Aboriginal Woman: Sacred And Profane (routledge Classic Ethnographies)

Preparing link to download Please wait... Download

E-Book Overview

First published in 1939 by Routledge, this classic ethnography portrays the aboriginal woman as she really is - a complex social personality with her own prerogatives, duties, problems, beliefs, rituals and point of view. This groundbreaking and enduring study was researched in North-West Australia between 1935 and 1936 and was written by a woman who truly pioneered the study of gender in anthropology

E-Book Content

ABORIGINAL WOMAN Sacred and profane 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. Phyllis M.Kaberry (1910–1977) was educated at the University of Sydney. Her first major fieldwork, conducted in 1935 and 1936 in north-west Australia, formed the basis of Aboriginal Woman Sacred and Profane. She was a reader in Social Anthropology at University College London for twenty-six years. She is the author of Women of the Grassfields (also available from Routledge). ROUTLEDGE CLASSIC ETHNOGRAPHIES bring together key anthropology texts which have proved formative in the development of the discipline. Originally published between the 1930s and the 1980s, these titles have had a major impact on the way in which anthropology, and most particularly ethnography, is conducted, taught, and studied. Each book contains the text and illustrations from the original edition, as well as a new preface by a leading anthropologist explaining the book’s contribution to the development of anthropology and its continuing relevance in the twenty-first century. ABORIGINAL WOMAN Sacred and profane Phyllis M.Kaberry WOMEN OF THE GRASSFIELDS A study of the economic position of women in Bamenda, British Cameroons Phyllis M.Kaberry STONE AGE ECONOMICS Marshall Sahlins THE MAASAI OF MATAPATO A study of rituals of rebellion Paul Spencer THE SAMBURU A study of gerontocracy Paul Spencer HUNGER AND WORK IN A SAVAGE TRIBE A functional study of nutrition among the southern Bantu Audrey Richards CUSTOM AND POLITICS IN URBAN AFRICA A study of Hausa migrants in Yoruba towns Abner Cohen ABORIGINAL WOMAN Sacred and profane Phyllis M.Kaberry LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 1939 by George Routledge and Sons, Ltd This edition first published 2004 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1939 Phyllis M.Kaberry Preface to this edition © 2004 Sandy Toussaint All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kaber