Articles about the films
Introduction: Aboriginal ceremonies in Central Australia
The Origins of Theatre: Victor Turner, Durkheim, Van Gennep
Film Reviews from The American Anthropologist
Films
Coniston Muster
Scenes of the annual roundup on a cattle ranch in Central Australia from a time when most of the stockmen were Indigenes. (1970)
Emu Ritual at Ruguri
The making of a ground painting associated with an emu increase ritual of the Warlpiri people, Central Australia. [Ethnographic documentary archive]
Pintubi Revisit Yumari
Pintupi men visit a ceremonial site in Western Australia to perform associated initiation ritual. [Ethnographic documentary archive]
Yaru-Yaru
Pintupi men visit another ceremonial site in the Western Desert. Within caves at the site the associated songs are sung. [Ethnographic documentary archive]
Mulga Seed Ceremony
Dances associated with an increase ritual to promote the fertility of the mulga bush are performed at a Pitjantjatjara site in the Petermann Ranges. [Ethnographic documentary archive]
An Australian writer living in Sydney, Roger Sandall is the author of The Culture Cult (2001), a study of romantic primitivism and its effects. His work has appeared in a number of places including Commentary, The American Interest, Encounter, The New Criterion, The American, Sight and Sound, Quadrant, Art International, The New Lugano Review, The Salisbury Review, Merkur, Mankind, Visual Anthropology, and Social Science and Modern Society.