Tiwi Wives: A Study of the Women of Melville Island, North Australia
by: Jane C. Goodale

Hardcover. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in an unclipped dust jacket with sunning to spine. 368 pages, 4 pages of b&w photos. Although the Tiwi people of North Australia have been studied before, Goodale's approach adds a significant dimension--from the perspective of the Tiwi woman as she changes through her life course from birth to the rituals performed after her death. Especially interesting and detailed material is included on marriage arrangements and directions as well as important rites of passage, such as the annual initiation ceremony and the funeral ceremony. Goodale's descriptive record of her fieldwork among the Tiwi continues to be a lucid and valuable source of knowledge of this remote tribe. Previous owner's small sticker on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.