Doctoral Dissertation: Pintupi Places: The Structure and Meaning of Aboriginal Camps in the Western Desert

Board Of Regents, Nshe, Obo University Of Nevada, Reno, Reno NV

Investigators

Abstract

This project will investigate the cognitive and affective meanings of campsites among Australian hunters and foragers (the Pintupi of Kiwirrkura community, Northern Territory). It bridges the fields of Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology, and will contribute to models of hunter/forager behavior by adding data on the social constructions of the environment (place/campsites) and identity. The goal is to ascertain how Pintupi "read" the land, perceive significant categories of the environment, construct attitudes towards and uses of material culture, and how social relationships within the camp are expressed spatially. The research will examine how these process vary by gender, as well. Methods include participant observation, structured interviews, "travel histories," and mapping of sites, shelters, and storage facilities. This project will contribute to debates in both Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology regarding how hunters/foragers structure (and prehistorically structured) their use of resources and the environment.