Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate – Peter Sutton & Keryn Walshe (2021)

Authors: Peter Sutton & Keryn Walshe
Publisher: Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria
Year: 2021
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780522877861

Description

Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate by Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe examines questions surrounding Aboriginal land management, food production, settlement and social organisation in pre-colonial Australia.

Written in response to ideas popularised by Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, Sutton and Walshe draw on anthropology, archaeology, historical records and knowledge shared by Aboriginal elders to reconsider claims about agriculture and hunter-gatherer societies in Australia.

Topics include fire and land management, fishing and trapping, dwellings, mobility, Indigenous plant knowledge, tools, early explorers’ accounts and the interpretation of archaeological evidence.

Rather than treating hunting and gathering as a less sophisticated form of society, the authors argue for a deeper appreciation of the complexity, knowledge and adaptability of traditional Aboriginal cultures on their own terms.

Includes extensive notes, references and an index.

Why You’ll Love It

A significant contemporary contribution to debates surrounding Australian history, archaeology and First Nations land-use practices. It offers detailed research and differing perspectives for readers interested in the arguments surrounding Dark Emu and interpretations of pre-colonial Australian society.