1st Edition

From Hunting to Drinking The Devastating Effects of Alcohol on an Australian Aboriginal Community

By David McKnight Copyright 2002
    254 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork this is a vital addition to the literature on alcohol use and problem drinking, social change and postcolonialism.From Hunting to Drinking reveals the social change witnessed over a period of 30 years by an anthropologist on Mornington Island, off the North Queensland Coast, Australia, most notably the devastating effects that alcohol has had on this community.

    Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction 2. Anthropological Views of 'The Drinking Problem' 3. Policies and Practices: Putting Aborigines 'in their place' 4. The Social and Historical Background of the Wellesley Islands 5. Changing Relationships Between the Generations 6. Try-Ask and Knock-Back 7, The Snake 8. The Shire and the Canteen 9. The Destruction of the Community and the Self 10. Childhood and Formal Education 11. Law and the Police 12. The Built Environment 13. 'You Can't Stop Native People From Drinking'? 14. Why Isn't Something Done? 15. Conclusions. Endnotes. Appendix. Bibliography

    Biography

    David Mcknight is a member of the emeritus staff at the London School of Economics. He has been conducting research among Australian Aborigines for 35 years and lived with the people of Mornington Island for over five years.