Aboriginal Religions in Australia
Subtitle: an Anthology of Recent Writings
By: Françoise Dussart
Contributors: Morphy, Howard; Charlesworth, Max
Edition: First edition.
Series: Vitality of Indigenous Religions
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2016
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 342
ISBN-13: 9781315263519
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians; Religion; Australiens (Aborigènes); BODY, MIND & SPIRIT; Spirituality; Paganism & Neo-Paganism; RELIGION; Comparative Religion
Description: "Over the last 25 years there has been an explosion of interest in the Aboriginal religions of Australia and this anthology provides a variety of recent writings, by a wide range of scholars. Australian Aboriginal Religions are probably the oldest extant religious systems. Over some 50,000 years they have coped with change and re-invented themselves in an astonishingly creative way. The Dreaming, the mythical time when the Ancestor Spirits shaped the territories of the Aborigines and laid down a moral and ritual law for their occupants, is the fundamental religious reality. It is the basis of the Aborigines's view of their land or country, kinship relationships, ritual and art. However, the Dreaming is not a static principle since it is interpreted in different ways, as in the extraordinary movement in contemporary indigenous painting, and in attempts at an accommodation with Christianity. The contributions of anthropologists, cultural historians, philosophers of religion and others are included in this anthology which not only guides readers through the literature but also ensures this still largely inaccessible material is available to a wider range of readers and non-specialist students and academics."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Chapter Introduction  -- Max Charlesworth; title: part Introduction --; title: chapter 1 Baldwin Spencer and FJ. Gillen  -- John Mulvaney; title: chapter 2 High Gods  -- LR. Hiatt; title: chapter 3 Stanner on Aboriginal Religion  -- Ian Keen; title: part Introduction --; title: chapter 4?Women's Business?, What is It?  -- Diane Bell; title: chapter 5 Big Businesswomen  -- Franqoise Dussart; title: part Introduction --; title: chapter 6 Do Places Appear?  -- Francesca Merlan; title: chapter 7 Sacred Geography  -- Marcia Langton; title: chapter 8 Myth and History  -- Peter Sutton; title: part Introduction  -- Franqoise Dussart; title: chapter 9 Yolngu Art and the Creativity of the Inside  -- Howard Morphy; title: chapter 10 Linda Syddick on Longing  -- Fred Myers; title: chapter 11 The Enigma of Emily Kngwarray  -- Jenny Green; title: part Introduction --; title: chapter 12 Aboriginal Religion Today  -- John Morton; title: chapter 13 Life and Land in Aboriginal Australia  -- Deborah Bird Rose; title: chapter 14 Creation in the Kimberley David Mowaljarlai --; title: part Introduction  -- Max Charlesworth; title: chapter 15 Land Rights: The Religious Factor  -- Frank Brennan; title: chapter 16 The Hindmarsh Bridge Affair and Secret Knowledge  -- Robert Tonkinson; title: part Introduction  -- Max Charlesworth; title: chapter 17 Faith and Fear in Aboriginal Christianity  -- Fiona Magowan; title: chapter 18 Islam and Australian Aborigines Ian McIntosh.