BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES

Australian Aboriginal Social Organization . David H. Turner.
The Affinal Relationship System: A New Approach to Kinship and Marriage among the Australian Aborigines at Port Keats . Aslaug and Johannes Falkenberg.     

Metric analyses of an Early Holocene human skeleton from Gua Gunung Runtuh,Malaysia

A nearly complete human skeleton dating to the Early Holocene (epi-Paleolithic culture) excavated from Gua Gunung Runtuh, Malaysia, is described. Cranial, dental, and limb bone measurements are recorded on the skeleton, and compared with early and modern skeletal samples from Southeast Asia and Australia. The comparisons demonstrate that the Gua Gunung specimen is most similar to Australian Aborigines in dental and limb measurements, while the cranial measurements indicate a close affinity to Mesolithic samples from Malaysia and Flores. These findings further suggest that the Gua Gunung skeleton, as well as other fossils from Tabon and Niah, are representative of an early group of people who occupied Sundaland during the late Pleistocene, and may be the ancestors of Australian Aborigines. Some of the dental and limb bone measurements exhibited by the ancestors persist in Southeast Asian populations until the early Holocene. Differences in cranial traits have, however, accumulated since the late Pleistocene in Australian Aborigines and early Southeast Asian peoples. Am J Phys Anthropol 109:327–340, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Blackfellas and Whitefellas: the Concepts of Domain and Social Closure in the Analysis of Race-Relations

In presenting data on social relations between Aborigines and Whites at a north Australian Aboriginal settlement, this paper develops the concepts of domain and social closure as important in the study of power and race-relations. Previous Australian studies in this area have not treated adequately, the substantive nature and theoretical significance of spatial and social separation between Aborigines and Whites. I argue that Aborigines retain some autonomy within a ‘Blackfella domain’, through effecting a form of exclusionary social closure.     

Metabolic syndrome and incident coronary heart disease in Australian indigenous populations

This report aims to compare the prediction of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components for morbidity and mortality of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a cohort of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults (TSIs). A total of 2,100 adults (1,283 Aborigines and 817 TSIs) was followed up for 6 years from 2000. Outcome measures were all CHD events (deaths and hospitalizations). Baseline anthropometric measurements, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood lipids and glucose were collected. Smoking and alcohol intake was self-reported. We found MetS was more prevalent in TSI (50.3%) compared to Aborigines (33.0%). Baseline MetS doubled the risk of a CHD event in Aborigines. Increased fasting triglycerides was stronger in predicting CHD (hazard ratio (HR): 2.8) compared with MetS after adjusted for age, sex, tobacco and alcohol consumption, and baseline diabetes and albuminuria for Aborigines but not among TSIs. MetS was not more powerful than its components in predicting CHD event. In Australian Aborigines, the "triglyceridemic waist" phenotype strongly predicts CHD event, whereas among TSI, baseline diabetes mediated the prediction of increased fasting glucose for CHD event.     

Ecological and Technological Knowledge of Fire: Aborigines Versus Park Rangers in Northern Australia

The attitudes held by Euro-Australians about "bush fires" are markedly different from those of Aborigines. These contrasting perspectives confront each other in different practices of prescribed burning employed by Aborigines and Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service (ANPWS) rangers at Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. A large part of the problem that ANPWS personnel have in understanding Aboriginal knowledge and practice involves the perceptions that Euro-Australians have about "simple technologies," "aboriginality," and what is or is not "traditional."     

High pattern intensity indices and ridge counts from the Milne bay district of Papua-New Guinea and their bearing on the origin of the Australian Aborigines

A population sample from the Milne Bay district of Papua-New Guinea was found to have extremely high pattern intensity indices and total ridge-counts. These fell into the range of certain Australian Aboriginal tribes, and so argue for a possible connection between this region of Melanesia and the Australian Aborigines, although equally strong connections with other regions of Melanesia are known.     

Further data on the incidence and segregation of genetically determined electrophoretic variants of human red cell NADH diaphorase.

Human red cell NADH diaphorase isozyme patterns have been examined in 3,060 unrelated Australians of European origin, by starch gel electrophoresis. 26 people with variant isozyme patterns were encountered: 12 were phenotype Dia 2-1 and 13 were Dia 4-1. A new variant isozyme pattern (Dia 7-1) was identified. No variants were identified in 100 Melanesians and 70 Australian Aborigines.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Understanding Our Culture. By Wendell H. Oswalt The Elementary Structuree of Kinehip Claude Uvi-Strauss. Translated by J. H. B Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications. By Louis Dumont. Translated by Mark Sainsbury Religion, Politics and History in India: Collected Papers in Indian Sociology. By Louis Dumont Australian Aboriginal Anthropology: Modern Studies in the Social Anthropology of the Australian Aborigines. Edited by Ronald M. Berndt Aboriginal Advancement to Integration: Conditions and Plans for Western Australia (Aborigines in Australian Society 5). By H. P. Schapper The Dugum Dani. By Karl G. Heider Myths and Legends of Torres Strait. Land Tenure in the Pacific. Edited by Ron Crocombe The Trading Voyages of Andrew Cheyne, 1841–1844. Edited by Dorothy Shineberg. Shirley Baker and the King of Tonga. By Noel Rutherford Traditional Maori Clothing . By S. M. Mead. A. H. and A. W. Reed A Portuguese Rural Society. By Jose Cuti-neiro Field Linguistics: A Guide to Linguistic Fieldwork. By William J. Samarin The Roots of Mankind. By John Napier The Treponematosis of Tahiti. Its origin and evolution: a study of the sources. By Isaac van der Sluis. B. M. Israel N.V Aspects of Prehistory. By Grahame Clark The Archaeology of Early Man. By J. M. Coles and E. S. Higgs Fashion of Law in New Guinea. Edited by B. J. Brown Moon and Rainbow: The Autobiography of an Aboriginal. By Dick Roughsey. A. H. and A. W. Reed     

Book Reviews*

Book Reviewed in this article Outline of a Theory of Practice. Pierre Bourdieu. Richard Nice Evolution and Ecology: Essays on Social Transformation. Edited by Julian H. Steward, Jane C. Steward and Robert F. Murphy Urban Anthropology: The Cross-Cultural Study of Complex Societies. Richard Basham The Economic Status of Australian Aborigines. Jon C. Altman and John Nieuwenhuysen ‘Whitefella Business’: Aborigines in Australian Politics. Edited by Michael C. Howard Aborigines and Change: Australia in the Seventies. Edited by R. M. Berndt Kulinma: Listening to Aboriginal Australians. H. C. Coombs Taim Bilong Mani: The Evolution of Agriculture in a Solomon Island Society. John Connell Agricultural Project Design and Evaluation in an Island Community. Alan Bollard. Zum Beispiel Samoa. Götz Mackensen Peasants and Politics: Grass Roots Reaction to Change in Asia. Edited by D. B. Miller. Edward Arnold Sherpas Through Their Ritual. Sherry B Code and Custom in a Thai Provincial Court. David M. Engel Thailand: A Rice-Growing Society. Edited by Yoneo Ishii Migrants of the Mountains: The Cultural Ecology of the Blue Miao (Hmong Njua) of Thailand. William Robert Geddes Farmers in the Forest: Economic Development and Marginal Agriculture in Northern Thailand. Edited by Peter Kunstadter, E. C. Chapman and Sanga Sabhasri Early Palaeolithic in South and East Asia. Edited by Fumiko Ikawa-Smith Advances In Andean Archaeology. Edited by David L. Browman Simulation Studies in Archaeology. Edited by Ian Hodder Evolutionary Models and Studies in Human Diversity. Edited by Robert J. Meier Aboriginal Sign Languages of the Americas and Australia Principles of Visual Anthropology. Edited by Paul Hockings Tiv Song. Charles Keil Coyoteway. A Navajo Holyway Healing Ceremonial. Karl W. Luckert Spider Woman Stories: Legends of the Hopi Indians. Selected and Interpreted by G. M. Mullett Folklore in the Modern World. Edited by Richard Dorson     

Genetic studies of human apolipoproteins. XVIII. Apolipoprotein polymorphisms in Australian Aborigines

A tribal aboriginal community, the Mowanjum, from the Kimberley region in Western Australia has been screened to determine the extent of genetic variation in the products of genes coding for apolipoproteins, which are intimately involved in lipid metabolism. Of the seven systems tested, APOE and APOH revealed common structural variations, but their distribution patterns are significantly different from those found in European populations. Australian Aborigines were found to be unique because they have no APOE*2 and APOH*3 alleles and have strikingly high frequencies of the APOE*4 (26%) and APOH*1 (13%) alleles. The contrast in variation observed at these apolipoprotein loci between Australian Aborigines and Europeans not only makes these loci useful genetic markers in biologic anthropology studies but also provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role of genetic-environment interaction in determining interpopulation differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Urban Aborigines. By Fay Gale New Zealand Society. Contemporary Perspectives. Edited by Stephen D. Webb and John Collette Themes in Culture (Essays in Honour of Morris E. Oder). Edited bv M. D. Zamora. J. M. Mahar, H. Orenstein Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Layman: A Study of Urban Monastic Organization in Central Thailand. By Jane Bunnag A Borneo Childhood Enculturation in Dusun Society. By Thomas Rhys Williams Ritual in Industrial Society. By Robert Bocock. George Allen and Unwin Social Change and Human Behavior: Mental Health Challenges of the Seventies. Edited by George V. Coelho and Eli A Rubinstein Mental Health and Social Change: An Annotated Bibliography. Edited by George V. Coelho Social Anthropology and Language. Edited by Edwin Ardener The Roots of Civilisation. By Alexander Mar-shack Evolution of the Primates. An Introduction to the Biology of Man. By A. B. Chiarelli The Ascent of Man. An Introduction to Human Evolution. By David Pilbeam. Mac-millan Early Hominid Posture and Locomotion. By John T. Robinson Maori Greenstone Pendants in the Australian Museum, Sydney. By D. Wayne Orchi-ston Studies in Oceanic Culture History: Volume 3. Edited by R. C. Green and M. Kelly. The Languages of the Eastern Family of the East New Guinea Highland Stock. Edited by Howard McKaughan The Australian Aborigines. A Portrait of their Soaiety. By Kenneth Maddock Priorities in Melanesian Development. Edited by Ronald J. May Padju Epat: The Ma'anyan of Indonesian Borneo. By A. B. Hudson     

The Burning Question: Aborigines,Fire and Australian Ecosystems*

The 'fire stick farming model, which suggests that Aborigines changed the frequency and nature of fires in order to manipulate animal and plant resources, is now widely accepted in Australian phehistory. A re-examination of the biological evidence suggests that Aboriginal use of fire had little impact on the environment and that the patterns of distribution of plants and animals which obtained 200 years ago would have been essentially the same whether or not Aborigines had previously been living here. It is further suggested that 'fire stick farming’, had it been attempted, would in fact have been counter productive economically because of the adverse effects it would have had upon small species of animals. Aborigines observed and made use of an existing natural fire regime in Australia, they did not attempt to develop a new one.     

A comparison of the incidence of minor nonmetrical cranial variants in Australian aborigines with those of Melanesia and Polynesia

The incidence of 30 minor non-metrical cranial variants in Australian Aborigines discussed in a previous publication is compared with incidence in crania from Melanesia and Polynesia. With the qualification that the sample sizes from Melanesia and Polynesia are rather small, the data indicate that the differences between Australia and Melanesia and Polynesia exceed those between the three areas into which Australia was divided. The area of Australia made up of the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia has more association with Melanesia than Polynesia as expected, while the more southern regions of Australia have more association with Polynesia than Melanesia perhaps by migrations from Asia. Because the southern Australian Aborigines are now largely extinct, it seems difficult to prove this.     

Cultural Encounters and Emergent Cultures in Australia

Warlpiri Dreamings and Histories: Newly Recorded Stories from the Aboriginal Elders of Central Australia . Kerry Brown and Sima Sharma.
Fighting Women: Anger and Aggression in Aboriginal Australia . Victoria Katherine Burbank.
A Place for Strangers: Towards a History of Australian Aboriginal Being . Tony Swain.     

Book reviews

Hardisty, M. W. (1979) Biology of the Cyclostomes .
Williams, W.D. (1980) Australian Freshwater Life — The Invertebrates of Australian Inland Waters .
Kalk, M., McLachlan, A.J. & Howard-Williams, C. (Eds) (1979) An Introduction to Lake Chilwa: studies of change in a tropical ecosystem .
The Institute of Fisheries Management 10th Annual Study Course Proceedings , 18–20th September, 1979.
Belcher, H. & Swale, E. An Illustrated Guide to River Phytoplankton     

A primer of restrictions on picture‐taking in traditional areas of aboriginal Australia

Australian Aborigines have sometimes concluded that the camera is a dangerous magical instrument capable of stealing some essential part of a human being, or of causing illness or death. Thus cultural values may be compromised by unauthorised display or visual transmission of secret materials, by violation of mortuary restrictions, by other invasions of privacy, or by paternalistic rhetoric which makes Aborigines appear exotic. The paper argues for a co‐operative photography to avoid most of these difficulties.     

Book Reviews*

Book reviewed in this article: Contention and Dispute: Aspects of Law and Social Control in Melanesia. Edited by A. L. Epstein The Pacific in Transition. Geographical perspectives in adaptation and change. Edited by Harold Brookfield Micronesia at the Crossroads: A Reappraisal of the Micronesian Dilemma. By Carl Heine. The Marquesan Journal of Edward Robarts 1797–1824. Edited by Greg Dening. Thunder from the Sea. By Willowdean Chatterson Handy Maori Death Customs. By R. S. Oppenheim, A. H. and A. W. Reed, Wellington Aborigines in the Northern Territory Cattle Industry. By Frank Stevens Realities of Race. An Analysis of the Concepts of Race and Racism and their Relevance to Australian Society. By Keith R. McConnochie The Industrialists and the Aborigines. A Study of Aboriginal Employment in the Australian Mining Industry. By Peter H. Rogers. Down Among the Wild Men. A Narrative Journey of fifteen years pursuing the Old Stone Age Aborigines of Australia. By John Greenway Tales of a Revolution. By Abu Hanifah Rice Farming in Taiwan: Three Village Studies. By Sung-hsing Wang and Raymond Apthorpe Piman Shamanism and Staying Sickness (Ká:cim Mûmkidag). By Donald M. Bahr, Juan Gregorio, David I. Lopez, Albert Alvarez Research Design in Anthropology. By John A. Brim and David H. Spain. Holt, Rinehart and Winston An Introduction to Sociology. By J. E. Goldthorpe. Leo Frobenius-An Anthology. Edited by Eike Haberland Field Archaeology in Britain. By John Coles Die Tasmanier; Versuch einer ethnographischhistorischen Rekonstruktion. By Gisela Völger. Archaeological Excavations of Fortified Sites on Taveuni, Fiji. By Everett Lloyd Frost Evolution of the Genus Homo. By W. Howells Fossil Man, an Evolutionary Journey. By F. E. Poirier. Perspectives on Human Evolution 2. Edited by S. L. Washburn and P. Dolhinow. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Human Evolution, Readings in Physical Anthropology. Edited by N. Korn. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Man in Evolutionary Perspective. Edited by C. L. Brace and J. Metress. John Wiley and Sons. Elements of Human and Social Geography. By Eric Sunderland. The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. By R. M. W. Dixon     

Genetic polymorphism of thyroxin-binding globulin (TBG) in the Pacific area.

Human plasma samples, radiolabeled with [125I]thyroxin, from the Asian, Pacific, and Australian area have been subjected to isoelectric focusing to reveal genetic variation in thyroxin-binding globulin (TBG). A genetically determined electrophoretic slow variant, TBG S, indistinguishable from the variant found in black Africans, has been observed with a frequency of 1%-10% in all Melanesian and Polynesian populations studied. The TBG S variant is present also with low frequency in Micronesians and in some Indonesian populations. However, East Asians, Indians, and Australian Aborigines were found to be monomorphic.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Fauna of Australia. Volume 1A. General Articles. Australian Government Publishing Service. 1987.
Phylogenetic Relationships of the Lizard Families. Essays Commemorating Charles L. Camp .—R. Estes and G. Pregill (eds). 1988.     

Voodoo Death and the Mechanism for Dispatch of the Dying in East Arnhem, Australia

A similar psychosocial sequence surrounds cases of voodoo death and cases where dying is expedited. Predeath obsequies and fatalism in the victim are common to both. The death mechanism in both is dehydration by confiscation of fluids. Intervention in two voodoo death sequences involved rehydrating the victim. As medical services extend to remote Aborigines, deaths with prominent psychosocial components that resemble voodoo death become diagnosable as orthodox medical conditions, [voodoo death, Australian Aboriginals, dehydration]