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Landscapes, rock-art, and the dreaming : an archaeology of preunderstanding Bruno David Published by Leicester University Press (2002) |
Book description
The apparent timelessness of the Dreaming of Aboriginal Australia has
long intrigued European observers, conjuring images of an ancient people, much
akin to Europe's own ancestral past, in harmony with their surroundings. In
this book, Bruno David examines the archaeological evidence for Dreaming-mediated
places, rituals and symbolism. What emerges is not a static culture of long-standing,
but a mode of conceiving the world that emerged in its recognisable form only
about 1000 years ago.
As a world-view, the Dreaming in its various regional manifestations is an
example of what the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer has called preunderstanding,
a condition of knowledge that guides interpretation and that shapes one's experience
of the world. By tracing through time the archaeological visability of one
well-known mode of preunderstanding - the Dreaming of Aboriginal Australia
- the author argues that it is possible to scientifically explore an archaeology
of preunderstanding; of body and mind; alterity, identity and Being-in-the-world.
Such an investigation is ultimately also a self-reflective questioning of various
preconceptions that continue to inform Western notions of the indigenous Other
in a supposedly post-colonial world.
About the Author
Dr. Bruno David is a Logan Research Fellow and archaeologist in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University,
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