locating ethnographic practice: romance, reality, and politics in the outback

Abstract

This paper explores the contest over the meaning of the appearance of previously uncontacted Pintupi Aborigines in late 1984, arguing that an important site of Pintupi social action is transaction with the outside and their struggle to define their own framework of understanding. The event was interpreted by varying “audiences” in terms of their differing motivations and favored conventions for representing the Aborigine. I analyze my role as ethnographer, scientist, advocate, and academic and the use of ethnographic knowledge in mediating these competing discourses.