Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition / edited by Martin Thomas and Margo Neale.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Martin.

Contributor:

Thomas, Martin, editor.

Neale, Margo, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aboriginal Australians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (488 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Canberra ANU Press 2011

Canberra, Australia : ANU Press, [2011]

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

In 1948 a collection of scientists, anthropologists and photographers journeyed to northern Australia for a seven-month tour of research and discovery - now regarded as 'the last of the big expeditions'. The American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land was front-page news at the time, but 60 years later it is virtually unknown. This lapse into obscurity was due partly to the fraught politics of Australian anthropology and animus towards its leader, the Adelaide-based writer-photographer Charles Mountford. Promoted as a 'friendly mission that would foster good relations between Australia and its most powerful wartime ally, the Expedition was sponsored by National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution and the Australian Government. An unlikely cocktail of science, diplomacy and popular geography, the Arnhem Land Expedition put the Aboriginal cultures of the vast Arnhem Land reserve on an international stage.

Contents:

Preliminary pages; Foreword; Prologue; Acknowledgments; 1. Expedition as Time Capsule: Introducing the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Martin Thomas; Part I. Engagements with Aboriginal Cultures; 2. Inside Mountford's Tent: Paint, politics and paperwork. Philip Jones; 3. Nation Building or Cold War: Political settings for the Arnhem Land Expedition. Kim Beazley; 4. A Robinson Crusoe in Arnhem Land: Howell Walker, National Geographic and the Arnhem Land Expedition of 1948. Mark Collins Jenkins

5. Birds on the Wire: Wild sound, informal speech and the emergence of the radio documentary. Tony MacGregor6. From Kunnanj, Fish Creek, to Mumeka, Mann River: Hunter-gatherer tradition and transformation in Western Arnhem Land,1948-2009. Jon Altman; 7. Making a Sea Change: Rock art, archaeology and the enduring legacy of Frederick McCarthy's research on Groote Eylandt. Anne Clarke and Ursula Frederick; 8. Ecology and the Arnhem Land Expedition: Raymond Specht, a botanist in the field. Lynne McCarthy

9. Piecing the History Together: An overview of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition. Sally K. MayPart II. Collectors and Collections; 10. The String Figures of Yirrkala: Examination of a legacy. Robyn McKenzie; 11. The Forgotten Collection: Baskets reveal historiesLouise Hamby; 12. Hidden for Sixty Years: The motion pictures of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem LandJoshua Harris; 13. The Responsibilities of Leadership: The records of Charles P. Mountford. Denise Chapman and Suzy Russell

14. Beneath the Billabongs: The scientific legacy of Robert Rush Miller. Gifford Hubbs Miller and Robert Charles Cash15. An Insider's Perspective: Raymond Louis Specht's oral history. Edited and introduced by Margo Daly; Part III. Aboriginal Engagements with the Expedition; 16. The American Clever Man (Marrkijbu Burdan Merika). Bruce Birch; 17. Missing the Revolution! Negotiating disclosure on the pre-Macassans (Bayini) in North-East Arnhem Land. Ian S. McIntosh; 18. Aural Snapshots of Musical Life: The 1948 recordings. Linda Barwick and Allan Marett

19. Unpacking the Testimony of Gerald Blitner: Cross-cultural brokerage and the Arnhem Land Expedition. Martin Thomas20. The Forbidden Gaze: The 1948 Wubarr ceremony performed for the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Murray Garde; 21. Epilogue: Sifting the silence. Margo Neale, Project Director,Barks, Birds & Billabongs symposium; Contributors; Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed August 30, 2016).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781921666452

1921666455

OCLC:

804032395

Publisher Number:

10.26530/OAPEN_459230