ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANA –

Kiste and Ogan social change series in anthropology.

Concerned with the adaptive strategies of Aborigines at Jigalong a non-traditional community comprised of several linguistics groups, which allow them to maintain a degree of cultural integrity in the face of Westernization; Subjects covered; 1) General historical information; 2) Jigalong social, economic and political organization; tribal, linguistic and regional affiliation of community members (majority of whom are Mandjildjara, Gadudjara or Wanman speakers); camp layout; family life and marriage; kinship system; kin terms and role behaviour; section systems, station and mission employment as major sources of income; role of subsistence activities; missionaries and the distribution of government monies; settlement administration; Aboriginal leadership and authority; Abor. intra and inter-community relations; Abor. and white relations; 3) Religion; general information re Dream time concepts and mythology; concept of Law as synonomous with traditional culture and the Dreamtime heritage; totemism – 2 types, conception and ancestral; magic-curing, sorcery, featherfeet ritual killers; ritual; concepts of power and sacredness; ritual generational divisions and status; types of ritual – classed by personnel, mythological origin, and purpose; purposes – initiation, ancestralinstructive, commemorative-recreational, increase; describes Nga; wajil, rain-making ritual; ritual paraphernalia; inter-community contacts and cultural transmission – role of periodic big meetings at which Aborigines from a wide area assemble for various ritual purposes, particularly initiation, in introducing changes to traditional religion; 4) Acceptance of Western cultural elements; easy acceptance of utilitarian items and other material goods even for ritual purposes, except when perceived to contravene the Law; medicine; tobacco; mass media exposure; young mens adoption of cowboy culture in station context; separation of children and adults by missionaries through schools and dormitories in attempt to instill new values and behaviour patterns; Aboriginal modification of meaning and usage of borrowed items and behaviour patterns; 5) Rejection of Christianity; describes the Aboriginal and mission sub-cultures and role – stereotypes each group holds of the other – the whitefellaChristians v. the children of the devil; failure of parent-child separations to instill Western values as a permanent part of life; Aboriginal missionary interaction – formal and structured in terms of status and authority differences; lack communication – refusal by missionarys to learn an Aboriginal language; rationalization by missionaries of their failure to make converts in terms of Aboriginal inadequacies; conflicts with missionaries over beating of children, sheltering women from promised husbands, cheating Aborigines of government pensions; characterizes above conditions as reinforcing traditional orientation of Jigalong people; 6) Survival strategies; emergence of unifying concept of Aboriginality; development of community solidarity and shared religious organization; coping with whites made easier by marginal location, illusion of autonomy, and Aboriginal ethnocentrism; preservation of integrity of the Law; book concludes with remarks on late developments at Jigalong, particularly the closing of the mission in 1969 and administrative takeover by the government.

• 166 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. #071025

(Note: Only a “fair to poor”copy!)

First Nations (AIATSIS) Subject:

• Religions – Christianity – Missions
• Religion – Dreaming
• Religion – Totemism
• Child welfare – Child / parent separation
• Social identity – Aboriginality
• Religion – Rites
• Socioeconomic conditions – Living conditions
• Kartujarra language (A51) (WA SF51-14)
• Mandjindja / Mantjintjarra / Manjiljarra language (A33) (WA SG52-13)
• Warnman people (A62) (WA SF51-11)
• Mandjindja
• Mandjindja / Mantjintjarra / Manjiljarra people (A33) (WA SG52-13)
• Kartujarra people (A51) (WA SF51-14)
• Warnman language (A62) (WA SF51-11)
• Jigalong (WA East Pilbara SF51-13)

Subject:

• Jigalong Mission
• Aboriginal Australians — Western Australia — Jigalong Mission