Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? - Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe

Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers?: The Dark Emu Debate
by Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe

Published Melbourne University Press - 2021 - Paperback - 288pp - 15.5cm x 23.5cm

Australians’ understanding of Aboriginal society prior to British invasion from 1788 has been transformed since the publication of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu in 2014. That book argued that classical Aboriginal society was more sophisticated than Australians had been led to believe because it resembled more closely, in effect, the farming communities of ancient Europe.

In Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe ask why Australians have been so receptive to the notion that farming represents an advance from hunting and gathering. Drawing on the knowledge of Aboriginal elders, previously not included within this discussion, and decades of anthropological scholarship, Sutton and Walshe provide extensive evidence to support their argument that classical Aboriginal society was a complex hunter-gatherer society and as sophisticated as any in Europe.

Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? Asks Australians to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal society, culture and spirituality.

‘I welcome this deeply thoughtful and scholarly response to Dark Emu’ — Emeritus Professor Tom Griffiths, Australian National University

Professor Peter Sutton FASSA is a social anthropologist and linguist who has, over more than 50 years, contributed to learning and recording Aboriginal languages, promoting Aboriginal art, mapping Aboriginal cultural landscapes, increasing understanding of contemporary Aboriginal societies and land tenure systems, and the successes of native title claimants.

Dr Keryn Walshe is an archeologist with more than 35 years of experience in recording, analysing and interpreting Australian Indigenous heritage sites and objects. She has lectured in archeology, managed Indigenous heritage museum collections and undertaken site assessments for corporate and government agencies. Walshe continues to write for academic journals, advise heritage managers and give public presentations.