Synopsis
The Torres Strait Islanders are Australia's 'other' indigenous minority. Their experience of colonialism and their reaction to their position in Australian society provides a striking counterpoint to that of the Aborigines. The author applies many years of study and work among the Torres Strait Islanders to provide a new account of their changing world in the islands and their changing role in Australia. A Melanesian people, the Torres Strait Islanders' cultural affinities originally lay with the Papuans to the north rather than the Aborigines to the south. But by the logic of European colonialism, they were made a part of the State of Queensland. The pearling industry has exploited their labour, but left them in occupation of their islands. The Queensland government has allowed them a degree of autonomy in local affairs which many would contrast with its approach to Aborigines. The Torres Strait Islanders have thus had the space in which to develop a rich and vital way of life that they still call 'island custom', which has, however, changed from that described in the classic anthropological research begun by A. C. Haddon just a hundred years ago. This provided the starting point for Dr Beckett, who has studied and worked with Torres Strait Islanders since the 1950s, and this book links the personal experience of the author, the professional insights of the anthropologist, and the perceptions of past and present held by the Islanders themselves.
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Book Description
Reactions of the Torres Strait Islanders, Australia's "other" indigenous minority, to colonialism and their position in Australian society, are compared with the Aborigine experience.
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Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism
Published by
Cambridge University Press, 1988
ISBN 10: 052133361X
ISBN 13: 9780521333610
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Marbus Farm Books, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Hardcover with dust jacket. Light shelfwear to dj. Original price sticker on rear. Contents clean and tight. 251 pages, index, notes, bibliography, b&w photos and illus. Seller Inventory # 22825
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Torres Strait Islanders
Seller: Brainbooks, Gainesville, FL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Dust Jacket Included. Hardcover, DJ, clean, no markings.{Aborigines}. Book. Seller Inventory # 030008
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Torres Strait Islanders. Custom and Colonialism
Published by
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987
ISBN 10: 052133361X
ISBN 13: 9780521333610
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Arapiles Mountain Books - Mount of Alex, Castlemaine, VIC, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hard Cover. Condition: F-. Dust Jacket Condition: VG+. First Edition. F-/VG+. 8vo. original blue boards gilt (a few spots to top edge) in dustwrapper (spine sunning); pp. xiv (last blank), 252 (last blank), with illustrations. A near fine copy. Ex-libris anthropologist Jeremy Long, with his ownership signature to FFE and occ. pencil notes. Seller Inventory # 027233