The reason I bring this up is because it ties directly into what has been found
(and curated thanks to Rio Tinto) at Juukan-2.
[
www.jstor.org] (free online)
An Alyawara Day: Flour, Spinifex Gum, and Shifting Perspectives
Lewis R. Binford
Journal of Anthropological Research
Vol. 40, No. 1, Fortieth Anniversary Issue 1944-1984 (Spring, 1984), pp. 157-182
Page 180:
"Perhaps the most bizarre example of ascribing to the Australians one's own ideas
of human nature is James Woodburn's recent suggestion that elaboration of ritual etc.,
characteristic of Central Desert Australian life is an "enterprise whereby men, in
their political maneuvering, seek to gain control over a woman's potential labour"
(cited in Morris 1982:175).
So who was correct, Woodburn or Binford? The logic and evidence is explained
on page 8 here:
Hamilton A. Nature and Nurture: Aboriginal Child-
Rearing in North-Central Arnhem Land. Canberra: Aus-
tralian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1981
"This suggests that the technological apparatus and skills used by women for the manufacture
of their wooden impliments is a continuation of the older 'core and scraper' tradition.
[...] they continued the older ritual traditions, not because they are innately 'conservative'
but because innovations in both areas are introduced and elaborated within the context of
exclusively male rituals."
Binford spent time making his observations in a politically-dominate male camp learning how make men's knives.
Hamilton spent her time in a women's camp observing how the women made and used the men's
leftover (waste) flakes. Since the women were doing 90% of the work one would think they would be
given the best material and flakes to use. But not if Woodburn was correct.
And this corroborates with what is seen elsewhere in Australia at multiple excavations for the
last ca.45,000 years, right up to ethnographic observations. It's called the Australian Core Tool
and Scraper tradition. Easy for Hamilton to spot, apparently Binford was to busy being duped in
the male camp to noticed what was going on elsewhere, both around him and throughout Australia.
[
www.womenaustralia.info]
I'm glad Annette was just a guest in the women's slave camp and not a permanent resident victim.