An Appreciation of Difference: WEH Stanner, Aboriginal Australia and Anthropology

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WEH Stanner was a public intellectual whose work reached beyond the walls of the academy, and he remains a highly significant figure in Aboriginal affairs and Australian anthropology. Educated by Radcliffe-Brown in Sydney and Malinowski in London, he undertook anthropological work in Australia, Africa and the Pacific. Stanner contributed much to public understandings of the Dreaming and the significance of Aboriginal religion. His 1968 broadcast lectures, After the Dreaming, continue to be among the most widely quoted works in the field of Aboriginal studies. He also produced some exceptionally evocative biographical portraits of Aboriginal people. Stanner's writings on post-colonial development and assimilation policy urged an appreciation of Indigenous people's distinctive world views and aspirations. Hinkson and Beckett have drawn together some of Australia's leading academics working in Aboriginal studies to provide an historical and analytical context for Stanner's work, as well as demonstrating the continuing relevance of his writings in the contested field of Aboriginal affairs.

Author Bio

Melinda Hinkson is a social anthropologist with wide-ranging interests in anthropology and visual culture. Since the mid-1990s she has worked with Warlpiri people in central Australia on various forms of visual production and mediation. She has published widely on the mediated relationships between Warlpiri and wider Australia, the history of Australian anthropology and the politics of knowledge production. Currently a senior lecturer in anthropology and Visual Culture Research at the Australian national university, from mid-2014 Melinda embarks on a four-year Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. She has previously written/published Aboriginal Sydney; Coercive reconciliation, An appreciation of differenceand Culture crisis.