Yolngu concept of knowledge; religious practices; interpretation of Dreaming events, country and ceremonies; initiation; revelation, transmission and control of knowledge; religious secrecy; definition of the Yolngu - social and historical context; constitution of religious belief - the Dreaming, spirit beings; variation in the interpretation of myth - stories of the Djangkawu sisters; social composition - groups, kinship classification, language, marriage and polygamy, leadership; relations to land- concept of country; totemic landscape; land disputes; rights to knowledge of the sacra; varieties of ceremonies (Rom, Garma, Djungguwan, Madayin, circumcision , wake and purification); associated songs, designs and sacred objects (rangga); role of secrecy; description of ceremonies; relation to gender and age distinctions; revelation, control and transmission of esoteric knowledge in secret and public domains - control of space and encoding; gender roles and power; religious universalism; Gunapipi ceremony and the interpretation of the Wagilak sisters myth; the adjustment movement and the Christian Revival - syncretism between Christian and Yolngu beliefs; ritual; mythology - culture heroes, snake; contemporary understanding of culture.

Secrecy is a central and integral component of all religious traditions. Not limited simply to religious groups that engage in clandestine activities such as hidden rites of initiation or terrorism, secrecy is inherent in the very fabric of religion itself. Its importance has perhaps never been more acutely relevant than in our own historical moment. In the wake of 9/11 and other acts of religious violence, we see the rise of invasive national security states that target religious minorities and pose profound challenges to the ideals of privacy and religious freedom, accompanied by the resistance by many communities to such efforts. As such, questions of secrecy, privacy, surveillance, and security are among the most central and contested issues of twenty-first century religious life. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy is the definitive reference source for the key topics, problems, and debates in this crucial field and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising twenty-nine chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into five parts: Configurations of Religious Secrecy: Conceptual and Comparative Frameworks Secrecy as Religious Practice Secrecy and the Politics of the Present Secrecy and Social Resistance Secrecy, Terrorism, and Surveillance. This cutting-edge volume discusses secrecy in relation to major categories of religious experience and individual religious practices while also examining the transformations of secrecy in the modern period, including the rise of fraternal orders, the ongoing wars on terror, the rise of far-right white supremacist groups, increasing concerns over religious freedom and privacy, the role of the internet in the spread and surveillance of such groups, and the resistance to surveillance by many indigenous and diasporic communities. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, comparative religion, new religious movements, and religion and politics. It will be equally central to debates in the related disciplines of sociology, anthropology, political science, security studies and cultural studies.

Collection of nine articles on aspects of secrecy in relation to the sacred in Aboriginal culture; mainly concerned with ritual objects, politics and social control, collection and repatriation of objects, mid Western Desert art; papers by Anderson (x2) , Palmer, Kolig, Akerman, Morton, Jones, Pannell, Kimber annotated separately. Outlines the questions related to the role of ritual objects in Aboriginal culture and their place in museum collections; examines issues of secrecy and return of ritual objects to communities; ethics.

Drawing on ancestral cosmology of Australia's indigenous people, this book develops a theory of indigenous peoples' innovation and intellectual property.

This book explores the role of the social and natural sciences in supporting the development of indigenous knowledge systems. It looks at how indigenous knowledge systems can impact on the transformation of knowledge generating institutions such as scientific and higher education institutions on the one hand, and the policy domain on the other.

Over the last 25 years there has been an explosion of interest in the Aboriginal religions of Australia and this anthology provides a variety of recent writings, by a wide range of scholars. Australian Aboriginal Religions are probably the oldest extant religious systems. Over some 50,000 years they have coped with change and re-invented themselves in an astonishingly creative way. The Dreaming, the mythical time when the Ancestor Spirits shaped the territories of the Aborigines and laid down a moral and ritual law for their occupants, is the fundamental religious reality. It is the basis of the Aborigines's view of their land or country, kinship relationships, ritual and art. However, the Dreaming is not a static principle since it is interpreted in different ways, as in the extraordinary movement in contemporary indigenous painting, and in attempts at an accommodation with Christianity. The contributions of anthropologists, cultural historians, philosophers of religion and others are included in this anthology which not only guides readers through the literature but also ensures this still largely inaccessible material is available to a wider range of readers and non-specialist students and academics.

This book argues for the diversity of religions and the human element in the development of religion.