Ancestral connections

Description:

Ancestral Connections unlocks the inner meaning of Australian Aboriginal bark painting. Drawing on more than ten years of fieldwork among the Yolngu--an Aboriginal people of Northeast Arnhem Land--and applying both anthropological and art historical methods, Howard Morphy explores systematically the graphic representation of traditional knowledge in Yolngu art. He also charts the role that art has played in Aboriginal society both present and past. The rich symbolism of Yolngu art links the Yolngu directly with the "Dreaming," the time of world-creation that continues as the spiritual dimension of the present. Morphy shows how a complex dialectic of "inside" and "outside" interpretations of painting structures the system of knowledge in Yolngu society, and how European interest in this art has caused certain changes in the conditions of its production. The "inside" significance of the art, however, has not changed it retains its dual ability to represent and to constitute relationships between things. Ancestral Connections is a major contribution to the anthropology of art. A subtle commentary on the colonial encounter in northern Australia, the book demonstrates how the Yolngu have used their art--against all odds--as an instrument of cultural survival and as a component of the economic and political transformation of their society.

subjects: Social life and customs,  Yolngu Bark painting,  Aboriginal Australian Philosophy,  Rites and ceremonies,  Yolngu (Australian people),  Murngin (Australian people),  Symbolism in art,  Kinship,  Philosophy, aboriginal australian,  Aboriginal australians,  Australia, social life and customs,  Murngin (Peuple d'Australie),  Moeurs et coutumes,  Parenté,  Rites et cérémonies,  Peinture sur écorce,  Australie,  Peinture sur écorce Murngin,  Philosophie australienne (aborigène),  Symbolisme dans l'art,  Manggalili people (N137) (NT SD53-03),  W©Þgilak / Wawilak people (N106) (NT SD53-07),  Yolngu people (NT SD53),  Art - Painting - Bark,  Art - Body art,  Art - Sand and ground design,  Art - Production - Materials / techniques,  Art - Artists,  Religion - Rites - Ceremonial objects,  Communications - Nonverbal,  Settlement and contacts,  Settlement and contacts - 20th Century,  Stories and motifs - Creation / Cosmology,  Stories and motifs - Cultural heroes,  Stories and motifs - Insects,  Social organisation - Kinship - Marriage,  Death - Mortuary / funeral ceremonies,  Stories and motifs - Sharks,  Sites - Dreaming tracks,  Stories and motifs - Wawalag Sisters,  73.57 cult, rites (ethnology),  Ethnologie,  Kunst,  Murngin,  Aborigines,  Symboliek,  Versieringskunst,  Art aborigène d'Australie,  Yolngu (peuple d'Australie),  Signes et symboles,  Dans l'art,  Philosophie aborigène d'Australie,  Bark painting,  Aboriginal Australian Art

Places: Australia