German ethnography in Australia

by Myers, Fred R. Peterson, Nicolas

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Title Statements

Full title :German ethnography in Australia / edited by Nicolas Peterson and Anna Kenny.

Summary

The contribution of German ethnography to Australian anthropological scholarship on Aboriginal societies and cultures has been limited, primarily because few people working in the field read German. But it has also been neglected because its humanistic concerns with language, religion and mythology contrasted with the mainstream British social anthropological tradition that prevailed in Australia until the late 1960s. The advent of native title claims, which require drawing on the earliest ethnography for any area, together with an increase in research on rock art of the Kimberley region, has stimulated interest in this German ethnography, as have some recent book translations. Even so, several major bodies of ethnography, such as the 13 volumes on the cultures of northeastern South Australia and the seven volumes on the Aranda of the Alice Springs region, remain inaccessible, along with many ethnographically rich articles and reports in mission archives. In 18 chapters, this book introduces and reviews the significance of this neglected work, much of it by missionaries who first wrote on Australian Aboriginal cultures in the 1840s. Almost all of these German speakers, in particular the missionaries, learnt an Aboriginal language in order to be able to document religious beliefs, mythology and songs as a first step to conversion. As a result, they produced an enormously valuable body of work that will greatly enrich regional ethnographies.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2017

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):ANU Press
Place of Publication:Acton, A.C.T
Language:eng
Publication Date:2017

The Physical Object

Description:1 online resource (xxvi, 495 pages) : : illustrations, maps

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9781760461324, 1760461326
DOI:10.22459/GEA.09.2017
oclc:on1012397057
LC Classification:DU122.G4
Dewey Decimal:994.00431

Introduction. The German-language tradition of ethnography in Australia / Nicolas Peterson and Anna Kenny -- German-language anthropology traditions around 1900: Their methodological relevance for ethnographers in Australia and beyond / André Gingrich -- Part I: First encounters. Clamor Schürmann's contribution to the ethnographic record for Eyre Peninsula, South Australia / Kim McCaul -- Pulcaracuranie: Losing and finding a cosmic centre with the help of J.G. Reuther and others / Rod Lucas and Deane Fergie -- Looking at some details of Reuther's work / Luise Hercus -- German Moravian missionaries on western Cape York Peninsula and their perception of the local Aboriginal people and languages / Corinna Erckenbrecht -- Part II: Impact of the Aranda. Early ethnographic work at the Hermannsburg Mission in Central Australia, 1877-1910 / Anna Kenny -- Sigmund Freud, Géza Róheim and the Strehlows: Oedipal tales from Central Australian anthropology / John Morton -- Of kinships and other things: T.G.H. Strehlow in Central Australia / Diane Austin-Broos -- 'Only the best is good enough for eternity': Revisiting the ethnography of T.G.H. Strehlow / Jason Gibson -- Part III: Widening the int…

Subjects

aboriginal society Allemands -- Histoire. -- Australie anthropology australasia Australasia, Oceania and other land are… Australia Australia -- Ethnic relations australian anthropology Ethnic relations Ethnologie -- Australie Ethnology Ethnology -- Australia german ethnography Germans Germans -- History. -- Australia History Social and cultural anthropology, ethno… SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology Society and social sciences Society and… Sociology and anthropology