A cultural, physical and pathological study of the Western Desert Aborigines of Australia

Morrison, John (1974) A cultural, physical and pathological study of the Western Desert Aborigines of Australia. MD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This study of the Western Desert aborigines of Australia was undertaken within the confines of general practice, and is subject to both the limitations and the opportunities that this entails. The aborigines of this region have been considered from three aspects: the cultural, the physical and the pathological, because it is only against the background of these three integrated facets that adequate medical therapy can be given. Within each of the three major aspects, variations between the norms that pertain to the Western Desert aborigine and the differences and similarities between them and other aboriginal and the white inhabitants of the continent are noted. The culture of the Western Desert aborigine has been considered from the aspect of family life, the environment, diet, and the customs surrounding birth, initiation, infanticide, geriatridide, marriage, and the arts, the language, the psychology of the people. Most of these aspects have considerable ceremony attached to them, and are surrounded by a double mythology, that of the aborigines themselves and that of the anthropologists who have studied them.

• Item Type: Thesis (MD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: Sadie Corner
• Keywords: Cultural anthropology, Physical anthropology
• Date of Award: 1974
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1974-73950
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• Last Modified: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/73950