Summary

Drawing on early colonial sources as well as the writing of amateur and professional anthropologists, linguists and archaeologists, Aboriginal Economy and Society compares the social life and culture of seven regions of Australia as they appear to have been at the threshold of colonisation.

With a focus on the economy, the broad scope of the book encompasses variation in environmental conditions, resources and technologies; key institutions including kinship, cosmologies and governance; and organisation of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.

Contents

• A Note of Orthographies
• Introduction
• Environment and Resources
• Technology
• The Seasonal Round: Population, Settlement and Mobility
• Identities
• Kinship and Marriage
• Cosmology and Quasi-technology
• Governance
• Control of the Means of Production
• Organisation of Production
• Distribution and Consumption
• Exchange and Trade
• Conclusion