and how their work contributed to the changes is less well known. This paper examines and discusses the work of Australian anthropologists in World War II.

Erhard Eylmann: A Pioneer of Exploration and Anthropology in Australia

Few scholars of Aboriginal Australia would be familiar with the contribution made by the German ethnologist, Erhard Eylmann (1860–1926), who travelled and studied in Australia between 1896 and 1912...

Scouting an Anthropology of Sport

Keywords: anthropology, sport, soccer, institutions, teaching and research Introduction(1)In pursuing the development of an anthropology of it is important that we are mindful of the connections amongst the sorts of persons, issues, institutions and powers that shape the practices and production of both and anthropology. Both and anthropology commonly produce understandings and experiences that depend on local communities but whose significances are best understood when we locate them as embedded in much broader and more complex cultural environments. Here I record my intention to write from a local perspective, as a Canadian anthropologist living and working in the antipodes; but in so doing I write to the broader concerns of an anthropology of that claims a right to deal with any sport, from anywhere and from any era.Australia has had an important role in the history and development of anthropology. While perhaps less central to many of the contemporary concerns of the discipline, anthropology in Australia remains connected to the waxing and waning of international trends in the discipline. It is certainly articulated to the larger enterprise of an anthropology of sport. Following the appearance of a few articles in Australian anthropology journals (Mewett, 1999; Palmer, 1998a, 1998b), an issue of the flagship journal of the Australian Anthropological Society, The Australian Journal of Anthropology (Palmer, 2002), was devoted to the topic. Yet this issue of the journal was not restricted to sports in Australia; it included papers on a variety of sports connected to diverse places around the world. Notably, it also included papers from a cultural historian and a human geographer. However, to fail to recognize appropriately the particular sorts of local conditions under which it is possible to write and to research from Australia is to miss, I think in a fundamental way, the particular local concerns of any more global ethnographic enterprise. We may, in some respects, all be cosmopolitans now but many of us continue to live and to work as ethnographers somewhere on the periphery. The language of this is telling. Talk of core and periphery not only identifies a recognized set of academic concerns, a set of issues and problems, but also assumes that some places or sports are more core than others, that some analytical issues are more core than others.With this in mind, I want to make three particular points before drawing them together to say something more general about the development of an anthropology of and the ways we might imagine a future for it. First, I explore the presence of what can be identified as a developing and generic sport studies focus and suggest that this must be considered in any shaping of the potential of an anthropology of sport. Second, I offer a brief account of certain aspects of one of my current research interests, pertaining to the anthropology of the soccer or the world game in Perth, Western Australia, to show how it can illuminate some of the ways that local social and academic conditions shape such an account. Finally, I suggest that teaching the anthropology of can provide an accessible and useful way of encouraging entry into anthropology, as a way of interesting some who find the traditional concerns of our discipline almost arcane and anachronistic in relation to their everyday lives.Overall, these three points come together to shape our anthropological practices in ways worth examining. It is the intersections and interconnections among these aspects of our anthropological practice that will continue to invest our particular contributions to the understanding of sports with a sense of contributing to a larger body of scholarship while retaining something of the particularity of our discipline. So in developing these points, even in the attenuated way possible here, I take seriously the notion of scouting the anthropology of signalled in my title. …

Beyond Anthropology, Towards Actuality1

Anthropology in Australia is at a critical juncture. This paper discusses the way in which the discipline has been challenged at the institutional level, in part due to pressures arising from economic rationalisation within universities. Anthropology, however, must take some responsibility for its condition. Psychology has established itself as the primary ‘human’ discipline to provide qualifications appropriate for professional employment. At a more scholarly level, anthropology's traditional zones of concern have been taken over by others, including history and cultural studies. Can we, and should we, demystify anthropology and its practices? Can we reposition anthropology with a broader vision of the human experience, and what will happen if we cannot?

Some Aspects of Continuity and Change Among Anthropologists in Australia or‘He‐Who‐Eats‐From‐One‐Dish‐With‐Us‐With‐One‐Spoon’

Since the future of anthropology in Australia is clouded, the address takes a look at where it has been coming from. Rather than a distinctive regional school, the discipline in Australia has been part of anthropology in the UK and the USA. In common with anthropology elsewhere, it lacks a distinctive theoretical stance, but draws on the theory current in the other social sciences. Recognising that what makes anthropology ‘special’ is the field work experience, the address reflects on the history and nature of this practice.

Women’s Health and Applied Anthropology in Australia

Biological, medical and public, health investments, and changes in social and political organization over the past century, have had dramatic influences on the distribution and impact of infectious disease. Everywhere, life style diseases have increased with greater sedentarism, industrialization, pollution, and changes in taste. Yet at the same time, in poor countries and in niches within the richest countries of the world, infectious diseases still account for most of morbidity and early mortality. Control of the many common causes of death and disability—respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, vector-borne and other parasitic infections, and viruses—is still a long way off. Limits to the effectiveness of biochemical interventions mean that public health interventions remain a priority in addressing differences in the distribution, treatment, prognosis and prevention of disease in rich and poor countries, and between rich and poor people, and in general to improve people's health.

Practicing Anthropology in Australia: An Introduction

Applied anthropology in Australia is an increasingly sought after and diverse field of social inquiry and research application. There are several reasons for this interest, including substantial anthropological involvement in the land claims process during the past three decades. Such a process has resulted in anthropologists working for Indigenous groups and land councils, documenting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests in land and sea, negotiating resource development agreements, undertaking ethnographic site surveys, presenting evidence in court. A number of contributions to this special edition of Practicing Anthropology provide details of these practical applications of anthropology in Australian settings. Nicolas Peterson describes some of the historial background to the introduction of land rights legislation in the Northern Territory, and Jim Birckhead discusses cultural heritage issues in national parks in New South Wales. Birckhead and Toussaint also raise concerns about anthropological practice and the ethics and politics of representation, including with reference to the relationship between gender and culture.

THE LIMITS OF CULTURAL CONSTRUCTIONISM: THE CASE OF CORONATION HILL

The matters addressed in this article are of current interest. Although the machinery for protecting Aboriginal sacred sites in the Northern Territory has been operative for some thirteen years, the Coronation Hill case has brought into focus some critical anthropological issues. Prolonged controversy over the Coronation Hill matter was referred to a federal body of inquiry, the Resource Assessment Commission, and a final report was recently submitted to government. Dr. Merlan examines positions taken in reports to the Commission and comments on the final report concerning notions of Aboriginal tradition. Dr. Merlan was co-author of one of the reports to the Commission on Aboriginal issues. One critic of this report, Dr. Ron Brunton, has published three pamphlets through the privately funded Institute of Public Affairs. Dr. Merlan sought to publish a reply through the same outlet but was told the Institute had no provision for this. I have persuaded Dr. Merlan to publish the following paper in Oceania in view of the importance of the issues it raises for anthropology in Australia and the Fourth World My particular thanks to the reviewer who responded at very short notice. Jeremy Beckett Editor

REVIEW

Anthropology in Australia: Essays to Honour 50 Years of ‘Mankind‘. Edited by Grant McCall. Sydney: The Anthropological Society of New South Wales. 1982. Pp.iv + 134. (Copies available from the Department of Anthropology, The Australian Museum, Sydney).

Extinction Threatens Australian Anthropology

Extinction Threatens Australian Anthropology

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN AUSTRALIA

Medical Anthropology NewsletterVolume 12, Issue 1 p. 5-5 Free Access MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN AUSTRALIA Janice Reid, Janice Reid SydneySearch for more papers by this author Janice Reid, Janice Reid SydneySearch for more papers by this author First published: November 1980 https://doi.org/10.1525/maq.1980.12.1.02a00090Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsExport 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 onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume12, Issue1November 1980Pages 5-5 RelatedInformation