ABSTRACT
This chapter re-examines Phyllis Kaberry’s study of Aboriginal women where, in contrast to earlier studies, she is concerned to present women as active subjects rather than submissive objects. Gender complementarity is implied. But a re-analysis of the ethnography reveals gender asymmetry and the ultimate subordination of women. I argue for an alternative approach to the study of individuals and active subjects, focusing on moments of resistance to the conditions of subordination. In some circumstances these may be the ingredients for a mass protest but in others they occur in fragmented form. The atypical also gives insights into structures of power. Two examples are presented from my own experience: an Oxfordshire deserter from the Great War and a Normandy woman dairy farmer. The contexts of their resistance are outlined. The apparent eccentricity of these two individuals has been or will be vindicated in time. But they and others have risked being homogenised, or buried in field notes and lost for history.
