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Roy. Soc. Of New South Wales. Jour. And Proc.
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Historical SummaryBeveridge and Gatschet have pointed out that the avoidance of naming the dead practically excludes the development of tribal history, and Beveridge mentions that not even songs composed by the dead are mentioned in certain Australian tribes:
Tchowies [songs] are not transmitted from one generation to another, because, when the maker of a tchowie dies, all the songs of which he was author are as it were buried with him, inasmuch as they, in common with his very name, are studiously ignored from thenceforward, consequently they are quite forgotten in a very short space of time indeed.
This custom of endeavoring persistently to forget everything which had been in any way connected with the dead entirely precludes the possibility of anything of a historical nature having existence amongst them; in fact the most vital occurrence, if only dating a single generation back, is quite forgotten, that is to say, if the recounting thereof should necessitate the mention of a defunct aboriginal’s name.3
The Klamath people [says Gatschet] possess no historic traditions going further back in time than a century, for the simple reason that there was a strict law prohibiting the mention of the person or acts of a deceased individual by using his name. This law was rigidly observed among the Californians no less than among the Oregonians, and on its transgression the death penalty could be inflicted. This is certainly enough to suppress all historical knowledge within a people. How can history be written without names?4
3Beveridge, P.n/an/an/an/an/a, "Of the Aborigines Inhabiting the Great Lacustrine and Riverine Depression of the Lower Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower Lachlan, and Lower Darling," , 17: 65.
4 Gatschet, A. S., "The Klamath Indians of South-western Oregon," Contrib. to No. Amer. Ethnol., 2, Part 1: xli.
Chicago: Roy. Soc. Of New South Wales. Jour. And Proc. in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=3KZVSQC7WVJANG2.
MLA: . Roy. Soc. Of New South Wales. Jour. And Proc., Vol. 17, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=3KZVSQC7WVJANG2.
Harvard: , Roy. Soc. Of New South Wales. Jour. And Proc.. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=3KZVSQC7WVJANG2.
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