The eternal and the ephemeral
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R. M. W. Dixon
Abstract
The first part of this paper surveys 200 years of ideas about whether the First Nations of Australia had or have a religion. The answer to this question has depended on what was meant by “religion”, and by the attitudes (and obsessions) of the observer. This intertwines with the concept of “Dreamtime/the Dreaming”, and it is a prolegomenon to the final section of the paper, where I put forward an innovative model which claims to explain and elucidate the Ethos of the original Australians.
Abstract
The first part of this paper surveys 200 years of ideas about whether the First Nations of Australia had or have a religion. The answer to this question has depended on what was meant by “religion”, and by the attitudes (and obsessions) of the observer. This intertwines with the concept of “Dreamtime/the Dreaming”, and it is a prolegomenon to the final section of the paper, where I put forward an innovative model which claims to explain and elucidate the Ethos of the original Australians.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Language in strange and familiar places: A short introduction 1
- The eternal and the ephemeral 9
- Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan 39
- Hidden landscapes and the images of the “unseen”: from north-west Amazonia to the Middle Sepik region of New Guinea 75
- The intersection of language, religion, identity, and scholarship: Opportunities for the revitalization of Ge’ez 131
- Speaking of oneself in multi-term evidential systems: From the Himalayas to Amazonia 149
- Ideological and communicative perspectives on divination amongst the people of Northern Ghana 193
- Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography 223
- Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner 257
- Feierabendziegel: Roof tiles with celestial bodies on them, and how they are relevant for understanding experiences of contingency 287
- Index of authors 329
- Index of subjects 335
- Index of languages, language families, areas, and peoples 339
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Language in strange and familiar places: A short introduction 1
- The eternal and the ephemeral 9
- Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan 39
- Hidden landscapes and the images of the “unseen”: from north-west Amazonia to the Middle Sepik region of New Guinea 75
- The intersection of language, religion, identity, and scholarship: Opportunities for the revitalization of Ge’ez 131
- Speaking of oneself in multi-term evidential systems: From the Himalayas to Amazonia 149
- Ideological and communicative perspectives on divination amongst the people of Northern Ghana 193
- Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography 223
- Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner 257
- Feierabendziegel: Roof tiles with celestial bodies on them, and how they are relevant for understanding experiences of contingency 287
- Index of authors 329
- Index of subjects 335
- Index of languages, language families, areas, and peoples 339
