Ursula McConnel

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Ursula Hope McConnel (born October 27, 1888 in Cressbrook near Toogoolawah , † November 6, 1957 in Kelvin Grove ) was an Australian anthropologist and ethnographer who specialized in the Wik Mungkan on the Cape York Peninsula . Her work on the Aborigines is still considered to be groundbreaking today. She systematically documented and described the culture, beliefs and way of life of the Aborigines.

Life

McConnel was born on the "Cressbrook" farm near Toogoolawah in the Australian state of Queensland as the eighth of ten children of cattle breeder James Henry McConnel and his wife Mary Elizabeth McConnel. She attended Brisbane High School for Girls and the New England Girls' School in Armidale . Ursula McConnell has been described as intrepid, independent, and curious with a great passion for music and languages. Her brother-in-law, the psychologist Elton Mayo , with whom she also studied at times, had a not insignificant influence .

From the age of 17 to 19, she attended courses in history, politics, literature and music at King's College London . She then studied philosophy and psychology at the University of Queensland . In 1923 she began a PhD in anthropology at University College London , but returned to Australia in 1927 without having completed her dissertation. Under Alfred Radcliffe-Brown from the University of Sydney she began ethnographic research on the Wik Mungkan .

Between 1927 and 1934 Ursula McConnel made five field research trips to the peninsula and published numerous articles and the book Myths of the Munkan on the Wik Mungkan in particular and the Aborigines of the peninsula in general. With a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation , she worked from 1931 to 1933 under Edward Sapir at Yale University in the United States.

With the submission of her publications, she tried to get a doctorate in anthropology at University College in London, but failed.

Fonts

  • The Wik-munkan tribe of Cape York Peninsula . In: Oceania . 1930, 1930, 1934; Year 1, no.1, no.2, v.4, no.3; [97] -104, [181] -205, [310] -367
  • Wikmunkan people of Gulf of Carpentaria . 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th May 1928
  • The Rainbow serpent in North Queensland . 1930
  • A moon legend from the Bloomfield River, North Queensland . 1931
  • The symbol in legend . 1933
  • Material culture and ceremonies at North-West Cape York . 1927/28, 1934
  • Legends and ritual : ANZAAS, Melbourne, 1935
  • Junior marriage systems: comparative survey . 1935
  • Myths of the Wikmunkan and Wiknatara Tribes: Bonefish and Bullroarer Totems . In: Oceania Vol. 6, No. 1 (Sep., 1935), pp. 66-93
  • Totemic hero cults in Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland . 1936
  • Mourning ritual among the tribes of Cape York Peninsula . 1937
  • Illustration of the myth of Shiveri and Nyunggu . 1937
  • Social organization of tribes of Cape York Peninsula . In: Oceania , 1939, 1940; X, No. 1, No. 4; Pp. 54-72, 434-455
  • Wikmunkan phonetics . In: Oceania . XV, No. 4, June 1945, pp. 353-375
  • Native arts and industries on the Archer, Kendall, and Holroyd rivers, Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland The Hassell Press, 1953
  • Myths of the Mungkan Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 1957

literature

  • Julie Marcus: First in their field: Women and Australian anthropology . Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 1993, pp. 175-184
  • Peter Sutton: Ursula McConnel's Tin Trunk: A Remarkable Recovery . In: Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia . Volume 134, 2010, No. 1, pp. 101-114

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Anne O'Gorman Perusco: McConnel, Ursula Hope ( 1888-1957 ) , Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed February 13, 2017
  2. ^ A b c Nicolas Rothwell: Enigma Variations , The Australian, August 15, 2009
personal data
SURNAME McConnel, Ursula
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McConnel, Ursula Hope (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian anthropologist and ethnographer
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Cressbrook at Toogoolawah
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1957
Place of death Kelvin Grove