Mardu Aborigines Flashcards
Which Anthropologist first used the idea of Dreamtime
Australian Francis Gillen
The term dreamtime is based on what indigenous word?
Alcheringa
What is totemism?
A system of belief in which humans are said to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal or plant.
Describe the dreamtime supernatural beings
Half animal, half human and have done things to the landscape, these things are now sacred
Dreamtime starts before what
birth
Where do babies come from in Aborigine ideas?
Dreamtime
For how long have Aborigines sustained the highly sustainable form of lifestyle which they practice?
approximately 60 000 years
How does Dreamtime interact with their sustainability?
It is a set of rules which cannot be changed
How does dreamtime’s stability and unchanging nature enhance sustainability?
Progress is an alien concept, structural progress and development does not exist
What is expressed through totemism and continuity?
Circular relationship with the natural world
What does totemism and continuity encourage?
Care
What kind of marriage is there in Aborigine societies?
Polygyny
What is the equivalent of Polygyny for when a woman has more than one husband?
Polyandry
What is the opposite of Polygyny/Polyandry?
Monogamy
You can only marry someone with a different what?
Moiety
Why can you only marry someone with a different Moiety?
Those of the same Moiety are considered to be siblings
There are two groups to the Moiety, how many subsections are there?
4
What is the ethnography associated with this culture?
Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia’s Desert Tonkinson 2002
The Mardu group is a linguistic groups which surrounds which lake?
Lake disappointment
How is food shared?
Equitably
What kind of food is shared between families and what kind of food is kept within families?
Vegetables kept within families and big game shared between families
The small amount of trade which does take place in the aborigine cultures takes place in which three instances?
1) Ritual activities in big meetings
2) Gift exchange
3) Obligations to certain close kin
