Books

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Displaying results 671 to 680 of 751.

The Social Effects of Native Title »

Recognition, Translation, Coexistence

Edited by: Benjamin R. Smith, Frances Morphy
Publication date: October 2007
The papers in this collection reflect on the various social effects of native title. In particular, the authors consider the ways in which the implementation of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwlth), and the native title process for which this Act legislates, allow for the recognition and translation of Aboriginal law and custom, and facilitate particular kinds of coexistence between Aboriginal title holders and other Australians. In so doing, the authors seek to extend the debate on native title beyond questions of practice and towards an improved understanding of the effects of native title on the social lives of Indigenous Australians and on Australian society more generally. These attempts to grapple with the effects of native title have, in part, been impelled by Indigenous people’s complaints about the Act and the native title process. Since the Act was passed, many Indigenous Australians have become increasingly unhappy with both the strength and forms of recognition afforded to traditional law and custom under the Act, as well as with the socially disruptive effects of the native title process. In particular, as several of the papers in this collection demonstrate, there is widespread discomfort with the transformative effects of recognition within the native title process, effects which can then affect other aspects of Indigenous lives.

Struggling for the Umma »

Changing Leadership Roles of Kiai in Jombang, East Java

Authored by: Endang Turmudi
Publication date: October 2007
This thesis focuses on the relationship of Indonesian kiai (‘ulama: religious leaders) in Jombang to their wider social and political situation. It argues that the charismatic authority exerted through the leadership of the kiai in Java has limitations in terms of its legitimacy. At the very least it has boundaries that determine areas or circumstances for its legitimate expression. It also argues that the kiai’s influence in politics is not as strong as in other domains. Despite being a charismatic figure, only a minority of followers feel compelled to follow the kiai’s political example. Differences between the kiai and his followers in relation to political behaviour are common, especially after the transformation of the Islamic political party. Nevertheless, the role of the kiai in general remains important in the eyes of Muslim society.

Culture in Translation »

The anthropological legacy of R. H. Mathews

Edited by: Martin Thomas
Publication date: September 2007
R. H. Mathews (1841–1918) was an Australian-born surveyor and self-taught anthropologist. From 1893 until his death in 1918, he made it his mission to record all ‘new and interesting facts’ about Aboriginal Australia. Despite falling foul with some of the most powerful figures in British and Australian anthropology, Mathews published some 2200 pages of anthropological reportage in English, French and German. His legacy is an outstanding record of Aboriginal culture in the Federation period. This first edited collection of Mathews’ writings represents the many facets of his research, ranging from kinship study to documentation of myth. It include eleven articles translated from French or German that until now have been unavailable in English. Introduced and edited by Martin Thomas, who compellingly analyses the anthropologist, his milieu, and the intrigues that were so costly to his reputation, Culture in Translation is essential reading on the history of cross-cultural research. The translations from the French are by Mathilde de Hauteclocque and from the German by Christine Winter. For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.

Lithics in the Land of the Lightning Brothers »

The Archaeology of Wardaman Country, Northern Territory

Authored by: Chris Clarkson
Publication date: September 2007
Lithics in the Land of the Lightning Brothers skilfully integrates a wide range of data-raw-material procurement, tool design, reduction and curation, patterns of distribution and association-to reveal the major outlines of Wardaman prehistory. At the same time, the book firmly situates data and methods in broad theoretical context. In its regional scope and thorough technological approach, this book exemplifies the best of recent lithic analysis and hunter-gatherer archaeology. Any archaeologist who confronts the challenge of classifying retouched stone tools should consult this volume for a clear demonstration of reduction intensity as a source of size and form variation independent of “type.” Yet the demonstration is not merely methodological; Clarkson shows how the measurement of reduction intensity informs analysis of technological diversity and other cultural practices. In Clarkson’s hands, Wardaman prehistory emerges as a particular record of the human past. Yet the book is also a case study in prolonged cultural response to environmental conditions and the way in which cultures persist and reproduce themselves over long spans of time. The result is an analytical tour de force that will guide hunter-gatherer archaeology in Australia and elsewhere for years to come.

Three Creative Fellows »

Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Narritjin Maymuru

Authored by: Mary Eagle
Publication date: September 2007
This catalogue presents works by three prominent Australian artists – Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Narritjin Maymuru – featured in the exhibition Three Creative Fellows, at the Drill Hall Gallery from 9 August – 16 September 2007. All three artists were recipients of ANU Creative Arts Fellowships, and the authors of the essays presented in this volume are prominent ANU scholars. Dr Mary Eagle writes about Sidney Nolan’s and Arthur Boyd’s reflections on creativity, while Professor Howard Morphy contributes a moving essay about the creation stories painted by Narritjin Maymuru.

'The Axe Had Never Sounded' »

Place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania

Authored by: John Mulvaney
Publication date: August 2007
‘This book meets well the triple promise of the title – the inter-connections of place, people and heritage. John Mulvaney brings to this work a deep knowledge of the history, ethnography and archaeology of Tasmania. He presents a comprehensive account of the area’s history over the 200 years since French naval expeditions first charted its coastlines. The important records the French officers and scientists left of encounters with Aboriginal groups are discussed in detail, set in the wider ethnographic context and compared with those of later expeditions. ‘The topical issues of understanding the importance of Recherche Bay as a cultural landscape and its protection and future management inform the book. Readers will be challenged to consider the connections between people and place, and how these may constitute significant national heritage.’ Professor Isabel McBryde, AO, FRAI, FAHA, FSA The Australian National University For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.

China: Linking Markets for Growth »

Publication date: August 2007
China’s prosperity is at the core of the emerging Platinum Age of global economic growth. Rapid economic growth has been underpinned by expansion in its domestic markets, and the integration of domestic and international markets in goods, services, capital, labour and foreign exchange. Global commodity prices have reached historic highs, while China’s capital outflows have helped to hold down interest rates worldwide. Linking markets, both domestic and international, has been key to China’s success. In sustaining its strong economic growth, China has become one of the world’s most voracious consumers of energy. The challenge now facing the government and people of China is in achieving cooperation with the international community to avert the costs–both economic and environmental–of accelerating energy consumption. China–Linking Markets for Growth gathers together leading scholars on China’s economic success and its effect on the world economy into the next few decades.

Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Liquids »

Authored by: Denis J. Evans, Gary P. Morriss
Publication date: August 2007
During the 1980s, there were many developments regarding the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of dense classical atomic fluids. These developments have had a major impact on the computer simulation methods used to model nonequilibrium fluids. The present volume is, in part, an attempt to provide a pedagogical discussion of the statistical mechanical justification of these algorithms. There is a symbiotic relationship between theoretical nonequilibrium statistical mechanics on the one hand and the theory and practice of computer simulation on the other. Sometimes, the initiative for progress has been with the pragmatic requirements of computer simulation and at other times, the initiative has been with the fundamental theory of nonequilibrium processes. This book summarises progress in this field up to 1990.

Federalism and Regionalism in Australia »

New Approaches, New Institutions?

Edited by: A. J. Brown, Jennifer Bellamy
Publication date: August 2007
Australia’s federal system is in a state of flux and its relevance is being challenged. Dramatic shifts are occurring in the ways in which power and responsibility are shared between governments. Pressure for reform is coming not just from above, but from below, as the needs of local and regional communities – both rural and urban – occupy an increasingly important place on the national stage. How will these competing pressures for centralisation and devolution in the structures of federalism be reconciled? In this volume, experts and policy practitioners from diverse backgrounds canvass this uncertain future to conclude that the future of state, regional and local institutions is not only a vital question of federal governance, but must be addressed in a conscious and concerted way if Australian federalism is to evolve in ways that are sufficiently legitimate, effective, efficient and adaptive.

The Nature of Northern Australia »

Its natural values, ecological processes and future prospects

Authored by: John Woinarski, Brendan Mackey, Henry Nix, Barry Traill
Publication date: July 2007
Northern Australia stands out as one of the largest natural areas remaining on Earth- alongside such global treasures as the Amazon rainforests, the boreal conifer forests of Alaska and Canada, and the polar wilderness of Antarctica.  Nature remains in abundance in ‘the North.’ Its intact tropical savannas, rainforests, and free flowing rivers provide a basis for much of the economic activity and the quality of life for residents of the area. The Nature of Northern Australia details the latest science on the Northern environment. With increasing debate over the future of Australia’s often forgotten North, this is a timely examination of its environmental significance, the ecological processes that make it function, and the economies that are compatible with maintaining healthy communities and people and healthy country into the future. The authors, Dr. John Woinarski, Professor Brendan Mackey, Professor Henry Nix and Dr. Barry Traill, are leading experts on the environment of Northern Australia, and combined have many decades of experience on Northern ecology and land management.