Modern anthropologists, unlike their classical predecessors, have observed Australian Aborigines in the field, rather than from the study. None, however, has spent as long as David McKnight in a single community. During a period of 35 years, involving some 20 fieldtrips, he has lived with the Mornington Islanders of northern Queensland for over five years. This intellectual tour de force combines dense ethnography about Australian kinship and marriage - the heart of their world - with major anthropological debate about theories of kinship. It thereby provides a unique and important contribution to kinship studies. McKnight shows how young Aborigines became increasingly determined to marry according to their own inclinations, defying the authority of the elders, who accused them of 'going the Whiteman's Way'.
- ISBN10 0754642380
- ISBN13 9780754642381
- Publish Date 28 November 2004
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 December 2012
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Ashgate Publishing Limited
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 284
- Language English