Law's Anthropology: From Ethnography to Expert Testimony in Native TitleAnthropologists have been appearing as key expert witnesses in native title claims for over 20 years. Until now, however, there has been no theoretically-informed, detailed investigation of how the expert testimony of anthropologists is formed and how it is received by judges. This book examines the structure and habitus of both the field of anthropology and the juridical field and how they have interacted in four cases, including the original hearing in the Mabo case. The analysis of background material has been supplemented by interviews with the key protagonists in each case. This allows the reader a unique, insider's perspective of the courtroom drama that unfolds in each case. The book asks, given the available ethnographic research, how will the anthropologist reconstruct it in a way that is relevant to the legal doctrine of native title when that doctrine gives a wide leeway for interpretation on the critical questions. |
Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal witnesses Antakirinya anthropological archive anthropology approach Arrernte assertion Australianist Beckett Berndt Broome chapter claim area claimants clan contemporary continuity Court Craig Elliott critique cross-examination Daisy Bates descent Desert cultural bloc doctrine of native Eddie Mabo Elkin Elliott ethnographic evidence example expert witness fieldwork formulation generalisations Glowczewski Haddon hearing horde initiation ceremonies interpretation Jango v Northern judge judge's judicial juridical field Justice Moynihan Karadjeri Kunin land rights laws and customs lawyers legal doctrine Maddock Malo's Law Meriam Murray Islands Myers native title claim nguraritja Northern Territory ownership particular patrilineal Peter De Rose Piddington Pintupi Pitjantjatjara plaintiffs pre-contact Queensland question Radcliffe-Brown referred relevant ritual Rose Hill Rose Hill Station Rubibi claim seems Sharp social organisation Sullivan Sutton Territory of Australia theory Tindale Tindale’s Tonkinson Torres Strait Islander totemic traditional land tenure transcript tribal tribe Western Australia Western Desert cultural Yankunytjatjara Yawuru Yulara