1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910154971003321

Autore

Mol Hans <1922->

Titolo

The firm and the formless [[electronic resource] ] : religion and identity in aboriginal Australia / / Hans Mol

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Waterloo, Ont, Canada, : Wilfred Laurier University Press, c1982

ISBN

1-55458-556-2

1-282-23280-0

9786613810540

0-88920-678-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (112 p.)

Collana

Religion and identity. Social-scientific studies in religion ; ; 2

Disciplina

306/.6/0899915

Soggetti

Aboriginal Australians - Religion

Aboriginal Australians - Ethnic identity

Mythology, Aboriginal Australian

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliography and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Religion and Identity -- Objectification -- Commitment -- Ritual -- Myths -- Breakdown and Native Revitalization -- The European Effect on Revitalization -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This volume is woven around the idea that wholeness (the firm) and fragmentation (risking formlessness) alternate in human affairs. This theme is applied to the history and the present condition of Australian Aboriginals. Their religion is seen as a way to bolster a precarious identity and to affirm order in an existence which would otherwise become formless. It deals with totemism as a form of ordering a variety of often conflicting identities. The author describes the modern predicament of Aborigines in Australian society and concludes that their revitalization will occur only when they manage to make economic self-sufficiency subordinate to a viable and firm view of existence. He critically integrates into his analyses and interpretations the positions of such well-known scholars as Frazer, Durkheim, Freud, Lévi-Strauss, Radcliffe-Brown, Eliade, and Stanner. The volume will be of interest to students of sociology, anthropology, and religion.