About this book
Kinship Organisations and Group Marriage in Australia by Northcote Whitridge Thomas remains a pioneering and finely detailed ethnographic study of Aboriginal kinship systems and communal marriage practices. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the early 20th century, Thomas maps classificatory systems such as the Arunta eight‑class arrangement, explores group marriage arrangements, and links social structure to ritual, art, and symbolism across Australian Indigenous communities.
Part history, part ethnography and art study, the book combines careful descriptions, tables, and illustrations to reveal how kinship governed daily life, descent, and ceremonial exchange. Thomas’s methodical attention to terminology, social categories, and visual motifs captures both the complexity of Aboriginal social organization and the historical context of nascent anthropology. While a product of its time, the work remains a valuable primary source for how early researchers documented Indigenous art and social forms.
Ideal for students and scholars of history, anthropology, and art history, as well as listeners curious about Indigenous Australian cultures and the development of social theory, this audiobook offers a compact, authoritative window into foundational debates on kinship and marriage in social science.
