David McKnight (4 March 1935 – 14 May 2006) was a Canadian-British anthropologist and ethnographer who specialized in the anthropology of Australian Aboriginal people, with particular regard to the tribes of the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

. He conducted over 20 field trips among Aboriginal people in Australia from 1965 to 1999.

Life

McKnight was born in Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

in 1935. He completed his B.A. in both English Lit and Philosophy

Bishop's University Bishop's University (french: Université Bishop's) is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebe ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1957. He went on to study in Great Britain, University College London, obtaining his M.A. degree in anthropology in 1965 on African death cults. He then shifted his research focus to Australian Aboriginal studies, beginning with a first foray into field research in Queensland in 1965. He was hired at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

as a lecturer in

Social Anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

three years later, and then moved to teach the same topic at

The London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. In 1977 he earned his doctorate from London University with a thesis on the intricate marriage systems among the

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

peoples on

Mornington Island Mornington Island, also known as Kunhanhaa, is an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Shire of Mornington (Queensland), Shire of Mornington, Queensland, Australia. It is the northernmost and largest of 22 islands that form the Wellesley I ...

. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in 1982 and held that post until his retirement in 1997. On Mornington Island he studied in particular depth the Lardil, the

Kaiadilt The Kaiadilt are an Aboriginal Australian people of the South Wellesley group in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia. They are native to Bentinck Island, but also made nomadic fishing and hunting forays to both Sweers and Allen Is ...

and the

Yangkaal The Yangkaal, also spelt Yanggal, are an Aboriginal Australian people of area of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the state of Queensland. Gananggalinda is a variant name of the same group.> Language The Yangkaal language was also known as Yanggar ...

, while at

Aurukun Aurukun is a town and coastal suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Aurukun and the Shire of Cook in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is an Indigenous Australian, Indigenous community. In the , the locality of Aurukun ...

he became an authority on the

Wik-Mungkan The Wik-Mungkan people were the largest branch of the Wik people, an Aboriginal Australian group of peoples, speaking several different languages, who traditionally ranged over an extensive area of the western Cape York Peninsula in northern Queen ...

people. His approach clarified that the

Australian Aboriginal kinship Aboriginal Australian kinship comprises the systems of Aboriginal customary law governing social interaction relating to kinship in traditional Aboriginal cultures. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Aust ...

classification systems were not a code restricted to clan marriage alliances but informed a total

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

, even if contradictions existed from sub-system to sub-system, which caused dissonances in obligations that infra-tribal arguments had to iron out. He mastered the ceremonial language of the Lardil people, the all but extinct

Damin Damin ( in the practical orthography of Lardil) was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the aboriginal Lardil ( in the practical orthography) and Yangkaal peoples of northern Australia. Both inhabit island ...

, of which he became the last living speaker, and was given the tribal name of ''Boorarungee''- (the man who asks why). Despite his clear-eyed and frank insights into the abuses that were rife in many

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

communities from alcohol and other causes, local respect for him was such that Lardil elders asked him to teach Damin to their children. Long interested in Italy, he settled in Rome on his retirement, and, on the dissolution of his first marriage to Meg Phillips, by whom he had six children, he later married Alessandra Solivetti.

Major books

* (1995) ''Lardil: Keepers of the Dreamtime,'' Chronicle Books, San Francisco 978-0-811-80834-7 * (1999) ''People, Countries, and the Rainbow Serpent: Systems of Classification Among the Lardil of Mornington Island,''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, * (2002) ''From Hunting to Drinking: The Devastating Effects of Alcohol on an Australian Aboriginal Community,''

Psychology Press Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...

, * (2005) ''Of Marriage, Violence and Sorcery: The Quest for Power in Northern Queensland,''

Ashgate Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham (Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in ...

, * (2004) ''Going the Whiteman's Way: Kinship and Marriage Among Australian Aborigines,''

Notes and references

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKnight, David Social anthropologists Canadian anthropologists 1935 births 2006 deaths Alumni of University College London People from Saint John, New Brunswick Bishop's University alumni Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of University College London 20th-century British anthropologists