Anthropology and Cultural History in Asia and the Indo-Pacific
2 total works
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'.
This is a fascinating exploration of the relationship between marriage, violence and sorcery in an Australian Aboriginal Community, drawing on David McKnight’s extensive research on Mornington Island. The case studies, which occurred both before and after a Presbyterian Mission was established on the island, allow McKnight to show how the complexities of kin ties and increased sexual competition help to explain incidences of violence and sorcery, without resorting to psychiatric justifications. He demonstrates that kin ties both stimulated conflict and helped to mitigate it. Following on from McKnight’s previous book, Going the Whiteman’s Way (Ashgate 2004), Of Marriage, Violence and Sorcery offers an archive of valuable primary materials, drawing on the author’s forty-year knowledge of the community on Mornington Island.