Aboriginal Men of High Degree

Record summary

A. P. Elkin’s Aboriginal Men of High Degree is a classic discussion of initiated ritual specialists, healing, knowledge and religious authority in Aboriginal Australia. Its relevance is comparative: it is often brought into debates about shamanism, initiation, visionary experience and culturally sanctioned extraordinary abilities. The book is not a controlled investigation of psi, and its interpretations have been criticized or revised by later anthropology. Because editions and substantially different publication dates circulate, researchers should establish which version they are using and distinguish Elkin’s categories from Indigenous terminology.