Skip to main content
Ceremony Men

Ceremony Men

By Gibson, Jason M.

Published by State University of New York Press

English 2020
eBook

About this book

Rethinks the role of Indigenous and non-Indigenous interactions in the production of ethnographic museum collections. Winner of the 2022 W.K. Hancock Prize presented by the Australian Historical Association Shortlisted for the 2021 Prime Minister's Literary Awards in the Australian History Category presented by the Australian Prime Minister and Minister for the Arts Winner of the 2021 Council for Museum Anthropology Book Award presented by the Council for Museum Anthropology (CMA), a section of the American Anthropological Association By analyzing one of the world's greatest collections of Indigenous song, myth, and ceremony-the collections of linguist/anthropologist T. G. H. Strehlow-Ceremony Men demonstrates how inextricably intertwined ethnographic collections can become in complex historical and social relations. In revealing his process to return an anthropological collection to Aboriginal communities in remote central Australia, Jason M. Gibson highlights the importance of personal rapport and collaborations in ethnographic exchange, both past and present, and demonstrates the ongoing importance of sociality, relationship, and orality when Indigenous peoples encounter museum collections today. Combining forensic historical analysis with contemporary ethnographic research, this book challenges the notion that anthropological archives will necessarily become authoritative or dominant statements on a people's cultural identity. Instead, Indigenous peoples will often interrogate and recontextualize this material with great dexterity as they work to reintegrate the documented into their present-day social lives. By theorizing the nature of the documenter-documented relationships this book makes an important contribution to the simplistic postcolonial generalizations that dominate analyses of colonial interaction. A story of local agency is uncovered that enriches our understanding of the human engagements that took, and continue to take, place within varying colonial relations of Australia.

Availability

Ceremony Men is available as eBook at 9 online bookshops. Bookshops carrying it include Bajalibros Argentina, Bajalibros Latam, Bookshop Uruguay.

Language
English
Share

Frequently asked questions

In what formats is Ceremony Men available?
Ceremony Men is available as eBook at 9 online bookshops.
Where can I buy Ceremony Men?
You can buy Ceremony Men at Bajalibros Argentina, Bajalibros Latam, Bookshop Uruguay. Compare every option in the list on this page.

Ratings & reviews

No ratings yet. Be the first to review this book.

Sign in to rate and review this book.

Comments

Sign in to join the conversation.

No comments yet.