It happened already around 200 years ago: Aboriginal Australians marry Indians. Afghan cameleers open up the interior of Australia for transport and development. Indian seamen fight for Indonesian independence. And long before Australia was colonised by… more »

Public anthropology does exist. There are lots of anthropologists who write for the wider public and not only for other anthronerds. Here's another example: The Polynesian Tattoo Today by Tricia Allen, doctoral candidate in anthropology at the university… more »

What is it like being veiled and working in Australian companies? Anthropologist Siham Ouazzif sent me her thesis "Veiled Muslim Women in Australian Public Space: How do Veiled Women Express their Presence and Interact in the Workplace?" Siham Ouazz… more »

The West Australian and South Australian education departments have made lists of appropriate and inappropriate words to describe Aboriginal people and culture, The Australian reports.- Dreamtime is no longer an acceptable term to describe the collec… more »

He's not an aboriginal Australian. Nevertheless he has to learn the local indigenous language. He and many other children say it's fun. Teachers, parents and linguists say it is improving self-esteem, literacy and school attendance, rescuing indigenous l… more »

Quote from an article about tourism in Papua New Guinea (reads more like advertising, though): Tourism is good for PNG," asserts Dr Nancy Sullivan, a Madang-based anthropologist with an abiding affection for Papua New Guineans. "It brings much-needed… more »

"The ethnopolitical Maori-Pakeha movement in New Zealand is subverting democracy, erecting ethnic boundaries between Maori and non-Maori and promoting a cultural elite within Maoridom", Elizabeth Rata claims. She has just published her second book, "Publ… more »

Great commentary (and a good example of engaged anthropology) by anthropologist Sarah Hewat about a recent TV story on Wa Wa, a Korowai boy in Papua, who should be "rescued" from "cannibals". Hewat says, the journalists should have read some work by ant… more »