Eric Venbrux: A Death in the Tiwi Islands. Conflict, Ritual and Social Life in an Australian Aboriginal Community

Christensen, Pia Monrad

doi:10.7146/ta.v0i40.115164

Cited by 2 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…These mostly were without lethal consequences in contrast to the Tiwi institution of sneak attacks, involving the forementioned barbed spears (Hart and Pilling 1960, pp. 80-87;Venbrux 1995). In a sample of 21 mobile forager band societies, more than half of the total number of killings took place among the Tiwi alone (Fry and Söderberg 2013, p. 271).…”

Section: The Tiwi Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, Wurankuwu (Rangku), a small township on Bathurst Island, was set up in 1993 (Venbrux 1998). Tiwi society has undergone dramatic changes since the beginning of the twentieth century, although -despite the impact of the Catholic missions and incorporation into the Australian nation-state -in many areas the Tiwi have adapted and retained their own value system (Venbrux 1995(Venbrux , 2000 (Fig. 3).…”

Section: The Tiwi Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Upon death, the name of the deceased, and the objects, places and people the dead person was in close touch with, become taboo (pukamani) (Hart 1930b;Goodale 1971;Venbrux 1995). The related practices of avoidance promote a tie-breaking with the deceased.…”

Section: Ritual Dealings With the Spirits Of The Deadmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What one could not say directly, in this respect, was conveyed indirectly by referring to manifestations of the 'dear souls' in dreams, sights, sounds or other palpable signs (Venbrux 1988). Likewise, the dead figured in an ongoing social discourse amongst the living in an Australian Aboriginal society where I was to do fieldwork next (Venbrux 1993(Venbrux , 1995. In this chapter I focus on the relationship between the living and the dead among the Tiwi Aborigines from Melville and Bathurst Islands in northern Australia.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter's voices happen to be imitated as well as the dead persons' typical phrases and utterances employed by the singers, who also raise the deceased's concerns as imagined or intimated by them (cf. Berndt 1950;Venbrux 1995).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Communicating with the Dead in an Australian Aboriginal Culture: The Tiwi from Melville and Bathurst Islands

Venbrux

2019

Death Across Cultures

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The interaction between the living and the dead takes a prominent position in Tiwi society and culture. The dead need the living for a safe passage to the world of the dead, whereas the living need the dead to sustain life. The dead see to it that their descendants are nurtured by their land as well as being protected against illness and bad luck. In spite of various changes and modernization most Tiwi Aborigines continue to consider their attendance of mortuary rites for close relatives as their most important obligation. The spirits of the dead are supposed to be present and to perform the death rites as well. Not only ritual gestures but also song and dance performances entail an interaction between the living and the dead. Mourning songs and the lyrics accompanying dances are made for the occasion. Quite often these songs consist of a dialogue between the performer and the spirit of the dead. Simultaneously, this entails an indirect communication amongst the living in this small-scale, close-knit society, for the dead can make claims and say things that the living would find hard to convey directly due to their many-stranded relations and interdependencies. The significance of the dead in Tiwi society surpasses the importance of the mythological ancestors, which also in part might be explained by the relatively high mortality rate and hence a higher incidence of unfinished business. These concerns are inseparably linked to an ongoing social discourse amongst the living. Introduction: NecrosocialityDoing anthropological fieldwork in the Swiss mountain village of Bosco Gurin in the mid-1980s, I learned about the close relationships the inhabitants maintained with their dead. In this small-scale, close-knit community the villagers had manystranded relations, their interdependencies making it difficult to deal with E. Venbrux (*)

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Section: The Tiwi Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Tiwi Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%