The Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia's Desert

"The Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream In Australia's Desert", by Robert Tonkinson. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Fl., 2nd edition, 1991 ISBN: 0-03-032282-0. SC 204/182 pgs. Ref. cited 12 pgs. Glossary 2 pgs., Index 6 pgs. 9 ¼" x 6 3/8". Included are c. 20 excellent B & W photographs & a half-dozen or so maps and drawings. This book, written as a case study in cultural anthropology (with George & Louise Spindler, Standford University as general editors), is a purely scholarly article with reading that becomes dense as it explores the Mardu ("mardu = peoples"), Aborigines of the Western Desert who comprise a linguistic group in the area of Lake Disappointment, i.e. the western side of the Gibson Desert, studied by the author in the 1960's. The book has 7 chapters that cover their origin, spiritual imperative (The Dreaming), Ecology, social imperative (kinship), life cycle-totemism, birth & initiation rites, ageing, marriage, death, the religious life, living "The Dream", and Europeans and the Mardu response (1900-1990). Tonkinson provides a good description of Mardu behaviorisms and a critical examination of their philosophical outlooks upon their social interactions, members of the group, strangers, the affected (handicapped), nudity, sex, virtual absence of perversions, and fascinating description of "yurndiri"and "wirla ngarnda", as termed by the author "aggressive sulking". These Stone Age peoples, muscular and proud, of a discrete racial group, found themselves rather abruptly confronted by masses of European immigrants, the Australians, whose novel, crude but energetic pioneering spirits were clearly contrary to the Mardu's societal structures, mores, and religious tenants, -- they seemed to offer little hope for survival. As in many contemporary societies worldwide, ruinous inconveniences as alcohol, TV, cell phones and the like continue to wreak havoc to this now fragile social group. Some headway was been made under the "Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act of 1976 and the Aboriginal Lands Trust of 1972 (Western Australia) but this is regarded by some as too little and too late. finis

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One of the most comprehensive and descriptive treatises on a complex hunter and gatherer society, which until recently was still pursuing a traditional lifestyle, largely unaffected by European influences. Although scholarly in intent, this work is eminently readable as it takes one deeply into the world of an ancient culture, and most particularly into the fascinating religious life of the Mardu Aborigines of Australia's Western Desert, one of the world's very last frontiers. A truly exquisite ethnography, a must read for those interested in human ingenuity in surviving and thriving in one of the world's most difficult environments. I highly recommend this extraordinary account, for its empathy and deep appreciation of the human condition.