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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.
List of contents
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
About the author
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.
Summary
David Mcknight assesses the effects that alcohol has had on a small aboriginal community. He explores why drinking has become the main social activity, leading to high levels of illness, suicide and homicide.
