ABSTRACT
The Amnia: A Stone Age People was published late in 1927 under the joint authorship of Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, but by Gillen’s contribution was considerably diluted. Spencer’s constructive attitude towards Radcliffe-Brown is interesting, because his personal opinion of his character was not flattering. Spencer died before the publication of Radcliffe-Brown’s classic memoir on ‘The Social Organization of Australian Tribes’, which incorporated Spencer and Gillen into the canon of modern anthropological lore. If Spencer was no ‘new anthropologist’, the qualifications and insertions in The Arunta indicate that he was aware of criticism. Anthropological fashions are as fleeting as those in any other academic pursuit. Spencer was no less a child of his generation for being one of its intellectual leaders. It is worth reflecting that the formative leaders of western European anthropology of the succeeding generation were grounded firmly in Spencer and Gillen, especially Radcliffe-Brown, Emile Durkheim and Young Malinowski.
