ABSTRACT
Levi-Strauss has paid a good deal of attention to the Australian aborigines. This chapter discusses some of his views by relating them to the Gidjingali tribe of northern Arnhem Land. 'Gidjingali' is the term for the language spoken by people who lived south of Cape Stewart and around the mouth of the Blyth River. Gidjingali kinship terminology and marriage rules can be adequately described within the limits of a hypothetical system of exchange-marriage among four patricians. The Gidjingali were polygynous, and the ratio of men to women was about equal. This meant that the demand for wives always exceeded the supply. The chapter demonstrates the possibility of constructing from Gidjingali kinship terminology and marriage rules a hypothetical model of marriage-exchange that verifies Levi-Strauss' theory that systems of kinship and marriage are really communication systems with women as the mediators.
