The Social Organization of Australian Tribes (Classic Reprint) PDF Download

Author: A. R. Radcliffe-Brown
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780265427293
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Get Book Here

Book Description
Excerpt from The Social Organization of Australian Tribes Ince Fison and Howitt published in 1880 their Kamilaroi and Kawaz', the social organization of the aboriginal tribes of Australia has received a great deal of attention from anthropologists, and the literature on the subject is now very extensive. That literature has given currency to a number of misconceptions. The present paper is an attempt to indicate as concisely as possible what that organization really is, and to give a summary of the existing knowledge about it. It is intended to serve as an introduction to new researches which are now in progress, and the results of which will be published in due' course. There are many different forms of social organization in Australia, but it will appear, I think, that they can all be regarded as different varieties of a single general type. The easiest way to give a descriptive account is therefore to describe the general type first and then go on to describe, and as far as possible classify, the different varieties. That is the pro cedute that will be followed here. The basic elements of social structure in Australia are (1) the family, i.a., the group formed by a man and his wife and their children, and (2) the horde, a small group owning and occupying a definite territory or hunting ground. Together with these there is, of course, a grouping for social purposes on the basis of sex and age. It is on the basis of the family and the horde that the somewhat complex kinship organizations of Australia are built. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.