ABORIGINAL WEST AUSTRALIANA –

“Providing remarkable insights into Australian Aboriginal society through the vantage point of women, Aboriginal Woman Sacred and Profane illustrates the importance of the study of gender in anthropology. Phyllis Kaberry was the first anthropologist to examine and understand the fullness of Aboriginal women’s lives, which had hitherto been classified as restricted and uninvolved with religious practice. She portrayed the Aboriginal woman in a realistic light, as a complex social personality with her own prerogatives, duties, problems, beliefs, rituals and points of view.” “In her new preface, Sandy Toussaint looks at how Aboriginal Woman Sacred and Profane came to be written, the book’s original context and its influence on the study of gender in anthropology.”

• xli, 294 p. : ill., map; 24 cm. #170925

• • Introduction / A. P. Elkin (new introduction by
  • I. Wielders of the Digging-Stick
  • II. The Social and Spiritual Background of the Aboriginal Child
  • III. Childhood
  • IV. On the Threshold of Marriage
  • V. The Laws of Marriage and the Needs of the Individual
  • VI. Rights and Duties of Women in Marriage
  • VII. The Function of Women in the Larger Social Groups
  • VIII. The Spiritual Heritage of Aboriginal Woman
  • IX. Women’s Ceremonies
  • X. Women’s Secret Corroborees
  • XI. Aboriginal Woman – Sacred and Profane.

  Notes:

  • Originally published: London : G. Rutledge, 1939.
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-283) and index.

  • • Women, Aboriginal Australian — Western Australia — Kimberley — Social life and customs
    • Kimberely (W.A.) — Social life and customs