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Aboriginal astronomy

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Bianca
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« Reply #15 on: February 05, 2009, 07:44:20 am »




             








                                                     Warning: Cultural Baggage!

   




An impediment to this study is the misinformation permeating the literature, dating from an era when racial prejudices were widespread even amongst academics.

For example, one anthropology text book states categorically "No Australian Aboriginal language has a word for a number higher than four". Having watched Aboriginal children counting (in the photo above) in the Tiwi language to see who could hold their breath longest underwater, I very much doubt this. More importantly, complex Aboriginal number systems have since been well-documented in the literature (e.g. McRoberts, 1990; Tully, 1997).

Such ingrained attitudes state equally misleadingly that Aboriginal people "don't measure things" or "don't ask questions", and so would not be interested in or capable of careful astronomical measurements. Rather than relying on such assertions, this project concentrates on exploring the available evidence.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2009, 07:46:17 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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Bianca
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« Reply #16 on: February 05, 2009, 07:49:46 am »









                                                         Further Reading






Books and articles for the General Reader



Norris, R.P., 2008b, "Star Dreaming in Arnhem Land", Cosmos, April/May 2008. Travelogue focussing on Aboriginal Astronomy in Arnhem Land. Recommended for the non-specialist.

Norris, R.P., 2008a, "In search of Aboriginal Astronomy" in Australian Sky & Telescope, March/April issue, 2008. This short article gives an up-to-date summary of much that has been found since the older references below. 

Norris, R.P., 2008c,
"Emu Dreaming", in Australasian Science, Vol 29, No. 4 (May 2008) Popular article focussing on the Aboriginal Astronomy of the Sydney Rock Engravings and the motivation for this project.
 
Norris, R.P., 2007, "Searching for the Astronomy of Aboriginal Australians" in Astronomy & Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, ed. Jonas Vaiskunas A specialist conference proceedings that goes into a little more detail than the popular articles above, with references.

Haynes, R.F., Haynes, R.D., Malin, D., McGee, R.X., 1996, “Explorers of the Southern Sky”, CUP. (reproduced here by kind permission of Ros Haynes) As a broad introduction to Aboriginal astronomy, I would recommend the chapter on Aboriginal Astronomy in Explorers of the Southern Sky

Cairns, H., & Yidumduma Harney, B., “Dark Sparklers”, 2003. Privately published by Hugh Cairns. Also second edition publ. 2004. See http://www.darksparklers.com/ for details. Detailed exploration of the astronomical lore of the Wardaman people. Probably the most detailed study we have of any Aboriginal astronomical culture, primarily concentrating on the symbolism and cosmology. Written in a provocative style, with fantastic illustrations by Sam Wortelhock.

Johnson, D. (1998). “Night skies of Aboriginal Australia : a Noctuary”. Sydney, N.S.W., University of Sydney.  A scholarly but fascinating account of the way that the sky is represented in Aboriginal art and story.

"Nomads of the Australian Desert", by Charles Mountford. A dated but riveting account is given in this classic work. This book is hard to find because it was at one point banned from sale, but is still available in some major libraries, and occasionally on eBay.

Isaacs, J. (1980). Australian Dreaming : 40,000 years of aboriginal history. Sydney, Lansdowne Press. I'd recommend this if you want to read more generally about Aboriginal cultures. It's a popular (but impressive) coffee-table book about indigenous cultures, and includes a chapter on astronomy. It's rather dated now, but still full of valuable material. It can be found remaindered in many bookshops or on eBay.

Lonely Planet Guide to Aboriginal Australia & the Torres Strait Islands. I'd recommend this if you're really short of time and want a quick potted account of the history, controversies, and current issues facing Indigenous Australians.






Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/ OK, I know this isn't a book, but there's so much good stuff there!


Try "Indigenous Australians",

"Australian Aboriginal Culture", and

"Australian Aboriginal Astronomy".






Links to other Aboriginal Astronomy Websites



Articles and Books for the dedicated researcher - this includes every published article or book that I'm aware of with material on Aboriginal astronomy. In some cases, electronic copies of the articles are available from this list.
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Bianca
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« Reply #17 on: February 05, 2009, 07:51:44 am »











                     This web site is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Indigenous Australians


                              who lost their lives after the British occupation of Australia in 1788.   
   





Click on any orange circle on the map above to see details of the rock engravings there.
White circles indicate engraving sites for which pages are still under construction.

Click here for a Google Maps version of this map


While every effort has been made not to include material that may cause offence, it is possible that images of sacred rock engravings may be offensive to some people. People who are likely to be offended are advised not to enter this web site.
   
   
  All material on this page © Ray Norris 2007 except where otherwise indicated.This page last updated 4 May2007.



http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/AboriginalAstronomy/index.html
« Last Edit: February 05, 2009, 07:56:46 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
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