Voodoo Death and the Mechanism for Dispatch of the Dying in East Arnhem, Australia

A similar psychosocial sequence surrounds cases of voodoo death and cases where dying is expedited. Predeath obsequies and fatalism in the victim are common to both. The death mechanism in both is dehydration by confiscation of fluids. Intervention in two voodoo death sequences involved rehydrating the victim. As medical services extend to remote Aborigines, deaths with prominent psychosocial components that resemble voodoo death become diagnosable as orthodox medical conditions, [voodoo death, Australian Aboriginals, dehydration] 1982 American Anthropological Associatio

The low risk of suicide among the Yolngu of the Northern Territory: The traditional Aboriginal pattern

The recorded causes of all deaths among the Yolngu group of Aborigines for a 30-year period show only two cases of suicide. This confirms the low incidence that has been noted in other Aboriginal communities where the traditional values remain strong

Petrol-inhalation in Aboriginal towns. Its remedy: the homelands movement

Regular petrol-inhaling involves 50 children ('sniffers'), aged 9 to 14 yr, at the Aboriginal town of Maningrida, over one-third of resident children of this age. Children of two closely related clan-language groups comprise the majority of inhalers. Similarly, at the town of Galiwinku, the children of two deprived clans are involved almost exclusively. These are the only clans in eastern Arnhem Land without outstations on their homelands. Revitalization of these clans appears the only effective method of containing the practice. Petrol-inhaling is associated with delinquency, low body weight, venereal disease, and elevated levels of blood lead. The effectiveness of past remedial action is in doubt

Psychological problems relating to the educated elite in some pacific peoples

The educated elite of many Pacific peoples are exposed both to traditional cultural influences on the one hand and to a Western mode of education and an urban life style on the other. Examples are given of the problems that arise among the Melanesians of Fiji, the Polynesians of Tonga, Western Samoa and the Cook Islands and the Aborigines of Australia from the existence of these two sets of values. Conflict areas include money, property ownership, health care, family boundaries and adoption. The content and form of the conflicts are shaped by the original culture but the basic cause in each case is differential rates of modernization among members of the same ethnic group